Using South West Trains Free Tickets

[themeone]

A friend has some of the free tickets given by South West Trains to Gold Card holders, and has proposed that I go with her on a rail trip using the tickets.

As she has a bit of a history of making mistakes about tickets, I just wanted to check a few things here.

1. Is it correct that a friend or partner can use these tickets, provided they travel with the Gold Card holder?

2. Are the tickets for unlimited travel anywhere on South West Trains for one day?

3. How does one go about validating them for travel, do you have to fill something in on the tickets?

 

[TEW]

1.Yes

2.Yes. However travel is only permitted on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. And also on Fridays, with the exception of boarding trains at London Waterloo between 1600 and 1900. (Similar restrictions apply to Vauxhall and Clapham Junction.)

3.On the front of the ticket the date of travel must be filled in, along with the ticket number from the Gold Card. This must be done prior to travel.

 

[Muzer]

Are these printed on normal ticket stock? If so, I'd recommend using a good, thin-tipped permanent marker to fill in the dates, as some biros can sometimes have issues "getting started" on the smooth surface. Make sure the ink is dry before you smudge it, and be careful so it doesn't look like you've changed the dates. I doubt SWT have as much paranoia about carnet tickets as other TOCs since they don't sell tickets with date boxes regularly (except for rovers/etc.), but given some of the threads I've seen in the Disputes and Prosecutions section I'd suggest you can't be too careful with these!

 

[TEW]

They're printed on normal paper rather than ticket stock so a biro is fine for writing on them.

 

[Muzer]

Ah, OK then. In that case, you'll probably be fine!

 

[themeone]

Thanks for the info - just what I needed to know.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Although the text on the reverse of the free passes say any South West Trains service subject to the time restrictions noted previously, I understand that the accompanying documentation sent to the Gold Card Holder used to show that they were barred between Salisbury and Bristol. Has anyone got the accompanying documentation which proves/disproves this?

 

[James Wake]

Although the text on the reverse of the free passes say any South West Trains service subject to the time restrictions noted previously, I understand that the accompanying documentation sent to the Gold Card Holder used to show that they were barred between Salisbury and Bristol. Has anyone got the accompanying documentation which proves/disproves this?

That's the first I've heard of that, I have used one of mine on a bash in March, but didn't go up to Bristol, only as far west as Salisbury and then down to Southampton Central. They are really good, just make sure that you tick the box next to standard or first as well, it must be the same class as the Gold Card that she holds.