Arriva stops selling discount tickets on board its services

ARRIVA Trains Wales is clamping down on the sale of discounted tickets on trains.

Until last week, those travelling from stations where tickets are sold could get cheap ones on board – for example using a young person’s rail card.

But now they are no longer able to do this and instead will have to pay full price.

The rail firm said the rules had always been in place but now they would be enforced.

“There are national rules around railcards, where you can and cannot get the discount from,” a source said.

“If you go past a booking office or ticket machine, you can’t get the railcard discount on the train.

“The exception is disabled railcards and these discounts are given regardless.”

The source said ticket inspectors would not be issuing fines – that was the role of the enforcement department.

Arriva Trains Wales director Gareth Thomas said: “We’re trying to raise awareness about the National Rail conditions of travel to enable our passengers to fully understand how and where they can buy their tickets.

“We appreciate the sensitivities around this, which is why we’re trying to make the rules clearer, in line with other train operators.

“We have invested heavily in ticket-buying facilities as part of our £2.8m investment in the network this year and the recent passenger survey showed a 7% increase in passenger satisfaction in the availability of ticket-buying facilities at stations.”

Passenger group Railfuture Wales feared the change would “not encourage people to use the service”.

Chairman Peter Kingsbury said: “While we would encourage people to buy tickets in advance either at the station ticket office, ticket machine or through Arriva’s app, this is not always possible, especially during off-peak times.

“This change will only lead to more passenger annoyance and confusion, which could lead to fewer train journeys.

“While we understand Arriva Train Wales wanting to protect their revenues by encouraging tickets to be bought in advance to avoid fare-dodging, this move discriminates against passengers who either want to or have no option but to pay by cash as well as those who only just make the train and therefore don’t have time to buy in advance.”

Arriva insisted passengers who could not pay by debit card would still be able to get a discount.

“We would encourage Arriva to continue to adopt a ‘common sense’ approach to selling tickets on board,” Mr Kingsbury added.