Website won't tell me eligible services

[spag23]

On Thameslink's website I'm trying to book a cheap day (weekday) return from St Albans City to Blackfriars. With my senior railcard it's quoting £10.95, even though I entered an 1802 return; ie no different in the peak hour to a 1600 return. To confirm this, I asked the website for the "Service Validity with this Ticket". When I select the Return leg, the website rolls its eyes and declares it's "Unable to Load the Eligible Services".
So if it's not valid on the 1802, can I get fined for Thameslink failure to tell me the ticket's conditions?

 

[alistairlees]

It’s valid on any train back from London after 10.00. There are no evening restrictions

 

[spag23]

Thanks for that info. Though I can't understand why the website couldn't tell me that, rather than produce an error message.

 

[yorkie]

Full T&Cs can be found here:

Look up fares for any train journey in Britain

Full details of all British rail Single, Return & Season tickets and Travelcards. Built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

Outward Travel & Return Travel​
Not valid on trains timed to depart after 04:29 which arrive at, or depart from; any London Terminal, Farringdon, or Kensington Olympia before 10:00.

(Note that Railcard T&Cs apply in addition to these)

 

[pelli]

Also, the forum's Fares & Ticketing Guide claims that if a journey planner sells you a ticket for a selected itinerary then the ticket is valid for that itinerary even if it wasn't meant to be, and this validity possibly extends to the other itineraries shown but not selected. The relevant official quote from National Rail Enquiries is "When you book your journey online, any ticket offered at that time, in connection with the timetable or itinerary produced by the journey planner will be accepted as a permitted route", which is somewhat unclear, even if you ignore the nonsensical formulation of a "ticket" being "accepted as a permitted route".

As for the Thameslink website "services valid with this ticket" functionality giving the error message "unable to load eligible services" for the return leg (example attached), I don't know why it happens, but it seems to happen for time-restricted day returns (i.e. off-peaks on weekdays but not on weekends, and never anytimes), with or without senior railcard, from St Albans City, Luton and Bedford (but not from Radlett or Wellingborough) to Blackfriars, St Pancras and other stations that result in a ticket to London Thameslink (but not to stations like Kentish Town, Loughborough Junction and New Cross), and also with origin and destination swapped.

 

[yorkie]

Also, the forum's Fares & Ticketing Guide claims that if a journey planner sells you a ticket for a selected itinerary then the ticket is valid for that itinerary even if it wasn't meant to be, and this validity possibly extends to the other itineraries shown but not selected. The relevant official quote from National Rail Enquiries is "When you book your journey online, any ticket offered at that time, in connection with the timetable or itinerary produced by the journey planner will be accepted as a permitted route", which is somewhat unclear, even if you ignore the nonsensical formulation of a "ticket" being "accepted as a permitted route".

Indeed. This is compliant with contract and consumer laws

 

[spag23]

I eventually bought the ticket at the SAC ticket office, where I discovered that it would be a little cheaper if I returned before 1630. I can't recall if the webpage offered this.

From the above remarks I suggest that anyone who purchases an online ticket that seems to be offering a possibly ineligible restriction, take a screengrab of the relevant page and carry a printout with you. It would be just your luck if the seller remedied the anomaly between the RPO challenge and your trying to cite the page!

 

[Haywain]

I eventually bought the ticket at the SAC ticket office, where I discovered that it would be a little cheaper if I returned before 1630. I can't recall if the webpage offered this.

You were offered a Super Off Peak ticket, which does have afternoon restrictions.

 

[spag23]

On this occasion I went for the £10.95 ticket, as I wasn't certain which side of 1630 I'd be leaving London. I then aimed for the 1654 from Blackfriars, which was cancelled. The info screen in the concourse was a pain, as it would flash up the next few trains for about five seconds, then a general/COVID message for 15 seconds. Unable to glean the info I wanted, I simply caught the next northbound at 1704, a semi-fast. This then got stuck north of Hendon for 20 minutes, with the Blackfriars 1712 overtaking us.
I arrived at SAC at 1757, 21 minutes later then the cancelled train was scheduled for. But I bet DelayRepay will tell me I should gave caught the 1712, which would have made my arrival only 10 minutes late.

 

[Haywain]

On this occasion I went for the £10.95 ticket, as I wasn't certain which side of 1630 I'd be leaving London. I then aimed for the 1654 from Blackfriars, which was cancelled. The info screen in the concourse was a pain, as it would flash up the next few trains for about five seconds, then a general/COVID message for 15 seconds. Unable to glean the info I wanted, I simply caught the next northbound at 1704, a semi-fast. This then got stuck north of Hendon for 20 minutes, with the Blackfriars 1712 overtaking us.
I arrived at SAC at 1757, 21 minutes later then the cancelled train was scheduled for. But I bet DelayRepay will tell me I should gave caught the 1712, which would have made my arrival only 10 minutes late.

If the train you were on was delayed, you can claim.

 

[spag23]

Yeah but.. the train I was on was only 11 minutes late at SAC. So under the 15 minute threshold. It was 21 minutes later than the cancelled train. But Thameslink may say I should have caught the later one (1712) that (probably) arrived at SAC only 3 minutes after the cancelled one should have done. Do the TOCs expect delayed passengers to know all the timings when he just wants to get home on the next train?

 

[alistairlees]

Yeah but.. the train I was on was only 11 minutes late at SAC. So under the 15 minute threshold. It was 21 minutes later than the cancelled train. But Thameslink may say I should have caught the later one (1712) that (probably) arrived at SAC only 3 minutes after the cancelled one should have done. Do the TOCs expect delayed passengers to know all the timings when he just wants to get home on the next train?

Compare your actual arrival time to your scheduled arrival time to calculate Delay Repay compensation. You acted reasonably with the information available and are due compensation.

 

[spag23]

That seems reasonable. I'll post the result.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Jul 2021 ==

I didn't get the argument I was expecting. To their credit, they approved the reimbursement within hours of my claim submission. Now I just have to decide how to spend the £1.40