Great Western Coffee Shop

Looks good to me!

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=3420

Damn!  Yet again, I'm too young to benefit!   ??? ;D

descrimination!!! it's true though, working people between 18-60 get shafted, pay tax and have to pay for bus travel, pay for prescriptions, don't get any national railcard...............

Oh whoopee! Let's get the timetables out.  Hey wait a minute, I get free travel on FGW. Doh!

;D YP railcard ? (sorry could not resist)
 

............ok then, 26-60yrs!

Don't forget the poor little old fellows of 60 have already been 'shafted' and paid tax for the previous 45 years so it is good to get something back for a change.....

There are plenty of my parents generation who left Uni at 21 (with no debts), and retired at 60 with a final salary pension.  Most of them will live until 80+ which means that they will have lived longer without working than they worked for.

55 and over ^25 anywhere return within their network.

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=3420 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=3420)

Thanks, chrisoates - but as this topic had already been started, I've just taken the opportunity to merge your post with the existing thread.

Chris  ;)

What happens to Club 55 (the lower fare 'club' for people a little older that I am) after 7th April?

It becomes Club 56?

It closes.  It was only meant to run until then.  There will be a review and then they will decide if / when to do it again.

Strong rumours Club 55 will return in September.  Dont knowdate or price if same or not but good news for those of you who qualify   ;D

For those of you who are familiar it will be a flat rate turn up and go ticket for anywhere on the FGW network.  Valid off peak but only if you are over 55.

From memory the standard return was about 20 pounds.

For those almost wrinklies among us, Club 55 is making a comeback from mid-September to early December.  ;D

My thought is, if FGW are cash strapped and/or greedy enough to muck about with the normal range of tickets to boost their revenue, why start running a promotion with cheaper tickets? ??? ???

(For those who don't know Club 55 is where anyone over 55 years old can travel for ^25 return on FGW services & senior railcard holders get another ^5 off)

Well, if such offers attract just a few more people (who wouldn't otherwise be travelling) onto trains which are running anyway - that's a few more ^25s in used fivers that FGW can drop into the DfT's coffers ... ?

Every little helps!  ::)

Its back because it was very successful last year. It has also been extended this year: For another fiver, you can travel thru to any Arriva Train Wales station in South Wales.

Just like SWT's recent Midsummer Madness offer, which made me travel down to Weymouth the other Sunday from Guildford for a tenner, which I wouldn't have done had the offer not been on. And FGW benefitted because I bought a CDR from Dorking to Guildford. Incidentally, the SWT trains I was on between Woking and Weymouth were very busy, with passengers standing in both directions on 10 car trains.

...Or Not..

Should have been available from today, Sunday, but apparently at lot of stations are unable to issue them as the details aren't in the ticket machines, and it might be middle of the week before it's sorted.
pee up & brewery come to mind..

 The failure of the ticketing system is pretty wide spread, issued with a ticket and complaint form today.

 

I hear that club 55 is up and running again on First Scotrail from the 9th Jan. Any one heard if this is going to happen down here?

Anyone any idea why its club 55 and not club 50 (the start age for Saga) or 60 or 65 or any other age.  Why choose 55???

Somebody is a Deltic fan?

Surely club 52 would be more appropriate ???

Going off at a bit of a tangent here, but the minimum age for starting to take a pension rises from 50 to 55 overnight on 5 April 2010.

(Just in case anyone who is affected wasn't aware of the change. :-[ )

Why are First are offering club 55 tickets on Scotrail and Transpennine but not on Great Western.

Also available on Arriva Trains Wales

They have no obligation, its simply a promotion. There isn't really a "window of opportunity" as once Easter gets underway the holiday season has begun..

Commercial decision (?) ... put yourself in FGW management's shoes.

* Will we gain a lot of new passengers / income from them?

* If we do, do we have enough capacity on our trains to handle them and have them go away as happy campers telling people how great we are, rather than as critics of a system that didn't deliver to them?

* How much will we loose when regular customers switch to the lower priced tickets?

Clearly, the answers will differ across the franchises, with different decisions made on high basic fare, already heavily loaded networks, as compared to networks which have spare capacity and where customer are paying only a little more when the club isn't running.

