Request Stops

[whole diary]

[Chris2]

I know the policy for boarding at a request stop, is to indicate to the driver you wish to board.

On friday, I was travelling to a request stop, there had been a full ticket check on board, before my stop.
Am I allowed to assume in this instance the train should stop at my request stop?

The train in this case did go past my request stop, so I then contacted the conductor to arrange it to stop at the next station, as on the return journey the train was fast with no intermediate stops.

[JayMac]

From the way I read your post, you are kind of assuming the guard/conductor looked carefully at the destination printed on the ticket. They don't always! Rather than relying on an assumption you should always inform the guard/conductor, in plenty of time, if you wish to alight at a request stop.

A whole different story if you did inform him/her and he/she forgot.....

[Chris2]

There was more than one passenger for this stop on board the train.

[Tim]

The policy is to "inform the guard".  At least one passenger needs to speak - you can't assume he will pick up your request to stop from what is printed on your ticket. Sure many will but it is a bit unreasonable to blame the guard if you haven't spoken to him (they are not superhuman). 

It makes sense to speak to him anyway as in my experience (mostly Scotrail) they will often ask you to use a certain door to disembark (usually the rear public or rear "cab" door) to save the delay in operating the central door locking.

[IndustryInsider]

It's a bit hit and miss with request stops, on the Cotswold Line the two trains a day that serve the halts always stop and so there's no real need to. The Conductor might well have done a ticket check, but always I'd ask him to make sure. Ticket destinations are not always where a passenger wishes to get off - for example quite often passengers who've bought a Kingham to London ticket that morning and catch the last train home, actually get off at the request stop at Shipton.

[Chris2]

I have travelled along this route over 100 times this year, and it depends which conductor you have, but I have never had to request specifically for the train to stop. Sometimes you get asked where do you want to get off, as I travel on a season ticket but my season ticket is to this request stop.
The conductor was distracted while checking tickets.

[JayMac]

Ahhh. Complacency then. Past performance is no guarantee of future success. The clue is there: Request Stop. Relying on others, be it the conductor or fellow passengers was not a recipe for success in this instance.

[grahame]

Let's say you get on a train at Avoncliff in the morning and buy a return ticket to Westbury.   You spend a happy day in Westbury and get an evening train back, but you get off at Trowbridge to meet up with your girlfriend. If the conductor (who had checked your ticket between Westbury and Trowbridge) had registered "must stop at Avoncliff" with the driver, he would then have looke a right twat.

I can think of other circumstances too ... always advisable to tell the conductor explicitly, I think.

[amiddl]

I suspect the challenge for many travelers is when stops are sometimes request and sometimes not especially where occasional travelers are involved rather than regulars or those who read the timetable more throughly.

On a recent Gunnislake train to Plymouth, several passengers watched in horror as the train proceeded through Calstock station without stopping and were then faced with sitting on Bere Alston or similar for a couple of hours or traveling into Plymouth.

On some of these rural routes where stops are sometimes request and sometimes not an announcement should be made or the guard should take responsibility for ensuring passengers know that they must request a stop.

[noddingdonkey]

isn't Calstock always a request stop?

[plymothian]

isn't Calstock always a request stop?

Yes, likewise Dockyard, Keyham and Bere Ferres.  These are marked in the timetable and would have also been on the boards at the stations and announcements at Plymouth.

[amiddl]

So it is!!! Just looked at the timetable -  thats the problem I guess.

As a reasonably regular traveler from Gunnislake to Plymouth and normally a fairly savvy traveler (probably doing about 200-300 miles on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) per week at least) -  I hadn't twigged it was a request (or the others for that fact - Has it changed in the last couple of years ). I hadn't actually looked at the small print and made the big assumption because trains stopped there some were request and some were not.

I've actually used Calstock and never had to flag down a train and I guess I have been lucky that on days I got off there someone else had requested the stop.

[amiddl]

Just doing a quick check of Rail Enquiries, National Rail Enquiries seems to clearly state a request stop.

But FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s site seems happy for me to request train times to Calstock via the Train Times and Tickets function and didn't seem to mention that Calstock is a request stop anywhere (though I must admit I didn't actually buy the ticket but got to the summary without a mention).

[Chris2]

Ahhh. Complacency then. Past performance is no guarantee of future success. The clue is there: Request Stop. Relying on others, be it the conductor or fellow passengers was not a recipe for success in this instance.

I can't argue with your statement, I guess I was getting complacent, especially as the train was running late.

[plymothian]

Just doing a quick check of Rail Enquiries, National Rail Enquiries seems to clearly state a request stop.

But FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s site seems happy for me to request train times to Calstock via the Train Times and Tickets function and didn't seem to mention that Calstock is a request stop anywhere (though I must admit I didn't actually buy the ticket but got to the summary without a mention).

Yeah but I can do the same for Lymphstone Commando and so on.