Great Western Coffee Shop

An internal investigation has been launched by First Great Western (FGW) after discrepancies in the company^s ticket prices for Swindon fans wanting to travel to London for Saturday^s Wembley final.

The probe comes days after one fan said he was quoted three different prices by the train company^s staff before finally securing the tickets for ^15.95.

Another disgruntled fan said that his friend was offered ^15.95 return tickets to London a day after he purchased the same fare on the same train for ^45.

Daniel Harper, a taxi driver from Park South, said he was left ^disgusted^ after he was offered tickets almost three times more expensive than his rail ticket to the Swindon versus Fulham match in January.

The 29-year-old said: ^When I asked why the tickets were so expensive operators told me the company had removed their cheaper offer, this turned out to be false as I know others going up to London on this day with the same offer. I rang them on three separate occasions and every time I was given a different price but they were all around ^45. They^re a disgrace and are trying to rip people off rather than encouraging people to use public transport. Everyone wants to enjoy our day out at Wembley. I think the funniest part though is that I received a letter from the company saying that the ^15.95 promotion was removed because of high demand, even though I ended up getting my ticket for that price.^

Meanwhile another fan also contacted the Adver with a similar story.

Kane Wollen, a garage manager from Kingsdown, said he paid ^45 return for four tickets with the rail operator on Sunday before discovering that other fans had been quoted ^15.95, including a tube journey, for return tickets from Swindon railway station on Monday.

The 36-year-old said: ^I think this is really appalling, you have an entire town that is feeling good about a real positive event and then you have a big company trying to make money off it. You may have only heard from two fans on this occasion but I bet there are thousands that will come out of the woodwork after this.^

A First Great Western spokesman said: ^Our specialist team is currently investigating the situation to see what happened.^

From the Swindon Advertiser (http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/8184793.Fans_fear_rip_off_over_rail_prices/):

If the game runs late no doubt people will moan if their advance ticket is not accepted on a later train.

Given the possibility of queuing at Paddington if the passenger volume is great, how does it work if you have a ticket for a specific train?

You've hit the nail on the head - note that Wollen bought his tickets on Sunday when the reservation system was down, temporarily removing advance purchase tickets from sale, which was clearly advertised on all the ticket sales websites I saw. Maybe the headling should be "Swindon Town fan didn't read notice talling him to wait until 1100 when advance tickets would be available again" but it doesn't have quite the same ring.