Ticket "excess" query 24 November 2021 at 11:25AM in Public transport & cycling 14 replies 511 views

Huxley71

Hi, 

I'm not sure if anyone will be able to shed any light on this one for me but I'm just slightly incredulous that it can, in fact, be correct!

I'm currently on a train returning from Birmingham to Exeter. I bought a ticket which cost £90+ for which the return element was off peak, and a split ticket, so initially to Bristol. I blithely went to catch the train this morning only to discover that off peak, which I'd believed to be after 9am, was actually 9.30 and was told I needed to go to the ticket office and pay the excess as my train was at 9.12. 

Okay, my bad, so I went to do just that, however the chap in the ticket office told me that paying the excess would be so much that buying a new ticket would be my cheapest option. Said ticket, from Birmingham to Bristol cost £64.20.

I wasn't really in a position to query this as a) I really needed to catch that train and b) I was a bit tearful as the reason I was travelling in the first place was due to a family bereavement, but seriously, £64.20 for a journey for which I already had a ticket that'd have been valid 18 minutes later? Can this possibly be correct?! 

emmajones1976

The walk up peak fare from Birmingham to Bristol is £64.20 so yes that is right.

https://www.brfares.com/!fares?orig=BHM&dest=BRI

But they havent charged you an excess, just the cost of the whole ticket. Did they tell you how much the excess would have been? I suspect they just persuaded you to buy a new ticket for an easy life, rather than fannying around working out excesses.

As for it only being 18 mins, well there has to be a cut-off somewhere between peak and off peak.

Huxley71

Thanks for your reply and the link.

I do appreciate your point re the cut-off between peak and off peak times, but given that there's a difference of £3.40 between the two respective tickets on a walk in basis I remain somewhat perplexed as to why it's cost me over 60 quid more than that! 

emmajones1976

Because they have just sold you a new ticket for an easy life, the excess wouldnt have been more than the new ticket but its harder for them to work out in the system.

daveyjp

Keep your tickets and complain to whoever operates that ticket office.  Ask for the difference back.

Huxley71

Okay, understood, but that's not what I actually asked them for and clearly isn't providing stellar srandards of customer service if it's cost me substantially more than it needed to, particularly when I'd forked out almost a hundred quid in the first instance.

I guess an email to NR is the way forward. 

Huxley71

Thanks @davejp - missed your post while I was writing mine.

D'you by any chance know if I should complain to the ticket office at New Sreet or to National Rail?

emmajones1976

Complain to whoever operates New Street - which I believe is Network Rail (the bigger stations aren't operated by train operating companies)

t0rt0ise

It would be interesting to hear what they say when you complain as I doubt the seller just couldn't be bothered. 

miller

The relevant fare is £61.90 which is Bristol to Birmingham Off-Peak Return. The Anytime Return is £128.30 (difference £66.40).

£66.40 would be the excess fare; so the cheapest walk up ticket was sold which seems to be correct, albeit a lot of dough.

Condolences to the OP.

KeithP

But we're only talking about the return leg here. 

So surely an excess would only be half that suggested?