Split train ticket on southern rail saving me £1500 a year. Can I claim money back?

Box22

Hi,

I have been commuting to London since July, I was paying approximately £500 a month from East Sussex. I then discovered in December that if I split my journey into two tickets it now costs me only £350 a month. I wasted over £800, which is a lot of money for me! Plus my boyfriend was doing the same for 2 months which cost us another £200. So nearly £1000 in total.

I contacted National rail and southern rail. National rail said it was southern rails responsibility and Southern said it was 'the customer responsibility to check train fares'.

I don't have all the tickets from July but I have a lot of them and I have some bank statements as proof.

Is there anyone out there that could let me know if I'm wasting my time by pushing it further or if there is something I can do? I would really appreciate your advice as I have no idea.

I did read in the evening standard about a man who took a train line to court over split tickets and won all his money back, but he was a lawyer, and I'm not!

Thanks in advance!!

anotheruser

You need to get this moved to the Public Transport section.

anotheruser

Or, just post the same again to make it confusing for everyone...

bigadaj

To save everyone's time then yes OP, you should forget about what you paid previously and just enjoy paying less now.

Box22

Sorry not done this before! Thanks for your advice everyone!

Owain_Moneysaver

Box22 wrote: »

I did read in the evening standard about a man who took a train line to court over split tickets and won all his money back, but he was a lawyer, and I'm not!

Railway stations are obliged to offer you the full range of valid tickets for the journey you ask for, but they are not obliged to try and find you a split fare for a journey if you only give them the start and end points.

Split fares can have greater restrictions than a through ticket; in particular the train must stop at the station where the split takes place (unless one [but not both] of the tickets is a season, ranger or rover ticket).

There would have to be a specific reason why that person got his money back. If the railway station erroneously told you that a split fare wasn't valid, after you'd asked for it, then you probably would have a claim.

alanq

Is this the case?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/10362033/Commuters-could-be-in-line-for-savings-following-court-case.html

Biggles

alanq wrote: »

Is this the case?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/10362033/Commuters-could-be-in-line-for-savings-following-court-case.html

That's a bit different, in that it isn't split ticketing but, effectively, a cheaper ticket for the same journey, albeit starting from a different point.

I'm not sure how they could sell you a 'split' season ticket, as part of the split ticketing deal is that you must use a train which stops at the specified intermediate station. How are they to know, when selling you the ticket, whether you may sometimes prefer to catch a through train that doesn't stop at the splitting station?

innovate

So will the next post be entitled "Help! Was fined for using split ticket! How was I to know that the train didn't stop at the station I didn't want to get off at'?

puk999

innovate wrote: »

So will the next post be entitled "Help! Was fined for using split ticket! How was I to know that the train didn't stop at the station I didn't want to get off at'?

Unlikely. That title is 128 characters and there's an 85 character limit on thread titles