asked to leave train with split ticket

ben_james_1984

Hi All

I've been traveling from Reading to Coventry for the past 18 months by splitting the ticket Reading - Banbury (£13ish) Banbury to Coventry (another tenner or so).

Over the past few weeks when buying the ticket at the office the people at the desk have started warning me that I may be asked to leave the train at Banbury. And today they stamped my ticket with VALIDATION EXPLAINED which I have never seen before.

Sure enough, when my ticket was checked at Oxford the inspector said I would have to get off the train at Banbury and join another one later on. Are they allowed to do this? I thought the splitting of tickets was allowed under the conditions of carriage and cannot find anything in there terms and conditions that states otherwise. The inspector couldn't show me anything either and I argued to stay on the train unless he could provide documentation stating otherwise.

Who is right here?

Help/advice on what to do in future would be appreciated.

Ben

apt

I don't think the inspector is correct. You can use split tickets providing the train is scheduled to stop at that station. If he wants to argue the toss you could always get off and get straight back on the train at Banbury.

ben_james_1984

Thats what I thought.

just never had the ticket stamped with authorisation explained and been told at the ticket office they could do that. Nor have I been asked to get off before.

Be good to know one way or the other for the future.

Owain_Moneysaver

19. Using a combination of tickets
You may use two or more tickets for one journey as long as together they cover the entire journey and one of the following applies: ...
(b) the train you are in calls at a station where you change from one ticket to another.
National Conditions of Carriage.

Ask the ticket clerk or inspector which clause of NCoC you are contravening by splitting your ticket.

WestonDave

ATOC's terms and conditions state:-

19. Using a combination of tickets
You may use two or more tickets for one journey as long as together they cover the entire
journey and one of the following applies:
(a) they are both Zonal Tickets (unless special conditions prohibit their use);
(b) the train you are in calls at a station where you change from one
ticket to another; or
(c) one of the tickets is a Season Ticket (which for this purpose does not include
Season Tickets or travel passes issued on behalf of a passenger transport
executive or local authority) or a leisure travel pass, and the other ticket(s) is/are not.
You must comply with any restriction shown on the tickets relating to travel in the trains of
a particular Train Company or Train Companies (see Condition 10).

So in general ticket splitting is permitted, but you need to check whether there is any restriction via your particular train company. I suspect however that quoting "ATOC conditions of carriage 19b states ticket splitting is permitted provided the train calls at the station where you change over tickets" should be enough to put most guards off. Worth querying though if some particular restriction has been imposed by your train operator and why that is contrary to the general conditions of carriage.

spiro

You also need to be aware of 'Set down only' and 'Pick up only' stops on route but not sure this applies here.

With the advent of more stations having automated ticket barriers they may expect, and possibly be within their rights, to expect you to go out through the barrier at Banbury before coming back through the barrier to use the Banbury-Coventry ticket.

wealdroam

OP, post your query on RailUK Forums.

There are people there who can give you a definitive answer.

benjus

spiro wrote: »

With the advent of more stations having automated ticket barriers they may expect, and possibly be within their rights, to expect you to go out through the barrier at Banbury before coming back through the barrier to use the Banbury-Coventry ticket.

There are no ticket barriers at Banbury... there is occasionally a ticket inspector at the entrance/exit but not very frequently in my experience.

Stigy

It is acceptable to use a combination of tickets, as long as they equate to the full journey you're making.

Owain_Moneysaver

WestonDave wrote: »

So in general ticket splitting is permitted, but you need to check whether there is any restriction via your particular train company.

Train companies restrictions cannot be more restrictive than NCoC.

geordieracer

What exactly are your tickets and what do they say on them? This is rather important due to differing time restrictions and TOC restrictions too though given your doing XC all the way i see no reason for this journey to be exempt unless the ticket type is different for the second leg.