Late on Saturday night, I had to get back from Gatwick Airport to
London. I bought my ticket from the machine in the station concourse
by credit card: it gave me the option of various travelcard discounts
(but not LT Gold Card, the one I have), so I chose Network Card as the
nearest equivalent and carried on.

The ticket issued showed Network Card and Gatwick Express.

On the train, the inspector took the ticket and said "You can't use
Network Card on this service, sir", showing me the Network Card bit on
the ticket but covering up the Gatwick Express bit with his thumb. I
pointed out that if he moved his thumb, it clearly said I could. (He
didn't seem to care that I was showing him the Gold Card at the time,
so I guess that bit was all right).

"The machine shouldn't have issued that" he said, very grumpily and
scribbling all over the thing with his biro. "Can I keep this to show
my manager?"

So, what's going on there? If he hadn't tried to cover up the Gatwick
Express bit with his thumb, I'dve believed that he was surprised by
the thing, but clearly he's seen this plenty of times before and is
used to bluffing it out.

Veddy odd.

R

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 13:18:23 GMT, Rupert Goodwins
wrote:

Late on Saturday night, I had to get back from Gatwick Airport to
London. I bought my ticket from the machine in the station concourse
by credit card: it gave me the option of various travelcard discounts
(but not LT Gold Card, the one I have), so I chose Network Card as the
nearest equivalent and carried on.

The ticket issued showed Network Card and Gatwick Express.

rest snipped

So, what's going on there? If he hadn't tried to cover up the Gatwick
Express bit with his thumb, I'dve believed that he was surprised by
the thing, but clearly he's seen this plenty of times before and is
used to bluffing it out.

From railcard.co.uk (and also mentioned in the Network Railcard
leaflet):

Your Network Railcard cannot be used for travel in First Class, on
Railair Links, on Gatwick Express, Anglia Railways mainline trains
starting and terminating in London Liverpool Street station, Eurostar,
Heathrow Express, special excursions or charters, to buy season tickets
or period Travelcards or in conjunction with some Train Company special
offers

And from the TfL Fares and Tickets leaflet:

The train companies* participating in the annual Travelcard (Gold
Card)/Network Railcard scheme a c2c Rail, Chiltern Railways, First
Great Eastern, Great North Eastern Railway, First Great Western Trains,
Island Line, Midland Mainline, Silverlink Trains, South Central, South
Eastern Trains, South West Trains, Thameslink, Thames Trains, Virgin
Trains, Wales and Borders Trains, Wessex Trains, West Anglia Great
Northern Railway.

So in this case, the Ticket Inspector was correct and the machine has
been programmed incorrectly I'm afraid. Not that it really matters,
however, as South Central have a half hourly service calling at East
Croydon and Clapham Junction, which is timetabled to take 35 minutes
against 30 minutes, and at a lower fare than Gatwick Express.

HTH,

Barry

--
Barry Salter, barry at southie dot me dot uk
Read uk.* newsgroups? Read uk.net.news.announce!

DISCLAIMER: The above comments do not necessarily represent the
views of my employers.

In message , Rupert Goodwins
writes
On the train, the inspector took the ticket and said "You can't use
Network Card on this service, sir",

FWIW, my Network Card leaflet shows Gatwick Express as excluded. (Along
with HEx, Anglia fasts and CT Stansted to Ely (although this latter is
probably now allowed due to a recent rule-change).

My own gripe with Gatwick is that it's apparently impossible to buy a
"Any permitted" single to London [1]. Although if you buy a through
ticket to (say) Cambridge then the Gatwick to London section *is* "any
permitted". Go figure, as they say.

[1] And so you have to guess whose train will be next in. Or is this a
cunning plot to get people to use Gatwick Express and buy a ticket on
the train. Remind, me, who operates Gatwick??
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:

My own gripe with Gatwick is that it's apparently impossible to buy a
"Any permitted" single to London [1]. Although if you buy a through
ticket to (say) Cambridge then the Gatwick to London section *is* "any
permitted". Go figure, as they say.

[1] And so you have to guess whose train will be next in. Or is this a
cunning plot to get people to use Gatwick Express and buy a ticket on
the train. Remind, me, who operates Gatwick??

http://www.livedepartureboards.co.uk...ary.aspx?T=GTW

Network Rail. :-)

GEX itself is owned by BAA, is it not?
--
James Farrar |
London, SE23 |

In message , James Farrar
writes
Remind, me, who operates Gatwick??

http://www.livedepartureboards.co.uk...ary.aspx?T=GTW

Network Rail. :-)

Well, the logos at the ticket office say Gatwick Express.

GEX itself is owned by BAA, is it not?

