Theo Markettos <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>
>Tony Polson  wrote:
>> Buying a cut price ticket means that the ticket holder must take great
>> care to use only the train, or trains, that the ticket is valid for.
>> These restrictions are clearly explained when the ticket is purchased,
>> and the purchase is made subject to terms and conditions that include
>> complying with those restrictions.
>
>For AP tickets they are.  For off-peak tickets they aren't.  I was sitting
>on the 1645 at Paddington, a few mins before departure. The TM announced
>that 'Savers, CDRs and Network Awaybreaks are not valid on this train'.  I
>was holding a Saver.  The 1645 has previously been the last Saver-available
>train before the evening blackout.  I was about to grab my stuff and head
>for the door, thinking they'd changed the rules in some way I hadn't noticed
>(after all, it's only by reading this group that I hear of most of the
>changes) when after a pause the TM added 'to Reading and Didcot'.  Breathe
>out.
>
>On the way back I phoned NRES to find out the restrictions on my ticket.
>Past experience taught me not to ask NRES the question 'can I use ticket X
>on train Y' because the answers are frequently wrong.  So I asked for the
>restriction code and time restrictions for my ticket.  Asking for the code
>meant they had to look it up in the Fares Manual and quote me the
>restrictions verbatim, which I could then apply myself.
>
>This is all stuff that a 'normal' wouldn't know how to do.  Nor should it be
>necessary.


It will remain necessary as long as Train Operating Companies use
demand management in order to spread demand throughout the day, not
just in the peaks, and as long as people expect to be able to buy
off-peak tickets at a discount.

Where restrictions have recently been tightened, I would expect TOCs'
ticket office staff (and web site designers) to ensure that the
changes are clearly communicated to people buying tickets.