For those oldies out there...Club 55 is coming back...
Will be available for travel from the 20th sept onwards and will be zonal and operating across most First franchises and ATW..
more when I know more (or if you know more)

I've asked for further detyails from my Fares contact...

First TransPennine Express, First Hull Trains, First Great Western, First Capital Connect and Arriva Trains Wales will be running a joint Club 55 promotion valid from 20th September ^ 30th November 2010.
Description
^ A zonal promotion offering return travel within England, Wales and parts of Scotland for those aged 55 and over.
^ Flexible ^ no need to book in advance.
^ Club 55 is not subject to availability, so customers will never miss out.
^ Standard Class and First Class tickets are available.
Availability
^ Club 55 is available to anyone aged 55 or over. Customers are required to carry proof of age when they travel to validate their ticket.
^ Outward travel is valid between 20 September and 30 November 2010 inclusive.
^ Return travel is valid for up to one month from the date of outward travel.
^ Available for First and Standard Class travel between any two stations on the FTPE, FHT, FCC, FGW and ATW networks.
^ Club 55 is only available for travel on the operators specified.
^ Club 55 does not need to be booked in advance and is not subject to availability.
^ Club 55 is available to purchase in advance although travel is not valid until 20 September 2010.

However they cannot be sold yet. Due to not being in systems properly.

Any more info on the return of club 55.ie terms and conditions.Have heard there not valid on XC this time.

Thanks for posting, Woody!  :)

Purely for ease of reference, I've merged a few previous topics, on this particular subject of the 'Club 55' offer, with this one - just so we can compare the terms of the deal in previous years!

CfN.  ;) :D ;D

They're now available on Scotrail - details at http://www.scotrail.co.uk/club55 (http://www.scotrail.co.uk/club55).

And in the text, at the bottom, it says

Whilst Club 55 is a way to bring in Extra fares during the quieter months, I feel the pensioners win with Club 55 and pensioners come in 2 basic groups, those who struggle on a pitful state pension, and those who have it made, having a Holiday, often abroad every 2 or 3 months and bags of cash. Don't beleive it, now the School Kids are back in their prison, just look how many grumpy old gits are heading off on Holiday on FGW trains to Devon & Cornwall

What really is needed is CLUB 20-35 and mortgaged to the EYE BALLS

The more you dig the more poop you find....
First Group are offering Club 55 on their franchise routes FGW, FCC,TPE etc plus travel is permitted on ATW, but NOT XC
Outward travel from 20th Sept - 30th Nov

ATW are offering their own version which is also available on merseyrail, Northern, London Midland and XC (but only between Cheltenham & Birm n.s.,) Plus FGW but only as far as Worcester, Kemble, Taunton, Warminster
Outward travel from 6th Sept - 12th Nov

Britains railways keeping it simple  :-\ :-\ :-\

I can see the offer on the ATW website, but do you have a link to the equivalent FGW, FCC or FTPE offer yet?

www.club55.co.uk

But only mentions the ScotRail bit at the moment, just says other information for England and Wales will be added soon...

My understanding is that FGW will be offering Club 55 from September 20th. Eyes are peeled on behalf of our more wiser pax!

Had a briefing yesterday but it only had details of the Arriva offer with the First Great Western add on for areas close to the arriva network.

http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/Templates/Content.aspx?pageid=383

No sign yet that it will be generally available across the whole FGW network so it may not be. 

it is. The brief came out a couple weeks ago.

Good to see the on board staff are being kept up to date then  ???

Plenty of time if launch is on September 20!

i can email it to you if you want?

you can travel to the North via the Marches this time though, i.e. truro to Manchester on same ticket

I've called Customer Services and they confirmed to me that FGW will be offering Club 55 from the 20th September to 30th November, with tickets going on sale form the 10th September. The advisor explained that tickets can be purchased through club55.co.uk (http://club55.co.uk/).

Lets see if an advert goes up on the main FGW site and if the information on club55.co.uk (which is actually a sub page of ScotRail's main website) is updated......

