VICTORY FOR RAIL PASSENGERS OVER FCC SUMMER SUPER OFF-PEAK TICKET FAILURES
October 26, 2009 11:07 AM
Originally published by St Albans Liberal Democrats
Originally published by St Albans Liberal Democrats
Sandy Walkington, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for St Albans, is pleased to have received confirmation from Jim Morgan, Managing Director of First Capital Connect, that anyone, who can show they purchased a weekend day return from a self-service ticket machine over the summer and failed to benefit from the Super Saver discount of up to 25 percent, will now be compensated with the difference in fare.
Writing to Sandy, Mr Morgan confirmed that "the original Press Release issued in June did indeed say that the tickets would be available from self service ticket machines as both suppliers had advised us that they could achieve that. We were very unhappy that they let us down…. People writing to our Customer Relations team with evidence that they have been unable to purchase a Super Off-Peak ticket are being given the difference in fare and we will continue to do that."
Sandy has welcomed this statement and hopes that it will be well publicised so that passengers who may have lost out will know to claim. "This mistake, which could have affected thousands of travellers not just in St Albans but across the FCC system from Brighton in the south to Kings Lynn and Bedford in the north, was only discovered thanks to the vigilance of County Councillor Malcolm Cowan, the Liberal Democrat transport spokesman on Herts County Council. He and I then had to keep going back to FCC with questions before we could determine the scale of the problem," Sandy said.
"In fact the Super Saver weekend day returns offering savings over ordinary day returns of up to 25 percent were announced on June 18th in a press release from FCC stating that 'Tickets can be purchased at ticket offices, from Self Service Ticket Machines [my emboldening], or online at the First Capital Connect website.' What Malcolm and I revealed is that they were not available from self-service ticket machines, of which there are ten at St Albans City Station alone. For many smaller stations elsewhere on the line, booking offices have very restricted opening hours at weekends, so walk-up purchasers of day return tickets would have had to have used self-service machines and would have missed out on the advertised promotion.
"I know we should welcome any fare reductions, and I am delighted that First Capital Connect has now made the Super Off-Peak fare a permanent promotion. But it is ironic that ticket machines which are so good at posting fare rises should have such difficulty being recoded in the other direction", Sandy concluded. "Indeed there still remain problems with some of the ticket machines made by a company called Scheidt & Bachmann, where the weekend super saver prices even now cannot be displayed on the front screen. I am pleased that Mr Morgan has confirmed that notices have been posted on these particular machines to alert unwary weekend travellers."
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