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It is discriminatory against those who buy tickets to Earley, Winnersh, Wokingham etc. because they are paying an enormous premium for the extra few miles beyond Reading, which doesn't apply to those who stop at Reading and go no further or buy a single to Wokingham from Reading.
This is entirely true, but in using it in an argument it's worth remembering that not all discrimination is illegal. Without going to check the legislation, my understanding is that discrimination is only illegal if it's on the basis of a protected characteristic laid out in (?) the Equality Act 2010. And it's also my understanding that travelling from Earley, Winnersh, Wokingham etc. is not a protected characteristic.
I'm fairly sure that this is right and strongly suspect a "cock-up" rather than a conspiracy. It just got left behind for the Wokingham line because it is mildly obscure journey.
The best way to get it sorted would be to get MPs and local press involved. Is the lovely Mr Redwood still MP for Wokingham?
OMG, yes he is. (Not for much longer, we can hope. The LibDems decimated his majority last time out.) He is not, as you might have guessed, one of my greatest fans, but I still might appeal to him if all else fails.
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You are joking, aren't you? The Rail Ombudsman who, incidentally, is generally seen as being of little use for anything has no power in the setting of fares.
To quote the ombudsman's website:
"We offer a free, expert service to help sort out unresolved customer complaints about service providers within the rail industry." I personally think they would take an interest in this, not because they have power over the setting of fares (they don't have "power" over anything, only influence), but because this is indeed the kind of injustice they were set up to address.
To quote the ombudsman's website:
"We offer a free, expert service to help sort out unresolved customer complaints about service providers within the rail industry." I personally think they would take an interest in this, not because they have power over the setting of fares (they don't have "power" over anything, only influence), but because this is indeed the kind of injustice they were set up to address.
If that were the case we could all complain to train companies that fares are too expensive and have the Ombudsman service snowed under with such unresolved complaints. And nothing would change.
I have to ask what it is you hope to get out of this. Do you travel regularly to Heathrow Airport or are you just concerned that some people do and pay over the odds? If it's the former, you have been told how to make the journey at lower cost to yourself; if it's the latter then you will probably have more luck protecting people from the high fare by doing what you can to make them aware of the cheaper ways of getting to the airport through local media outlets. One person making a fuss about a fare is unlikely to have any significant effect.
Can I just check with the OP: is this in pursuit of a party political campaign?
The thing is, my impression is that there are people on this forum of all political persuasions and none. I can imagine it would be embarrassing for some contributors if they found that they were providing even technical advice to a campaign under the auspices of a party that they didn't support. And your enthusiasm for an issue within the boundaries of one borough but reluctance to engage with the local MP is consistent with it being something that might be used in campaigns in what I see will be two constituencies at the next election.
<Edit> And of course there may be forum members who are keener to contribute to the thread if it's for a party which they have sympathy for / against a party for which they don't </Edit>
To your first point, if the itinerary this fare was based on was via Paddington, the Reading fare would also be much higher. It isn't, and as an earlier contributor to this discussion said, it looks like they adjusted the fares to the new reality of Terminal 2 - Hayes/Harlington - Reading, but not for stations beyond Reading.
You are missing the point. An Any Permitted single from Heathrow to Reading is 54.20. An Any Permitted single from Heathrow to Wokingham is 53.60 (actually slightly cheaper!).
The issue is that Reading also has a "Not Via London" fare available at 24.60, while Wokingham does not.
They're there to establish in cases have been followed according to the law, and according to the rules the industry says it follows.
Unfortunately they can't consider any questions over whether the policy or the law is fair and reasonable in the abstract. They can only help you if you have standing of the complaint also, i.e. they can assist you with refunds etc. but not getting products re-priced.
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I wish it were true that people don't buy these tickets. We recently had an American come to stay with us and he bought one because he doesn't know what to compare it with. He just thought it was what he would have to pay on British railways.
That's a terrible shame and deeply unfortunate. However any submission to the Rail Ombudsman would only be about that one American traveller and the experience they had, not a more general case.
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