Weekend First & Volo

[whole diary]

[broadgage]

I now avoid weekend travel as far as posible.
Part of the point of paying the first class fare is the hope or expectation that first class will be relatively free of drunks, dogs, screaming children, rucksacks and baby carriages. On weekday trains this is normally the case.

Weekend first however removes much of the attraction since first class now resembles steerage, but with larger seats.
On a recent weekend journy from Taunton to London, I already had a first class ticket. First class was very crowded, with every seat taken either by weekend first ticket holders, or by their infants, luggage, and belongings.
I only got a seat by removing luggage, against the protests of the owners, whose children screamed for much of the journey.
Not an experience that I would choose to repeat ! But also no grounds for formal complaint or compensation. After all, it would be argued that I got the seat that I paid for, and that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) cant be liable for the behaviour of other passengers.

Weekdays only for me now, except in emergencies.

And on 2 weeday trains, we still have a restaurant.

[bobm]

Certainly aim for the 12:00 or 12:55 restaurant services if I can!  I thought weekend first was confined to one coach so regular first class passengers could opt to avoid the problems you encountered?

[Timmer]

I thought weekend first was confined to one coach so regular first class passengers could opt to avoid the problems you encountered?

That restriction on which carriage/s Weekend First applied to was removed quite sometime ago. It used to be coaches F and G with H reserved for full fare ticket holders. In fact you pretty much have to go back to the days of Intercity or the early days of the Great Western franchise where this restriction on using coach H applied.

[JayMac]

The withdrawal of the facility to buy Weekend First in advance and book a seat is a topic that has popped up on RailUK Forums in the past couple of days. With similar confusion about the new retail procedures.

It appears that 'The Manual' retail staff refer to has yet to be updated, so rail staff who are RailUK contributors have been innocently giving out duff advice.

I smiled to myself at that. It's nice to see rail staff don't always get up to date information either. Of course FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s website says you can still book WF in advance of travel. 

[TerminalJunkie]

It's nice to see rail staff don't always get up to date information either.

On my last trip to Darlington, I didn't fancy returning on the Bank Holiday Friday, so I nipped up to Scotland for a few days instead.

I'd arranged most of my trip at Barnstaple Station (Off-Peak Return Barnstaple-Darlington, 1st Advance Darlington-Glasgow, Open Return Glasgow-Taynuilt, and Std Advance Glasgow-Warrington - Warrington being the most northernly station on the West Coast where I could use the return part of the Barnstaple-Darlington ticket).

One thing I forgot to get was a seat reservation from Warrington to Birmingham so, with a bit of time at Darlington, I tried to book it there.

At first they tried to claim that my BNP^▸ (Barnstaple)-DAR ticket wasn't valid via Warrington (although they had no problem with me using bits of multiple tickets for the journey). I tend to come prepared for situations like this, so pulled out the bits of the Routeing Guide including the three maps that applied to the journey I was taking (TP+CM+CE, if anyone cares).

After a bit of ferreting around in the back office, the supervisor brought out a fairly tatty ring binder, and said that my ticket was only valid via Derby and Birmingham.

I then pointed out that the date on my copy was March 2011, whilst his was August 1996!

[Worcester_Passenger]

Do the three maps include the date, or did you have to copy the cover sheet as well?

[ChrisB]

It appears that 'The Manual' retail staff refer to has yet to be updated, so rail staff who are RailUK contributors have been innocently giving out duff advice.

I smiled to myself at that. It's nice to see rail staff don't always get up to date information either.

I've seen the memo / notice to Retail Staff on this change....so theyu've failed to read it.

[TerminalJunkie]

Do the three maps include the date, or did you have to copy the cover sheet as well?

The date was on the Routeing pages, not the maps.

Wouldn't have mattered, since at least two of the three maps didn't exist in the 1996 version!

[JayMac]

It appears that 'The Manual' retail staff refer to has yet to be updated, so rail staff who are RailUK contributors have been innocently giving out duff advice.

I smiled to myself at that. It's nice to see rail staff don't always get up to date information either.

I've seen the memo / notice to Retail Staff on this change....so theyu've failed to read it.

Or failed to receive it. The staff offering advice over at RailUK may not have been FGW^▸ (First Great Western). A paper memo may not have been distributed to every UK^▸ (United Kingdom) ticket office.

'The Manual' is there to help all retail staff  fulfil their TSA^▸ (Ticketing and Settlement Agreement.) obligations to offer correct and impartial information. Being an electronic document it shouldn't take 6 weeks and counting to update. FGW are responsible for the entry regarding their WF tickets. ATOC^» (Association of Train Operating Companies See - here) are responsible for updating.

[ChrisB]

Of course FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s website says you can still book WF in advance of travel. 

Haven't checked recently then? :-)

Oh, and the home page has had a lick of paint too!

One piece of feedback I've already provided - The Live Updates (one thing everyone goes looking at) are no longer on the front page, you have to click through to another page.....better back on home page, methinks.

[JayMac]

Haven't checked recently then? :-)

Nope. Website won't render properly on a 4:3 monitor. And some links are dead. I'll forgive FGW^▸ (First Great Western) the teething troubles, although they could've used a beta site to iron out problems.

[ChrisB]

Indeed, I've just found the same problem. Have fed it back.

[JayMac]

It would appear that they are working on the new layout while the site is 'live'. Not the best way to update/refresh a website.

[ChrisB]

Indeed, about 30 minutes longer, I understand.

'tis an odd way of doing this.

[Timmer]

I see on Twitter that the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) site is having a total overhaul in the Autumn.