London - Return Tickets - Child £6.60

DailyClicker

Hello!

I bought a ticket which is valid from:
Ilford to Chessington South

It cost me £6.60, and on the ticket it says:
'Any Route Permitted'

What does this mean? As I went from:
Ilford - Waterloo - Surbiton - Chessington

Instead of going from:
Ilford - Waterloo - Chessington

At Surbiton, 4 Fare-Evasion Officers 'ganged up' on me, and I feel I was treated extremely unfairly. I asked for his name which he refused but wanted me to fill out some book for fare evasion.

How can it be classed as 'Fare Evasion' when it would cost no more that what I paid going the route I did, and on the ticket it does say 'Any Route Permitted'

Can anyone help me out here please?

Thanks
Stephen

dmg24

Did you try to leave the train at Surbiton? If so, did the ticket allow for a break in journey?

DailyClicker

Yeah, the ticket does because I get off at Waterloo to get onto the Train to Chessington South.

If you have a look at this map:

http://images.intolondon.com/images/intolondon/transport-maps/london-underground-tube-map.gif

You can see in Zone 6 in the bottom left corner there is Chessington South and Surbiton. The train to Surbiton is much quicker and comes more frequently, and I can get a bus to take me to the Chessington South rail station.

Anyone else know why they stopped me and insisted they were right?

MarkyMarkD

A route which involves you getting a bus isn't a valid rail routing.

"Any Route Permitted" doesn't mean that you can travel via any route you like. It means that you can travel via any route which the railway routing manual says is valid. That doesn't include travelling on the wrong line or travelling by bus.

If, as you say, it would have cost no more to buy the right ticket, why didn't you?

DailyClicker

Thanks for your reply. I didn't know that the route would be quicker via Surbiton when I purchased the ticket but was told at Waterloo it would be fine.

How can they be allowed to put 'Any Route Permitted' on the ticket. It creates confusion for no reason. Would be much easier just writing 'Valid on Correct Route Only' if it means what you said, or leave it out totally.

I have an Oyster card, so bus travel would be free in that zone.

Have they got the right to charge me for fare evasion still even though they still got the same money and they have unclear details on the tickets?

Thanks

MarkyMarkD

Of course they have the right.

You didn't travel on the right route.

You can't buy a ticket from London to Manchester and then go to Penzance instead, and say "it's OK because the fare's the same". That's effectively what you've done.

At the foot of a standard British rail ticket

http://gallery.hd.org/_exhibits/travel/_more2001/_more12/train-tickets-national-rail-standard-class-STD-cheap-day-return-from-Norbiton-to-Aldershot-12Dec2001-England-DHD.jpg

it says "unless otherwise stated it may be used ... by any permitted route". To interpret "by any permitted route" as meaning "you can travel via any route you like" is unreasonable given the footnote wording. It clearly means any route which is permitted not that any route is permitted.

On a simple journey like this there may only be one permitted route. On longer-distance journeys, there may be dozens which are equally permissible. That is why the wording is there.

DailyClicker

Thanks for your reply.

That link did not work =( Came up with a small pink picture!?

I have not done that, because the distance between Chessington South and Surbiton is around 10 mins. Totally different to going to a different part of the country and back.

I have an Orange Ticket which says:

Route
+Any Permitted.

No mention about any more details on the front. On the back it has an advertisement for PlusBus.info, and says Travel is subjected to NRCoC.

Clearly misleading, and wrong for them to have 'jumped' on me like this.

I'm only 16 and it does not need 4 men to deal with me. They just did it to attempt to scare me and threaten me.

dmg24

MarkyMarkD is correct.

I don't think it is misleading at all. Your ticket allows you to go from A to B, not from A to (B - C) and then take the bus to B!

DailyClicker

So why does the ticket not say, 'Direct Routes Only'

If everyone asked for the NRCoC and read it before they travelled, National Rail would have seriously problems and delays.

Wouldn't that make it clearer for the person travelling!?

dzug1

Wouldn't you have been better off buying a one day travelcard for zones 1-6? Covers the bus as well.

Any permitted route means any permitted rail route from London to Chessington. Surbiton is a different place on a different line (after Raynes Park) so can't possibly be permitted.

DailyClicker

I definately would have, and probably would have been the same price as well!

So there is only ONE permitted route really from Waterloo to Chessington South, so why do they say ANY Permitted Route, it makes it seem like there is more than one, like the one I went!?

=(