It has been for a few years. I've got off the up sleeper there before now. I think it used to be routed there as the only connection off it was for Gatwick off the old platform 4A! 

Admittedly it is a pretty rare event.  The only other time I've seen it was recently when only 7 and 8 were open for through trains because of the improvements and two up trains arrived close together.

That also helps when said services are replaced by buses. If there is no one on board wanting a station the replacement bus can legitimately miss it out and save time.

There are two separate conversations developing here.

1) Are the conditions relating to Advance Tickets spelled out enough?

2) Are the conditions relating to Advance Tickets fair?

I think the answer to question 1 is yes.  Open to more debate is question 2.  FGW^▸ (First Great Western) in the quote in the opening post have muddied the waters somewhat - they should really be attempting to defend why the conditions are as they are.  The fact they haven't - at least as quoted - lets them down.

Except that the only advance tickets you can get from a TVM are the ones you collect after you book on line where you are told what the conditions are.

Is it just me or does anyone else have to hover the cursor over the emoticons to find out what they are sometimes?

I saw someone with one of these for the frst time the other week.  We were travelling from Exeter Central to Honiton.  Whether he felt self conscious or not I don't know but the furtive way he was 'smoking' it invited attention and some raised eyebrows from people sitting further away than I was and probably couldn't see that it wasn't the real thing.

Good luck BNM 

I don't have the time to look for examples at the moment but I was once told the reason for the rule was to even up loadings on trains.

For example a train coming from London to Cornwall would be priced higher east of Plymouth than trains which terminated at Plymouth to encourage people to use the latter if they were not going into Cornwall and thus spread the numbers and give Cornwall travellers a chance to get a seat. 

I am sure someone can prove or disprove this theory.

But it isn't just Reading, it is people changing at Reading too - which means a much wider range of destinations would need to be programmed into barriers if such a thing was possible.  Therefore I agree it has to be manual check on people as they board.  However, as has also been stated, I doubt it is a priority for FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

The Which website is giving users the chance to have their say...

http://www.which.co.uk/home-and-garden/leisure/reviews-ns/best-and-worst-uk-train-companies/your-train-stories/

In the latest RAIL (No 716) Barry Doe highlights a change to the rules regarding advance tickets where the holder travels on a train other than the booked service.

The change applies to anyone who travels on the right day and with the original operator but at a different time.  Prior to the change the holder was liable to pay for an Anytime Single, now they can be sold the cheapest walk-up fare that would have applied had they bought it immediately before travel.  They can also use railcards if the original ticket was railcard discounted and they have the card with them (as they should).

The example quoted is someone booked on the 13:15 London Paddington to Cardiff Central but who travels on the 13:45.  Previously they would have been charged ^103.50, now they can be sold a Super OP^▸ (Original Poster / topic starter) Single at ^40.50.  As before no allowance is made for the price paid for the original ticket against the new one.

The article does not quote any references to official confirmation of this change.  The piece also doesn't make it clear that this only applies to people who choose to travel on a different service.  In the case of disruption one assumes the first available train after a missed connection due to late running would accept the original advance ticket without question.

I agree it would be more helpful if the Herald gave the full story. Although I have to say I think the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website could have made more of it. It does appear in the timetable changes section but a message on the front page would do no harm.

This door is alarmed. Why?  Who scared it?

A few years ago I was lucky enough to be shown around Reading Panel Box and I talked to one of the signalmen about reporting numbers.  At that time the trains from Waterloo were class 1 trains and they had two trains in the space of 20 minutes at the end of the morning rush hour which were both 1C13.  One was from terminating from Waterloo, the other was from Paddington to Weston-super-Mare.

Nor when the 07.30 from London Paddington arrives and there are two minutes to catch the bus to Bishops Lydeard for the West Somerset Railway in order to avoid a 30 minute wait and probably missing the train to Minehead to boot.

Seems FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are taking steps to promote the Pullmans...

I booked a ticket on the company's website for Monday a few days ago and tonight I got an email reminding me of the purchase, wishing me a relaxing journey and pointing out that "On selected services to and from London Paddington you can enjoy a delicious a la carte meal in our Pullman restaurant...."

Only snag was the ticket was a return from Swindon to Yatton....