Fare fiction / The great rail ticket swindle |
Normally rail ticket prices are raised in line with the Retail Prices Index (RPI) plus 3 per cent. This January, unusually, they didn’t increase. But that is not how it will feel if you fancy a short break in Edinburgh. In that case, you may well find yourself paying double what you used to pay.
Say, on the spur of the moment, you fancy a short trip to the Scottish capital from London this weekend, but you are not quite sure which train you can leave on and when you want to come back. In the past, you could have bought a Supersaver Return, which allowed you to take any off-peak train there and back.
But LNER, which operates most of the trains on the East Coast Main Line, has recently abolished these tickets, forcing you either to book advance tickets for the outward and return journeys or to cough up £404.60 for two ‘anytime singles’. Apparently, according to the company, it is all part of ‘simplifying’ the ticketing system –........