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I've just thought of another ticketing question that hopefully one of you might be able to clear up.

An Off-Peak Return from Faversham (FAV) to London Victoria (VIC) costs £15.90
However the same Off-Peak Return ticket, but originating at VIC (so VIC-FAV) costs £21.00

Even more peculiarly an Off-Peak Single from VIC to FAV costs £20.90! (with the reverse of this FAV-VIC single being an unsurprising £15.80)

I'm just using FAV as an example here, as it is my home station, but I believe this peculiarity exists along most of the North Kent line. So why is there such an vast difference in price for exactly the same journey, and passengers who begin their journey in London are penalised for having done so? Maybe some of you with access to fares books etc might be able to answer this for me?

Secondly, as a working example, would I be entitled to turn up to VIC, requiring to travel a single journey to FAV, go up to the ticket office (having waited in the ever-present 2 hour queue there) and ask for an Off-Peak Return that originates in FAV, therefore costing me £5 less than the single would have. Would I be able to then just use the Return portion of the ticket to get me home having never used the outward one? Equally, if I wanted to do a return journey, could I ask that it originated in FAV and use the ticket 'backwards'. ie. the portion marked 'return' for my outward journey and vice-versa?

They are two different tickets.

An Off-Peak Day Return Faversham - London is 21.00, an Off-Peak Day Return London - Faversham is also 21.00.

There is also a Super Off-Peak Day Return Faversham - Victoria for 15.90. This is not valid until later in the morning and is valid to Victoria only. For some reason there is no equivalent fare in the opposite direction, this is where the anomaly arises.

There is also this prcing difference on the SWT routes, with the CDR from Alton towards London being more expensive than one FROM London yet the SVR ticket is priced the same both directions.

Here is one for Andi perhaps. BMH- WAT (SDR) is £89.90 whereas a SDR in the other direction is only £48.20!

This pricing structure is all to do with demand and passenger flows. More passengers want to travel from Alton to London than the other way round or if you buy a SDR you most likey want an early arrival into London thus you will be on a more crowded train.

That's always been the case on SWT, it's cheaper to go away from London than it is to enter it!! From Yeovil Junction, you can get an anytime return to Waterloo but you can't get one in the opposite direction, so would need to buy 2 singles if you wanted to do that!

Mental.

Thanks guys. So to summarise the answers to my scenario of buying a ticket the wrong way round in London, it is technically not meant to be done. But it can't possibly be prevented, can it? Ticket barriers would be fine with it, I guess, as would guards, as they are not to know that you've not done the outward journey or conversely already done return journey when using the OUT portion for your return journey. (confused yet?)

and as for a way of actually purchasing the ticket, if you were planning to do this at least one day ahead you could book the ticket online, and opt to collect it from the self-service machine at the London station. otherwise, arn't ticket offices obliged to let you buy any ticket from anywhere, to anywhere?

So...

For instance, if a return fare from, say, Tiverton to Paddington was £50 and Paddington to Tiverton was £40, could I get the PAD to TVP ticket but use it in reverse (ie, use the RTN ticket between Tivvy and Padd, and the OUT ticket between Padd and Tivvy)?

ETA:
Erm... okay... for some reason, Dudey's post didn't show up until I posted this one which asks exactly the same thing...

The rules state that you should use the outward ticket before the return ticket, but there's no way that they could enforce that.

I have some advance tickets Kings X Peterborough, not so much a question on ticketing but on platforms if anyone can advise what platform this route normally departs from?

Going Underground wrote:I have some advance tickets Kings X Peterborough, not so much a question on ticketing but on platforms if anyone can advise what platform this route normally departs from?

East Coast will go from the main building (platforms zero to eight). I assume you are booked with them?

FCC also operate (semi-fast) services to Peterborough which often go from the annexe (9-11), but also sometimes from the main building.

Just to quickly re-raise a question I asked earlier on in the thread...

When I bought a late evening ticket from London to Norwich a few weeks back, the gentleman on the counter recommended that I book myself onto the 2130 train from LST to NRW, as I would also be able to use the same ticket on the 2230 and 2330 services.

Having booked my return on Saturday for after the R15 for 2130, was this chap actually correct? If I decide to have a few more beers in London, will I be able to use the 2130 ticket on the 2230 and 2330 trains?