Thameslink won't let people use the cheapest tickets

yorkie2

It's been in the news recently that apparently Train Companies will need to offer the full range of fares from ticket machines, however they are prosecuting a passenger who tried to do that.

Currently, a passenger who turns up at a station and wishes to purchase a combination of tickets (aka "split ticketing") for immediate travel, when the ticket office is closed, and a ticket vending machine is available, can only do so from selected ticket machines.

Most ticket machines can not sell ticket combinations because they are only set up to sell tickets from the station they are located at.

I would argue that the conditions give us the right to purchase a combination of tickets (Condition 19) and that if they are not available, that should mean the "full range" is not available, therefore Condition 3 applies, so we should buy a ticket that enables us to make part of the journey, and then purchase the rest en-route.

The DfT gave the impression that a new Code of Conduct may assist us in this (see this report by the BBC) however Thameslink & Great Northern (owned by Govia Group) have told a passenger who travelled from Maidstone to St Albans that he should not have bought a ticket for part of the journey under Condition 3.

Thameslink & Great Northern are threatening such a passenger with PROSECUTION because he did not buy the more expensive through fare, despite the ticket office being closed and the machine at his origin station not selling the tickets he wished to purchase.

The Train Companies are not going to sign up to any meaningful Code of Conduct willingly, they are going to continue to prosecute and persecute passengers who use "split tickets".

Sadly there is no-one within the DfT who has the clout to stand up to them!

Passenger Focus and London Travelwatch talk a good game, but they do nothing to make real changes.

The likes of Claire Perry use language that makes people think that she cares about our rights, but they do nothing to stop Train Companies prosecuting us for attempting to stand up for our rights!

There is a discussion about this matter here.

Is there ANYONE who can do anything about this? I suspect not and the Train Companies will continue trample all over our rights time and time again, as the awful punitive laws (including utterly indefensible strict liability laws) are all on their side and no-one can stop them....:(

(I hope to be proven wrong, but I am not optimistic)

Jeff_Bridges_hair

I was just reading that over there tonight when I had a spare 5 minutes and whilst they are owned by the same parent company I think its unfair to give Thameslink the brunt of the problem here given its ran by Southeastern.

yorkie2

It is the rail industry as a whole where the responsibility lies, and the DfT need to take the lead.

The OP claims it is Thameslink prosecuting them, not Southeastern?

Not that I am defending Southeastern; I've heard some shocking incidents involving them.