Dear LPG,

Here is a little puzzle which I am going to try to find an answer to.  I have been specific about the particular train route and stations that I used so that readers can get a realistic idea of the problem.

 I am one of the Grandmas that spend a couple of days per week looking after young grandchildren in an effort to decrease the childminding fees that their parents have to pay. I have to say that I thought that childminding was expensive when their parents were young, but the then weekly fee is often surpassed by the daily fees that are charged today.

I leave Lewisham Station each  Sunday evening bound for Rainham station in Kent, I  have already written an offering for LPG about the discrepancies I found when trying to establish exactly how much I needed to pay in fares (►►►),  but I  have that one sorted now (I think). 

Each Sunday when I leave Lewisham I buy two single tickets there, one to get to Rainham and the  other so that I don’t have to waste time at the ticket office in  Rainham when I return which can sometimes cost me the time I need to catch an earlier train.  When I get the tickets they show me as travelling from Dartford to Rainham and vice versa because the rest of the journey is covered by my freedom pass. 

We all know that trains are prone to be late, there are many ways to get from A to B and my ticket allows me to travel at any time on the day I buy it for.  In reality my departure for Lewisham fluctuates as a direct consequence of the time that my grandchildren's mother can get back from her work, and that depends on her ability to get a train from Central London back to Rainham Station; which is down to British Rail again.

I understand that there is a boundary outside which I cannot travel by train using my freedom pass and also that I have one or two options as to how I actually get back to the London suburb that I have come to call home.  When I checked on the Trainline website the first three options include going via London Bridge station, via Dartford station, via Bromley South Station, via Grove Park Station and changing at Catford and Catford Bridge stations are also an option.

During the months that I have been making this journey I have learned that the most practical way to get home is via Bromley South Station if a Dartford train is not expected for a while.  It is often the case that I would have had to wait up to an extra hour to get the Dartford train, but the Bromley South train is an online option and also gives me the option to get a bus.

The other day I opted to take the train bound for Bromley South and chose a train where my ticket was inspected.  The inspector told me that, by rights, I should be paying extra money to use the Bromley South train because my ticket stated that I was bound for Dartford, but he decided to  let the matter go after I explained the situation. 

It occurs to me that there must be many pensioners that are affected in the same way as me, because their tickets state one particular destination and limits them to one route causing them to ‘legally’ wait for a train that could be much later then another which would ‘illegally’ allow them to return home more quickly.

I am glad to say that the ticket inspector that I encountered was reasonable about the situation, but the result was a conversation that could have been contentious and could well potentially be repeated many times as I make my journey. 

I remember when tickets for central London did not specify a named station as the destination, and   believe that a ticket showing the boundary rather than a particular station could be the answer.  I asked about this quite a few times but finally found out that, just for 10p more, I can get a ticket showing the boundary rather than a specific station, but it appears to me that it takes so long for the ticket officers to work out just what is really needed.

JA, Lewisham 

JA has asked LPG to share a link to one of the sites that shows the many alternative routes that are offered.

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