...BUT here’s the easy way to save pounds when you buy tickets

SCOTTISH train passengers could save a fortune in fares by taking advantage of ticket pricing loopholes.

A new pricing structure introduced in 2013 was supposed to end ‘anomalies’, where fares would be cheaper if passengers split their journey.

However, widespread pricing inconsistencies still exist – despite transport chiefs ploughing £2.3 million into the fares revamp.

Passengers can save up to 10 per cent by buying separate tickets for parts of the journey on some routes – and even sit on the same seat on the same train.

Website Raileasy has an online tool that tells passengers if they can make savings on their route.

The tactic is perfectly legal as long as passengers take trains that stop at the stations listed on their tickets.

A quick price check on ScotRail’s website shows that an Anytime Day Single ticket from Glasgow Queen Street to Wick, Caithness, changing at Inverness, costs £65.10. But by combining tickets from Glasgow to Perth and from Perth to Wick they can get on exactly the same trains and save £8.50.

An Anytime Day Single from Edinburgh to Invergordon, Rossshire, would cost £57.80. But £6.30 can be saved by splitting the journey into three.

An Anytime Day Single journey from Galashiels, Selkirkshire, to Stranraer, Wigtownshire, costs £41.40, including changes at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Ayr.

But if you buy tickets from Galashiels to Prestwick Airport, and from Prestwick Airport to Stranraer, you can save £4.90 or 11.9 per cent.

Customers can also make smaller savings on common commuter routes.