Rail ticketing hasn’t been on right track for a while!

WHEN I was a trainspotter in the 1970s, I remember that some of my fellow enthusiasts were British Rail employees, and used to possess copies of the National Fare Manual.

This helped them and their nonBR friends to pay as little in fares as was practically possible.

Not that I minded, as the ticketing system was fairly straightforward back then. You had day returns (later awaydays), weekend returns and 17 day (later monthly) returns which you could buy on the day of travel if need be.

As a student I would ask for half an awayday to some distant UK location during my college lunch hour the day before I was due to make a journey. This was because I was going to start my trip at a station which didn’t have a booking office.

When travelling to London from Grimsby in the 1990s, the choice was between a saver and super saver ticket, again purchased the previous day to my journeyings. Then it all got more complicated. Those in the know found out that it was sometimes cheaper to buy multiple tickets for a single journey. Which caused problems when they were questioning the value of direct trains to Manchester.

For passengers had tickets only telling the authorities that they were going to a station en route, whereas in fact they were travelling all the way. As a result the number of passengers officially recorded as going from Grimsby to Manchester was under-estimated.

And of course, the more you bought your ticket in advance the cheaper it could be.

Trouble is, who wants to commit to a seaside or cricket outing that depends on a decent day’s weather? Alternatively unforeseen circumstances can arise: I had planned a capital trip the weekend of Princess Diana’s funeral.

Recently I thought I’d like to visit the new rail centre in Doncaster’s Danum Museum. Single fares are quoted at under £12, yet the return fare is given at £26, over twice the cost of a one way ticket!

Back in the 1970s Freddie Laker called his airline service Skytrain, as it eschewed the complexity of flying arrangements.

But sadly today things have gone full circle, with rail ticketing following the convoluted airline model.

Which hardly encourages people to take the train, does it?

Tim Mickleburgh, Boulevard Avenue,

Grimsby.