National Express was the original franchisee for the period 1996-2011.
Has it changed hands - I don't think so.

http://www.nationalexpressgroup.com/...hise030496.htm
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:

In message , James Farrar
writes

Remind, me, who operates Gatwick??


http://www.livedepartureboards.co.uk...ary.aspx?T=GTW

Network Rail. :-)


Well, the logos at the ticket office say Gatwick Express.

In which case, they're out of date.
http://www.networkrailstations.co.uk/index.cfm lists Gatwick Airport
station as an NR Major Station. ISTR they took it over relatively recently.

GEX itself is owned by BAA, is it not?


National Express was the original franchisee for the period 1996-2011.
Has it changed hands - I don't think so.

If so, I stand corrected. I may be confusing it with HEX?

--
James Farrar |
London, SE23 |

"James Farrar" wrote in message
...
Roland Perry wrote:

In message , James Farrar
writes

Remind, me, who operates Gatwick??


http://www.livedepartureboards.co.uk...ary.aspx?T=GTW

Network Rail. :-)


Well, the logos at the ticket office say Gatwick Express.

In which case, they're out of date.
http://www.networkrailstations.co.uk/index.cfm lists Gatwick Airport
station as an NR Major Station. ISTR they took it over relatively
recently.

GEX itself is owned by BAA, is it not?


National Express was the original franchisee for the period 1996-2011.
Has it changed hands - I don't think so.

If so, I stand corrected. I may be confusing it with HEX?

--
James Farrar |
London, SE23 |

Indeed - GEX is run by National Express.

HEX is *owned* by BAA PLC (it is NOT a franchise).

Stansted Express (which I shall not similarly abbreviate!) is run by WAGN.

However, they are all linked in a marketing alliance called the 'Airport
Express Alliance'

In message , James Farrar
writes
http://www.networkrailstations.co.uk/index.cfm lists Gatwick Airport
station as an NR Major Station. ISTR they took it over relatively
recently.

Could be. I was last there at the end of November.
--
Roland Perry

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 16:53:13 +0000, Barry Salter
wrote:

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 13:18:23 GMT, Rupert Goodwins
wrote:

Late on Saturday night, I had to get back from Gatwick Airport to
London. I bought my ticket from the machine in the station concourse
by credit card: it gave me the option of various travelcard discounts
(but not LT Gold Card, the one I have), so I chose Network Card as the
nearest equivalent and carried on.

The ticket issued showed Network Card and Gatwick Express.

rest snipped

So, what's going on there? If he hadn't tried to cover up the Gatwick
Express bit with his thumb, I'dve believed that he was surprised by
the thing, but clearly he's seen this plenty of times before and is
used to bluffing it out.

From railcard.co.uk (and also mentioned in the Network Railcard
leaflet):

Your Network Railcard cannot be used for travel in First Class, on
Railair Links, on Gatwick Express, Anglia Railways mainline trains
starting and terminating in London Liverpool Street station, Eurostar,
Heathrow Express, special excursions or charters, to buy season tickets
or period Travelcards or in conjunction with some Train Company special
offers


(snip)


So in this case, the Ticket Inspector was correct...

(snip)

HTH,


Thanks. I didn't get a leaflet with my card (it's an Oyster) and
railcard.co.uk doesn't mention LT Gold Cards. Is it the same as a
Network Railcard?

I must say, I find the Gatwick Express/South Central mix confusing.
Especially late on a Saturday night, and *especially* after a long
party in Lewes to celebrate a journalist's 50th birthday.

Barry

Rupert

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 23:38:21 GMT, Rupert Goodwins
wrote:

Thanks. I didn't get a leaflet with my card (it's an Oyster) and
railcard.co.uk doesn't mention LT Gold Cards. Is it the same as a
Network Railcard?

Sort of, but with a few extra benefits (no Minimum Fare, Child Flat Fare
of £1.00, and First Class upgrades available for £3.00 Adult, £1.50
Child, as opposed to £10 Minimum, 81% Discount (based on the
undiscounted Adult Fare) for Children and no First Class upgrades on
'normal' Network Railcards).

I must say, I find the Gatwick Express/South Central mix confusing.
Especially late on a Saturday night, and *especially* after a long
party in Lewes to celebrate a journalist's 50th birthday.

It does seem rather silly to have a dedicated TOC for a service that
only calls at two stations, but that decision goes back to the days of
BR when GatEx was part of the InterCity Sector.

HTH,

Barry

--
Barry Salter, barry at southie dot me dot uk
Read uk.* newsgroups? Read uk.net.news.announce!

DISCLAIMER: The above comments do not necessarily represent the
views of my employers.