Club55 train tickets

oneeyedchris

Club55 is an occasional promotion run by Arriva trains wales. It allows over 55s to travel specified sections of their network at reduced rates.

My question concerns getting on and getting off at stations on their network but not specified on the Club55 map (the map is on their website).

To illustrate: It is possible to buy a ticket from station A to station Z, changing at stations F and M. It is not possible to buy a ticket from station B to station T, even though these stations are on the Arriva trains network. It may be because these stations are not manned.

If I were to buy the station A to station Z ticket, but actually get on at station B and off at station T would there be a penalty.

Thanks for any assistance.

agrinnall

I don't really understand why you can't buy a ticket from B to T even if they are unmanned stations. Scotrail also run a Club55 promotion and I've never had any problem buying tickets online between any two stations, whether they are manned or not - the only thing is that you either need to get the tickets posted to you or collect at a manned station (or one that has a ticket machine) in advance of travel.

oneeyedchris

Thanks Agrinnall. This is the response:

'The Journey details, dates or times entered aren’t valid for this promotion'.

It doesn't make sense. I think I will email them and ask why.

dzug1

I'm not really following you.


The map only shows major stations - it doesn't mean that tickets are not available from other stations


Have you actually tried buying the B to T ticket? If it's not on offer it probably means it is not a valid journey for some reason.


Tickets ARE available from unmanned stations - on the train from the conductor if there is no ticket machine there.


And club 55 does allow break of journey provided other conditions (travelling off peak etc) are complied with. So starting/finishing short shouldn't be a problem

I might make more sense of the question if you named actual stations - it's very hard to envisage what you mean if it's more than just taking the map over literally

oneeyedchris

I have actually narrowed it down to the departing station which is Chirk. It doesn't work with any station e.g. shrewsbury, tenby.

dzug1

That sounds like a mistake in the ticket search algorithm affecting Chirk

agrinnall

While it's worth reporting to ATW that it's not working don't hold your breath for it to be fixed. I'd suggest going to a manned station and buying the tickets from a person who can override whatever the computer says - I've tried Chirk to Tenby on Scotrail's ticketing system and it's definitely a valid route (not surprising really) so you should be able to buy tickets at the Club55 price over the counter.

Although I notice that nobody has yet addressed your original question, so it may indeed be possible to buy tickets with a different starting point and get on at Chirk, hopefully someone will be able to answer that.

dzug1

agrinnall wrote: »

Although I notice that nobody has yet addressed your original question, so it may indeed be possible to buy tickets with a different starting point and get on at Chirk, hopefully someone will be able to answer that.

I did refer to Club 55 tickets allowing break of journey (before I knew the actual trip). It's in the FAQ on the ATW site


That implies that joining or leaving at a station on a permitted route is legitimate, subject to remaining off peak

agrinnall

dzug1 wrote: »

I did refer to Club 55 tickets allowing break of journey (before I knew the actual trip). It's in the FAQ on the ATW site


That implies that joining or leaving at a station on a permitted route is legitimate, subject to remaining off peak

Sorry, so you did, I should learn to read the whole post....

oneeyedchris

Thank you agrinnall and dzug1 for your posts.

dzug1 I'm sure you're right about it being a system error and abignnall I fear you are right about the chances of getting a reply from ATW.

If I don't hear from them in the next few days I will buy a ticket in advance from a manned station. Whatever happens I'll update the thread.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Save the hassle and give them a call - much quicker

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