yet another HS1 question

[flobo]

Hello everyone, i came here a few months ago to plan a trip from france to london using HS1 and, in the end, when i though i understood it all, i bought a simple "plus high speed" return ticket for about 35£ from what i can remember.

However, checking fares for a different journey, i discovered that, on the southeastern website, i could find Dover Priory/Coventry tickets for as little as 11,5£ each way, meaning 22 £ total, and the route seems to go though HS1 even though there is no "plus high speed" mentionned.

So i'm wondering, for the next time i go in London, can i buy this ticket and just go no farther than London, and back to Dover in the evening/the next day ?

I'm pretty sure the answer is burried in the forum somewhere, but i could not find it.
(I however, while i was looking, found people speaking about a cheap London-Calais ticket that included the ferry boat, but i think it would probably not work the other way (Calais-London and back)).

Thanks in advance if anyone can help me with this .

 

[island]

The £11.50 tickets from Dover Priory to Coventry are Advance tickets, which mean that officially you are supposed to travel the full journey and are not allowed to abandon it part-way through. We certainly would not advise passengers on this forum to disregard ticket conditions like this, even when (as in this case) there is a negligible chance of the breach being detected.

Be aware that those tickets are not valid on weekdays on HS1 services timed to arrive at London St Pancrs at or before 0958, or depart London St Pancrs between 1600 and 1859 inclusve.

It is cheaper, if it suits your journey time plans, to get a Super Offpk Day from Dover Priory to a named London terminal for £20 (valid any train after 1000 weekdays, any train at all on weekends), although that's routed NOT VALID ON HS1. Cheapest PLUS HIGH SPEED ticket is £34.30 Offpeak Day R.

 

[flobo]

I see, i didn't know there were rules like this one, forcing you to go all the way.

It's just that i was checking different journeys, and i'm having a hard time finding logical that the farther you go, the less you pay in that case.



Also, yes, the non HS1 ticket would be a bit cheaper, but it adds almost 2 hour of travel in the day, which not negligeable on a day trip.

 

[island]

It's not meant to be a case of the farther you go, the less you pay; the £11.50 tickets are advance tickets, intended to be tied to a single train (which will be the train between Euston and Coventry), and there is a limited quota of those fares. Southeastern doesn't issue advance tickets (although other operators' advance tickets will be valid on their trains).

 

[yorkie]

Hello everyone, i came here a few months ago to plan a trip from france to london using HS1 and, in the end, when i though i understood it all, i bought a simple "plus high speed" return ticket for about 35£ from what i can remember.

However, checking fares for a different journey, i discovered that, on the southeastern website, i could find Dover Priory/Coventry tickets for as little as 11,5£ each way, meaning 22 £ total, and the route seems to go though HS1 even though there is no "plus high speed" mentionned.

There is no need to mention HS1 as it's a permitted route.

The cheap fares you quote are Advance fares, and are not comparable with the £35 fare you quote, although you do not say where this fare is from.

So i'm wondering, for the next time i go in London, can i buy this ticket and just go no farther than London, and back to Dover in the evening/the next day ?

I'm pretty sure the answer is burried in the forum somewhere, but i could not find it.
(I however, while i was looking, found people speaking about a cheap London-Calais ticket that included the ferry boat, but i think it would probably not work the other way (Calais-London and back)).

Thanks in advance if anyone can help me with this .

If SET's pricing manager is reading this (which is quite possible), he will be very angry at such a suggestion. You cannot "break your journey" on an Advance ticket, and starting/finishing short is considered to count as a "break" of journey. So, in theory, yes you do have to go all the way.

 

[flobo]

Hmm, well, that's why i asked first, seemed a bit too good to be true, and i didn't want to do it before asking .
You have to understand, it's a bit hard to understand with so many type of tickets.

 

[Mike395]

Agreed - our ticketing system is anything but simple - despite what the Government and ATOC would like you to think!

By the way, you will shortly have a PM

 

[dzug2]

I can't see any way however that not using the Euston - Coventry or vv portion could possibly be detected. Certainly not in the outward direction - returning if services were badly disrupted it might be evident that you couldn't have got to London to carry on to Dover

 

[AlterEgo]

Yes - but I'd never advise using a ticket against the TnCs that ticket entails. If nothing else, abuse of the system will just lead to these advantageous fares being withdrawn. That'll only disadvantage someone else.