Great Western Coffee Shop

This topic has been moved to Frequent Posters Club (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?board=35).

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=15977.0

This is a temporary move while I resolve the situation. 

It seems to me that a "via Melksham" ticket should be valid on trains travelling via Melksham, but it seems that it's only avid on trains that actually stop there.

I am working to get this matter resolved ... it seems that things aren't clear with some customer facing suggesting that "via Melksham" fares are only valid on trains that call at Melksham, and others suggesting that they are not valid on diverted trains.

For today, if you travel between West Wilts / Frome and Chippenham / Swindon and pass through Melksham, pay what you're asked, get a note of who sold you the ticket, and we'll sort it out later.

Example - an "any time" Trowbridge to Swindon day return is ^18.50 any route, ^10.10 via Melksham and (personally) it seems odd to insist on a stop at Melksham when Reading to Gatwick tickets "via Gomshall" don't require a stop at Gomshall, for example.

I bet there are very few direct Reading to Gatwick trains that call at Gomshall even though "the common" ticket specifies via Gomshall and is issued frequently by conductors, booking offices, TVM's...

I have seen an example where a negative easement forces the change/call at the routed via point, but my interpretation is the train does not have to call otherwise most people travelling to Gatwick Airport would be breaking the rules.

Apologies grahame for repeating what you said in the last paragraph of your previous post. I promise I didn't read it properly before posting mine... great minds though ;-)

Basically, I'm pretty sure that the "via Melksham" subset of "any permitted" should be accepted on any train or bus that passes through Melksham - after all, "via Gomshall", "via Newbury" and "via Taunton" - a "via Westbury" ticket is even valid on the 17:07 Paddington to Bristol which goes round the curve avoiding Westbury!

From the fares manual ...
"Where the fare specifies a particular route, you may choose only those routes listed in the Guide which pass through the station shown in the route description"

Agreed. Thanks for tidying up my posts. If I've got anything to add I'll continue it over on this thread in Frequent Posters which I should have done in the first place :)