Avanti West Coast outrage over London ticket rule that cost £113 more to travel 170 miles less
It's no secret that train tickets in the UK can be extremely costly, especially when travelling to the capital.
But rail provider Avanti West Coast has come under fire after a traveller spotted a difference in ticket pricing, with the longer journey surprisingly working out at more than £100 less.
In a post on X, a user shared screenshots of two different prices for the same service from London Euston, but their prices were entirely different.
According to the screenshot, one journey which ended at Preston, was priced at £190 for a advanced single.
Advert
Meanwhile, the post showed that it would've instead cost £76.50 to go all the way to Motherwell on the exact same train - which actually travels through Preston and is 170 miles further away.
The post read: "Why are @AvantiWestCoast ripping people off like this? If I want to get a ticket from London to Preston, they’re charging £190.00.
"But if I book the same departing train all the way to Motherwell (much further) it’s £76. I can then just get off at Preston anyway a save £120?!"
The post had almost one million views, prompting for the rail provider to directly respond.
Avanti explained that although it was the same service, the London to Preston part of the journey was subject to 'Peak-time restrictions', which the full Motherwell journey wasn't, instead making it an 'off-peak' service.
With the ticket type being an 'Advanced Single', this means that a break of a journey is not permitted along the route which some other ticket types allow.
Posting on X, Avanti wrote: "The difference in price is due to the Ticket Restrictions that apply on different sections of the journey.
"Travel between London Euston and Preston is subject to Peak-time restrictions, whereas travel between London Euston and Motherwell is classed as Off-Peak for the journey you highlighted.
"As a result, the fares are priced differently in line with the applicable Ticket Conditions.
"We would also like to make you aware that Advance tickets are only valid for the specific journey booked, and in accordance with the ticket Terms and Conditions they do not permit a break of journey."
According to National Rail, most rail tickets allow travellers to break your journey, meaning they do not have to make the whole of their journey at the same time.
Advanced singles however must be bought in advance and are only valid on the date and train specified.
This means that according to the specific ticket shared on X, if the user had gotten off at Preston despite it being on-route, it would've been classed as a 'break' in travel.
Responding to the post, one user said: "Are you going to chain them to their seat so they can’t get off at Preston? This makes zero sense."
As another commented: "A break of journey i always took to mean you can't get off, meet someone at midpoint station and get on later service. This is just getting off earlier."
LADbible has contacted Avanti West Coast for further comment.
James Holt