Rail firms 'not quoting cheap fares'

Rail firms 'not quoting cheap fares'

Train passengers are being given inaccurate fare advice by rail station staff and could be paying more than double the cheapest train fare when buying tickets.

A Which? study revealed two-thirds of station clerks failed to quote passengers the cheapest available walk-on fare. Where there was a choice of train company, Which? investigators were quoted the more expensive fare 27 times out of 50, with 80% of ticket offices ignoring the cheaper option.

Posing as passengers, the consumer group also questioned call-centre staff at National Rail enquiries. Four out of 10 staff failed to quote the cheapest fare.

Martyn Hocking, editor of Which? magazine, said: "If you just want to know the cheapest way from A to B, you'd expect staff at the station ticket office or on the end of the rail enquiries helpline to be able to tell you. It's not acceptable passengers could be paying well over the odds due to poor advice."

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Which? investigators devised 20 possible rail journeys and asked call centre and station staff to quote walk-on ticket prices and provide information about breaking journeys. For some journeys, station clerks quoted more than double the cheapest available walk-on option.

The Association of Train Operating Companies refuted the Which? findings, and claimed that the report was "seriously misleading".

Tickets to ride

There are several ways to try to reduce the cost of rail travel:

• Get a quote for your ticket over the phone and online. A previous Cash investigation found big discrepancies in the prices quoted for the same journey.

• Check out more than one website. Try the train operator's website first, but also thetrainline.com; raileasy.com and crosscountrytrains.co.uk.

• Watch out for booking fees. Thetrainline, for example, charges a £1 booking fee and a £2.50 credit card fee.

• Sometimes two tickets for the same journey can cost less than one

Splitfare.co.uk can help with this.

• Check Megatrain.com, which has some train tickets for as little as £1.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2009