POS (aka leaflets posters and the like) has been displayed all over PAD.

I might take my parents on a trip to weston super mud for that great value fair. (Oh wait I might as well use my fiver vouchers).

Excellent!  Any chance of getting them displayed all over NLS, too?   ::) ;D

I feel I need to clarify that I meant I would send the brief to super tm as says it's not been given..

Nothing's changed on the websites overnight.

Called FGW Customer Services again this morning to point out that I'd been told the promotion was going live on the 10th September for travel from the 20th. Advisor was able to get promotional fares using their telesales system but the tickets are as yet not available to purchase online.

Advice given was to book via telesales or in person at a station.

The issue of online sales is being looked into and I will update here as and when FGW get back to me. There is still no advertising of the promotion on any First Group TOC websites, excepting ScotRail.

Leaflets with a map of the area is available at Paddington station so it is definitely happening.

I seem to remember the last time FGW did this there was a problem with the fares not being in the database and you could not actually buy a ticket for the first few days of the promotion.  Hope  the same thing is not going to happen this time.

These tickets have been on sale since last Monday, leaflets out yesterday

May well have been on sale since last Monday, but still unavailable online. First Group have made a right dog's breakfast of rolling out this offer.
Club 55 is now advertised on National Rail Enquiries (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/promotions/prd101975d4d464795b50baa8d46a6cc/details.html), but if you want to buy online, at the moment, the only option are the Club 55 Premier (1st Class) fares for travel north of the border. And these are only available through WebTIS, not any First Group booking engine!

Poor show First.

Well said bignosemac totally agree with what you said.Managed to get a club 55 leaflet Saturday and showed it to a guard on a HST on my journey home to Plymouth who knew absolutely nothing about the return of the club 55 offer.What a shambolic way to introduce it.

Not sure what can be said regarding on train staff, but I read the brief on 27th August..

1.   Promotion overview
From Monday 20 September until Tuesday 30 November , FirstGroup will be running its first national rail promotion called ^Club 55^.
Club 55 offers customers aged 55 or over discounted return travel within England, Wales and parts of Scotland on all FirstGroup train operating companies, including First Capital Connect. First Great Western, First TransPennine Express and Hull Trains will run this joint promotion with Arriva Trains Wales.

2.   Travel validity
Club 55 is available to anyone aged 55 or over but customers must provide proof of age when they travel to validate their ticket. Acceptable forms of proof of age include:

^   Passport
^   Driving Licence (old format licences are accepted)
^   Birth Certificate
^   Concessionary Bus Pass
^   Senior Railcard

DO NOT  accept library cards, golf club membership cards etc.

Club 55 is only valid on the following operators^ services:
^   Arriva Trains Wales (ATW)
^   First Capital Connect (FCC)
^   First Great Western (FGW)
^   First Hull Trains (HT)
^   First TransPennine Express (FTPE)

Customers can travel anytime at the weekend.

Weekday morning restrictions
^   Monday to Friday customers can travel on all services except those due to arrive in London (St Pancras / King^s Cross / Moorgate from the North and Blackfriars from the South), York, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, or Manchester before 10:10
^   Club 55 is not valid on weekday Hull Trains services due to arrive in London before 11:00

Weekday evening restrictions
^   Monday to Friday customers can travel on all services except those departing London, York, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, or Manchester between 16:00 and 19:00
^   Club 55 is not valid on weekday Hull Trains services departing London between 15:00 and 18:00

Specific Services where Club 55 tickets are barred:
^   The 14:06 Paddington to Penzance (14:32 from Reading) Fridays only
^   The 15:06 Paddington to Penzance (15:32 from Reading) Fridays only
^   The 16:06 Paddington to Penzance (16:32 from Reading) Fridays only
^   The 17:03 Paddington to Penzance (17:31 from Reading, 17:48 from Newbury) Fridays only

3.   Fares
Fares are calculated by the number of zones travelled. The fares are already loaded into the system so when you select the origin and destination stations for the customer^s journey, the fare will be displayed.

