Train staff failing to sell passengers cheapest fares

An investigation by Which?, the former Consumers Association, showed 59 per cent of station ticket office staff and 43 per cent of operators on the National Rail Inquiries phone service failed to tell passengers about the cheapest available option.

The research also showed travellers were not given the correct information over breaking journeys between Scotland and England in nearly one third of cases.

A separate poll by Which? of 1,500 passengers found just half were confident about getting the best fare, and only 54 per cent were satisfied overall with train services.

Which?, which has twice conducted such "mystery shopper" research over the past four years, said it was "disappointing" the advice still had not improved.

The issue has also been highlighted by The Scotsman, which has revealed bizarre hidden anomalies in the fare structure. Some derive from the nationalised British Rail era more than 15 years ago, when fares were jacked up on some routes to reduce overcrowding.

Which? chief executive Peter Vicary-Smith said: "Train operators seem blind to the fact their ticketing systems are too complicated. If people who do this for a living can't find the cheapest fare, what hope do passengers have? We'd like to see much clearer signposting to help passengers find the best deals, whether they're buying tickets online, over the phone or at a station."

The Department for Transport agreed improvements were required. A spokesman said: "Train operators are obliged to sell the most appropriate through fares for their journey but it's clear more needs to be done to ensure their customers are offered the best deals available. That's why we have asked the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) to put forward proposals to make ticket retailing easier for passengers and more efficient for the taxpayer."

Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said: "The blatant exploitation of rail passengers, driven by the sheer greed of the private train companies, continues unchecked."

However, train firms disputed the research, which involved people posing as passengers asking 15 questions ten times each.

An Atoc spokesman said: "This is seriously misleading and misrepresentative. Asking 150 questions on unrealistic and obscure scenarios cannot come close to giving a representative view of the 1.3 billion journeys that are made every year by train.

"The researchers haven't actually asked for the cheapest ticket in all the scenarios.

"The Which? claim that only 54 per cent of passengers are satisfied with train services needs to be treated with a great deal of caution.Even though the magazine only surveyed 1,500 people, it claims its research is 'more accurate' than that of the independent watchdog Passenger Focus, which samples more than 27,000 passengers, and found that 84 per cent were satisfied with train services."