Great Western Coffee Shop

The Off Peak Return via Salisbury is £47.30 with restriction code Q8.  Newton Abbot is not in the stations listed which have time restrictions so the ticket seems to be valid connecting into the 0823 from Exeter (and actually even the 0641) and journey planners confirm this.  Does anyone have any advise over what to do if the barrier staff refuse access to the platforms (since it's quite unusual for an off peak ticket to be valid so early) or the GWR staff on the train to Exeter insist the ticket is not valid?  I would hope this wouldn't happen but I've read quite a few reports of incidents like this over the years so would it be best to pay the extra and then try and claim it back later?

I think you'd unfortunately struggle to reclaim the overpaid fare - especially if they see this & can show that you made an informed choice at the time of purchase.

AS I understand it now, Any journey/ticket shown as valid on a NRE enquiry is actually valid regardless since it became the master journeycheck. So take yourself a print out of this, together with the receipt you get when booking online that shows the ticket bought with the service times you selected. That should be sufficient legal proof to allow you to make the journey

I've seen this restriction - Q8 - discussed somewhere else before.   

What it appears to be doing is defining earliest start times for stations on the Cardiff Portsmouth axis and its various timetabled branches.  Note that the list doesn't include any stations from Exeter via Yeovil Junction towards Salisbury, it definitely seems to be aimed only at the GWR operated routes and services.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/Q8

I think the note at the bottom of the page is pertinent - it gives an explicit permission to depart earlier from other stations:

"Off-Peak tickets from stations not listed are valid for connections into trains departing as shown above. "

You'll see that the earliest outward departure from Salisbury is 0850, and that is the exact train that the 0641 from Exeter St Davids connects into.

If you are still worried print off the restrictions page.

Paul

And even if you are challenged (erroneously, but it does happen), then you should only pay the difference in fares as an excess, if the person challenging you is insistant your ticket is not valid.

Then you can claim that difference back.

The other issue could positionally be the ticket office believing it to not be valid and refusing to sell the ticket.  That one should easily be avoided though by buying online and collecting at the machine (I know the new machines will sell tickets between any two stations but I'm still not sure they will sell you an off peak ticket at any time, the old ones certainly did not).

The ticket office journey planning software should, like NRE's journey planner, correctly interpret the restriction code and allow the ticket to be issued. I don't think you'll have any problems at Newton Abbot. Staff there, one in particular, are very good.

It's when the ticket comes to being checked during the journey/at gatelines that it may be queried. That's why the advice to carry a copy of the itinerary, either from NRE or a printout from the ticket office, is a good idea.

Yes, are the gatelines generally programmed to just reject all off peak tickets before a certain time?

The off peak ticket was correctly sold at Newton Abbot.  The barriers did as expected reject the ticket but I was let through after it was checked and there were no further issues.