Excess fares for not completing your journey?

[Voyager2002]

Suppose you buy a ticket from London to Bath, but leave the train at a station on the way (for example Salisbury). Logic suggests that you have actually received less transport than you paid for, so the idea that you would have to pay extra for getting off early seems ridiculous. But at the moment the cheapest ticket available to travel to Bath is less than half the price of the cheapest ticket to Salisbury.

So: suppose you go to Salisbury using a ticket to Bath. You are not allowed to do so, and therefore would presumably be charged some kind of excess fare. But how on earth could they calculate it? And how much would it be?

[coral]

I would have thought it was the different between the single fare that day and the fare you paid perhaps? One trick ive often used is to buy a ticket from the station before the one you need to leave to use to leave the station

E.g. London --> Loughborough £20 rtn
Luton --> Loughborough £50 rtn (even though its less distance)

So i used to buy a London --> Loughborough ticket & a Luton Airport Parkway --> Luton Ticket (About 2 quid) and use that to leave the station - problem solved!

[Altarf]

So: suppose you go to Salisbury using a ticket to Bath. You are not allowed to do so, and therefore would presumably be charged some kind of excess fare. But how on earth could they calculate it? And how much would it be?

It depends on the ticket you buy whether it allows a 'break of journey' or not. Generally only open returns allow a 'break of journey'.

As to how they calculate the excess fare:

If you start, break and resume, or end your journey at an intermediate station when you are not entitled to do so, you will be liable to pay an excess fare. This excess fare will be the difference between the price paid for the ticket you hold and the price of the lowest priced ticket(s) available for immediate travel that would have entitled you to start, break and resume, or end your journey at that station on the service(s) you have used.

http://www.virgintrainsfares.co.uk/Button_Bar_Pages/national.asp

[amcluesent]

>the one you need to leave to use to leave the station<

Can you still get 'platform' tickets if you are a train spotter and just want to note down the engine # as the go past? I wonder how much they cost...and should you just happen to get on the train...:)