Fare Dealer

RAIL fares expert Barry Doe is disappointed with the decline in GWR’s performance.

A RAIL reader who commutes daily with TransPennine Express (TPE) used to reserve a seat for his morning journey, because the train arrived at his station with most seats taken.

In more recent times, however, TPE decided it would not permit season ticket holders to reserve seats at all. Our reader considered it did not have the right to do this, and so took it up with Transport Focus on the grounds that it was against the National Rail Conditions of Travel.

Paragraph 3.2 says: “Some types of ticket (for instance advance) require you to make a reservation… for other tickets you can request a reservation either when buying a ticket, or before the departure of your train on presentation of a valid ticket… you are allowed a maximum of one seat reservation per person for each train that forms part of your journey.”

There is no implication that “can request” means an operator can refuse. Surely if certain categories of ticket (such as seasons) form an exception, they would be listed.

Transport Focus agreed, but for clarity took it up with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) which agreed that operators cannot choose. However, digging in its heels, TPE responded to Transport Focus that it was unwilling to reconsider this policy. Indeed, it is to update its own Passenger Charter to confirm that season ticket holders cannot reserve seats.

TPE is deliberately overlooking the fact that an operator’s Charter may be more generous than National Conditions, but cannot be more restrictive.

Our reader makes the valid point that he recognises TPE has a commercial incentive to sell seats to passengers making discretionary journeys, but it’s very unsatisfactory that it wishes to inconvenience its most loyal customers, let alone seemingly go against the National Conditions.

Has TPE taken legal advice, or does it just hope it can get away with imposing its own rule unchallenged?