Off Peak Return Cambridge to Yatton: Validity of return

[whole diary]

[simonp]

Hello,

First post here. I have had validity of off-peak return Cambridge to Yatton challenged when returning to Cambridge using a reservation which is shown as valid by all the ticketing websites I have tried (trainline.com, fgw^s own site, and East Coast - I book with them as I can reserve my bike at the same time using their website) , arriving Cambridge at 10.30am or so. The return journey in question is 06:37 from Yatton arriving at Paddington 08:44 (clearly in a peak period), crossing London to Kings Cross, depart 09:45 arriving at Cambridge 10:32. Interestingly, the reverse journey, using identical travel times, is not offered as an Off Peak Return. Only advance or anytime are then possible.

Probably not relevant, but the out journey was Cambridge 13:45->King^s Cross, then 15:30 Paddington -> Yatton arriving 17:34. All were weekday travel.

Are the websites all getting it wrong? AIUI^▸ (as I understand it), restriction YC applies on the return (which says it^s peak travel on the return). However I noticed some information about journeys starting inside or outside the network area and ending inside it, travelling through London, when I looked on brfares.com. The language was a bit unclear to me and I can^t currently see why the off peak should be valid.  I experimented with changing the destination from Yatton to for example Rugby and the same thing happens: an early return is classed as off-peak.

Any advice on what might be going on?

Thanks,

Simon 

[JayMac]

Welcome to the forum simonp. 

The 'Network Area' easement doesn't apply to your return from Yatton to Cambridge at the time you are travelling. It would apply if you were returning from Yatton in the afternoon and hit the evening peak out of Kings Cross or Liverpool Street to Cambridge. You'd be allowed to travel on an evening peak service to Cambridge.

As for the earliest return train you can catch from Yatton, looking at restriction YC and the list of stations and the times you can travel from them, it would appear there is an error as Yatton is missing from the list. Worle is there (valid after 0750) as is Nailsea & Backwell (valid after 0800).

Because of that omission you'd have to follow the 'rule':

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

Which would mean you can take any service from Yatton that connects, most logically, at Bristol Temple Meads for a departure from there after 0815 as per the restriction. That would be the 0830 to Paddington. As there are no rules on maximum connection times I'd suggest you can take any train from Yatton to connect into a service at another station listed under restriction YC, as long as it's on a permitted route of course.

As per my reading of the restriction you would be permitted to travel on the 0637 from Yatton, but only to then connect onto a valid service further up the line, which means a long wait at Bristol Temple Meads, Bristol Parkway, Bath Spa, Chippenham or Swindon!

BUT, if National Rail Enquiries is giving you an itinerary from Yatton at 0637 through to Cambridge on the return portion of your Off Peak Return, then your ticket is valid. NRE^‡(resolve) is the definitive public source for fares and validity information. Also, if a ticket retailer is offering travel on the 0637 from Yatton on the Off Peak Return then that is also valid. Advice in these circumstances is to print your itinerary as proof that NRE and the retailer have given you those trains to travel on. As you've done in the past, go for seat reservations as well.

The error in the National Rail journey planner is probably as a consequence of the omission of Yatton from restriction YC.

[simonp]

Thanks for the detailed reply. Indeed you are correct, simply changing the destination to one station either way as you suggest prevents off-peak return being offered as an option. That^s obviously a mistake.

Looking ahead to next time I need to make this trip - a couple of weeks away - without that off-peak ticket it^s possible to do it almost as cheaply using Advance tickets. Or if I swap the half day off work from the thursday evening to the tuesday morning - which is what I was previously doing - I can go super off-peak, or even do the advance tickets option and get the cost down to as little as ^50.50 return (off peak standard class return is ^83.50). Super off peak would also be valid* at those times, for ^66.50.

Thanks again,

Simon

* Maybe.

[EBrown]

Print the NRE^‡(resolve) journey plan; any issues, just show it to a member of staff when they question it. Worst they can do is withdraw the ticket and give you a zero-fare excess (entitling you to complete the journey).