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Virgin West Coast - does this 'off peak' cheat still exist?
manclass_2
Posts: 13 Forumite
A few yrs ago I was commuting weekly ffrom London to Preston, always buying the saver return which was supposed to be for off peak travel only. However several conductors on the train told me that on the Euston to Preston journey, as long as I wasn't getting into Crewe until after off peak I could catch what was technically a peak train, as in left Euston before 10.30am, same applied for the Manchester train too
So instead I started catching the 8.40 or 9.40 train - they said this also applied to the evening off-peak so again I was able to catch the 6.40 train instead of hanging round for an extra hour.
The conductors told me it wasn't something that was advertised and that the ticket desk would always say for off peak travel you have to start the journey in off peak time but that this wasn't true - only for shorter journeys. (something to do with journey length and time as my ticket also included an additional leg from Preston but not sure if that was part of it too)
I was buying my ticket from Weybridge - Waterloo - Euston - Preston - Burnley for £20-£30 (included young persons discount) during peak time, on the day and returning a mixture of on and off peak depending on circumstances) but they said it was the Euston-Preston journey that counted so didn't matter if I bought the ticket only at Euston on the day, which I did a few times and was the same
I was just wondering if this loophole still existed since they have changed the fare system and upgraded the lines to faster journey times?
So instead I started catching the 8.40 or 9.40 train - they said this also applied to the evening off-peak so again I was able to catch the 6.40 train instead of hanging round for an extra hour.
The conductors told me it wasn't something that was advertised and that the ticket desk would always say for off peak travel you have to start the journey in off peak time but that this wasn't true - only for shorter journeys. (something to do with journey length and time as my ticket also included an additional leg from Preston but not sure if that was part of it too)
I was buying my ticket from Weybridge - Waterloo - Euston - Preston - Burnley for £20-£30 (included young persons discount) during peak time, on the day and returning a mixture of on and off peak depending on circumstances) but they said it was the Euston-Preston journey that counted so didn't matter if I bought the ticket only at Euston on the day, which I did a few times and was the same
I was just wondering if this loophole still existed since they have changed the fare system and upgraded the lines to faster journey times?
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