Great Western Coffee Shop

I bought at NLS ticket office an off peak return to Swindon this morning, travelling on the 0828, change at BRI, price £20.20 (as shown online, although of interest at 0816 the TVM was still showing an eye watering £49.00. Hmmm....)

The ticket helpfully gave the online URL for its restrictions.   www.nre.co.uk/WG.  That says not valid before 0833, except from certain stations valid from xxxx as shown below:-


08:20 from Avoncliff
07:50 from Avonmouth
08:15 from Bradford-on-Avon
08:25 from Cheltenham Spa
08:15 from Chippenham
08:05 from Clifton Down
08:10 from Ivybridge
08:15 from Lawrence Hill
08:10 from Menheniot
08:10 from Montpelier
08:25 from Newton Abbot
08:05 from Redland
07:45 from St Andrews Road
08:15 from St Germans
08:10 from Saltash
08:00 from Sea Mills
07:40 from Severn Beach
07:55 from Shirehampton
08:10 from Stapleton Road
08:20 from Swindon
08:22 from Westbury
08:20 from Weston-super-Mare
08:25 from Worcester Shrub Hill

It also helpfully says  Off-Peak tickets from stations not listed are valid for connections into trains departing as shown above. 

So, can anyone explain a) why my ticket was valid (is it the Chippenham validity?) and b) how the uninitiated passenger is expected to understand this?  I applaud the concept of trying to be more transparent as to which tickets are valid on which service, but I feel like there is some way to go.  Surely the better option would be to state on ticket "Not valid before xxxx" as there is enough room to do this.

At the bottom of this page lies a small section entitled "Ticket machine price guarantee"
https://www.gwr.com/help-and-support/refunds-and-compensation/unused-ticket-refunds


I think I'd rather have the money in my pocket though than chance my arm getting it back in time for Christmas given other forum members' experiences!

I have also just noticed that GWR provide free postage if the booking is made within the appropriate time frame online.

a) Your journey left Chippenham at 0924 which as you say, would seem to make it qualify.
b) You said it!

The Off Peak Single/Returns are also valid from Bedminster and Parson St on that train. They too are missing from the easement list.

You could ask GWR to add them to the list, as they've obviously been coded into booking engines. Then ask them why the TVM wouldn't sell you that fare before you departed. Then ask them why passengers from Yatton, Worle, Weston Milton and Weston Super Mare can't connect into the 0900 at Bristol Temple Meads with an Off Peak Single/Return. Why only extend the easement as far as Nailsea & Backwell for that particular train? Then you could ask them about the eye-watering Anytime fare...

Then you can sit tight and wait for the reply. Should come just before Christmas*.





*Year unspecified

Because it isn't an easement?  The tickets are generally available on departures at or after 08:33 and the calls at Parson Street are at 08:35 and Bedminster at 08:38.

I think you could make a case for it being valid on the 0728 changing at Bristol Temple Meads onto the 0800 (0746 from Nailsea & Backwell), but not on the 0746 direct. That gets to Chippenham at 0824 (after the 0815 easement).

The key phrase is "connecting into", I reckon the journey planners would allow it if you could force a change at Bristol Temple Meads and have probably been coded for changes > 0. I've tried on webtis/trainline powered sites without success to force it to show me, but none will offer the 0728 departure.

It's all fairly academic as any gripper could accuse you of getting on the 0746 from NLS not BRI so I wouldn't chance it myself.

I put via Bedminster into the EMT site and unfortunately the 0728 did come up with a change at BRI but didn't show as valid with the Off-Peak Return. My musings directly above can be disregarded!

For clarity, I wasn't suggesting that it should be valid on any train earlier than the 0828, as that is the one that shows up on the journey planner and indeed for which I was sold a ticket.  I was querying why the online page that clarified the restrictions didn't include NLS.

However, I do agree that the whole thing is even more confusing given the Chippenham 0815 threshold. And one can always split at BRI and save a fortune against the £49 fare, as an anytime return from BRI to SWI is just 22.20, so 27.10 including the NLS to BRI anytime return.

Absolutely and the "connections into" bit does take some working out on the fly (e.g. at the TVM with no help). My curiosity led me to look at the 0728; there must be some additional coding restrictions added to that 0728 (with a change) in the journey planner which are not explained by the restriction text IMO.

At least you've got a nice work around though. I am now splitting stuff at weekends to get around SWT's weekend super off-peak stuff... this could turn into a life's work :D

I think 'connecting into' is meant to mean you must physically be making a connection at the named station. Merely calling at Chippenham after 0815 would not satisfy the ticket conditions.

I think Chippenham gets that easement to allow folk from Melksham to make certain Off Peak Single/Return journeys using the 0749 from Melksham.

My interpretation is that you change trains onto the Chippenham train, and it has to be an official change. I.e. No using the previous train from a previous stop and then taking a change at Chippenham for the sake of it.

The condition:


doesn't seem to be honoured very much. For example, the WG restriction applies to Trowbridge-Taunton off-peak, but nationalrail.co.uk doesn't allow travel on the 0755 from Trowbridge, which is the connection shown into the 0827 from Westbury (from which station WG permits off-peak tickets to be used).

Incidentally why does WG list Westbury, Bradford on Avon, Avoncliff but not Trowbridge?