Club 55 Standard Class and First Class tickets are available between any two stations on FTPE, HT, FCC, FGW. Please note ATW does not offer First Class on any of its services . Club 55 fares are as follows:

Description   First Zone    Subsequent zones
CLUB 55 STD    ^15    ^10
CLUB 55 STD (with railcard discount)   ^12    ^8
CLUB 55 FIRST    ^25    ^15
CLUB 55 FIRST (with railcard discount)   ^20    ^12

4.   Cross London journeys
Tickets displaying the ^cross-London^ marker (^) are valid for ^cross-London^ transfers. This means that customers will be able to use London Underground services to cross London to continue their journey.

Club 55 tickets are only valid for transfer between London terminal stations, and will only be accepted by London Underground on the date shown on the ticket (or up to the last day of validity for the return portion) and until 04:29 the following day.

5.   Issuing tickets and reservations
Customers who wish to purchase Club 55 tickets in advance can do so if they wish and tickets are not subject to availability. However, please make sure that customers are aware travel is not valid before 20 September.

^   Club 55 tickets can be issued on STAR, TRIBUTE, FasTIS, SHERE and AVANTIX Mobile machines using the ticket types below
^   Customers CANNOT  buy Club 55 tickets from ticket vending machines
^   Reservations are not required with Club 55. If a customer wishes to make a reservation, the following codes should be used:

Ticket Type    Description
55S    CLUB 55 STD
55F    CLUB 55 FIRST

There may be more than one valid route for the customer^s journey. Please advise customers of the options available so that they can make an informed decision about their journey. There may be occasions when a regular fare may be cheaper. Please advise customers of this. An example of alternative routes is below:

A customer wishes to travel from Selby to Bristol:
The customer can travel to London with Hull Trains and across to Bristol with Great Western for ^45 in Standard (4 zones) with route description ^GW & HT ONLY^. Alternatively, the customer can travel into Manchester with TransPennine Express, down to Newport with Arriva Trains Wales and finish their journey to Bristol with Great Western for ^35 in Standard (3 zones) with route description ^TP AW & GW ONLY^.

Please ensure the customer knows which operators their ticket allows them to travel with. Customers must travel with the train operators specified on their ticket and may use any reasonable route to complete their journey, regardless of what is usually considered ^permitted^.

6.   Discounts
Senior Railcard holders and Disabled Persons Railcard holders aged 55 or over are entitled to an extra 20% off Club 55 fares. To issue this ticket please select the relevant Railcard for the discount to be applied.

Club 55 cannot be used in conjunction with any other Railcard, Local Authority Concession Card or other rail promotional offers including GroupSave.

7.   Refunds and change of outward travel dates
A full refund is available on unused Club 55 tickets submitted within 28 days of the expiry date printed on the ticket, subject to a ^10 administration fee.

Customers may change their outward date of travel subject to a ^10 administration fee, provided the revised date is within the promotional dates. This should be done by refunding and rebooking the customer. Return travel should be made within one month of the outward travel date.

8.   Break of journey
Outward portions of Club 55 tickets are valid for travel on the date shown on the ticket. Where a passenger wishes to stop overnight or the journey cannot be completed within one day, break of journey for an overnight stay is allowed.

If a journey does continue into the next day, relevant time restrictions apply and travel must resume before 12:00. No further break of journey is allowed except for the purpose of changing trains.

Return portions of Club 55 tickets are valid for travel until 02:30 on the day following the last day of validity (i.e. one calendar month from outward journey). If a passenger is still travelling at 02:30, they may stay on the train to complete that part of the journey but no further break of journey is allowed and all travel must be completed by 12:00.

NOT valid on Scotrail then?.....!!

You can now book all First TOCs Club55 from www.club55.com

Shame FGW can't be bothered to advertise it though....

Correct website: http://www.club55.co.uk

Better late than never I suppose!  :D

There are posters at Bath Spa, Newport and Weston, all of which I saw today.

I do agree more could of been done though.

Thats the brief Ive read! I Would suspect that the club55 valid in England isnt valid in Scotland and vice-versa. FSR are known to be different when it comes to promotions.

Hmm.  Slight breakdown on the First Group communication front, then, apparently?  :o ::) ;D