In message <1168881384.666829.133400@s34g2000cwa. .com>, at
09:16:24 on Mon, 15 Jan 2007, naked_draughtsman
<googleaddy@petereverett.co.uk> remarked:
>My girlfriend is on her way back from East Grinstead to Lougborough and
>got to St.Pancras at 4:30pm and as she has a saver she's stuck there
>now until 7:30pm due to restrictions on savers.
If she has a Loughborough-East Grinstead Saver she should find out what
fare code it is, and maybe (a long shot) it won't be restricted.
For journeys wholly on MML (and maybe others as well, I just don't know
as the full fares manual isn't available online) and having one end
between StP and Luton, the rule is 7A: "Not valid on services departing
London between 1600 and 1900 inclusive".
I'm pretty sure that other MML tickets that are wholly Bedford and
further north have no restriction.
>Yonks ago
>(http:///group/uk.ra...iction&lnk=ol&)
>the wording of the saver restrictions in the MML timetable was
>discussed as it says: "This only applies to journeys to/from London St.
>Pancras, Luton Airport Parkway, Luton or beyond."
>
>I read the 'or beyond' in the MML disclaimer to mean north beyond Luton
>due to the order of the stations in the list, but the previous
>discussion assumed it meant in a southerly direction.
The problem is MML trying to translate the Fares Manual language into
something cuddlier, and causing confusion as a result :(
If it's a Journey *from* StP, LAP or Luton (northbound, for that is the
page we are reading), then it doesn't really matter where it ends up, as
the trip is banned due to the start point. The "or beyond" is redundant
as no tickets *starting from* north of Luton are banned.
If it's a journey *to* St Pancras, it makes no sense as it's a
northbound rule.
If it's a journey *to* LAP or Luton, then if the "or beyond" is to have
any meaning at all (we just ruled out the other possible meaning) then
it must mean "starting south of St Pancras". However, MML may be
bluffing, and it's possible that there are savers (especially ones where
they don't set the fare, which I agree seems a long shot in this case)
that would be valid. eg a hypothetical Bristol to Luton Saver via
Paddington and St Pancras. But as ever, we'd need to see the fares
manual and see if 7A applied.
> If the latter is the case, can she not buy a ticket to Bedford to use
>on Thameslink, then catch one of the 'banned' trains back up north?
As Thameslink also ban cheap tickets in the early evening, she'll be
buying an Open Single I expect, so that'll be valid on MML as well.
However, if the ticket is covered by rule 7A, then it's the *train*
which is barred, so it doesn't matter how you got to Bedford [perhaps
you caught an earlier legal MML and broke your journey] the *train*
can't be used for travel.
--
Roland Perry