‘Drip pricing’ such as train ticket booking fees to be targeted by Government

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Oh, what a shame - Trainline is going to have to add their booking fees to the cost of the displayed ticket!

FromThe i, via MSN

The Government is to crackdown on so-called “drip-pricing” such as hidden fees included in the price of train tickets and food deliveries.

It comes as the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) revealed that three-quarters of providers in the transport sector have hidden fees in their product prices.

Ministers want to tackle the issue of “drip pricing”, which is when shoppers pay a higher price at the checkout than originally advertised due to extra but necessary charges (such as booking fees for train tickets), and are launching a Government consultation on Monday.

Improving the transparency of journey prices would be welcomed by travellers in England and Wales who saw their rail fares go up by an average of 5.9 per cent earlier this year.(...cont)

[grahame]

I thank goodness that we don't have the USA system of adding sales tax at the till ...

[GBM]

Oh, what a shame - Trainline is going to have to add their booking fees to the cost of the displayed ticket!

FromThe i, via MSN

The Government is to crackdown on so-called “drip-pricing” such as hidden fees included in the price of train tickets and food deliveries.

It comes as the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) revealed that three-quarters of providers in the transport sector have hidden fees in their product prices.

Ministers want to tackle the issue of “drip pricing”, which is when shoppers pay a higher price at the checkout than originally advertised due to extra but necessary charges (such as booking fees for train tickets), and are launching a Government consultation on Monday.

Improving the transparency of journey prices would be welcomed by travellers in England and Wales who saw their rail fares go up by an average of 5.9 per cent earlier this year.(...cont)

Unfortunately it is a consultation.
Six months to collect data.
Six months to prepare a report.
Six months for responses.

Next Government, please!

[grahame]

Next Government, please!

So is it a great way of the existing folks proposing something popular to help their public rating without having to follow through?

[stuving]

Next Government, please!

So is it a great way of the existing folks proposing something popular to help their public rating without having to follow through?

It's more that it's the usual way to revise laws like this. It isn't being done by DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), but the DBT (new name, old DoT near enough). The proposal is to amend the Price Marking Order 2004, to address five areas:
    display of pricing information
    hidden fees and drip pricing
    fake and misleading reviews
    online platforms
    online interface orders
More details are given in the documents for the consultation. This closes on 15 October 2023, and a response is promised for "autumn 2023". There was also some research done on drip pricing (This research investigates the prevalence of online drip pricing across selected sectors and assesses the detriment it may cause to UK^▸ (United Kingdom) consumers.) to justify acting on it.