A BRIT commuter has been left reeling after being quoted an extra £240 to change to an off-peak ticket on his train to London – despite booking over a month in advance.
The man – known only as Jon – was planning for a train down from Warrington, Cheshire to the capital city, and was initially quoted £84 for an off-peak single ticket for the journey
However, upon looking for some leeway on times, Jon was quoted an astonishing £342.60 price for an anytime single ticket.
Gobsmacked, he shared his findings to social media last night, where fellow Brits related to his disbelief, pointing out that flying has become the cheaper option.
A photo of the booking screen that Jon was trying to secure tickets through shows the cost of the 1hr 47m journey from 9:25am priced at £84 for an off-peak single.
If Jon were looking for an anytime single, he’d have to fork out the extra £240 though.
Other pricier options see a standard premium ticket – which offers bigger seats with a table – costing £144 and a first-class off-peak single priced at £344.
If Jon wanted to go all out and get a first class anytime single though, he could have expected to pay an eye-watering £517.80.
Sharing his disbelief to social media yesterday, Jon wrote: “I’d like two tickets from Warrington to London please, outside rush hour, over a month in advance.
“£84? Bit pricey but fair enough. Oh, can I have some flexibility on times please?
“Certainly sir, that’ll be £240 extra please. Have a nice day.”
His post has since received over 110 likes and more than 25 comments from social media users similarly outraged at the high prices.
One user said: “Ridiculous, only 3:42 drive and at under 200 miles it would cost me around £4 in electric in my Tesla.”
Another wrote: “Oh Jon, you surely know you must buy a ticket to Scotch Corner whilst hopping on one leg, but (and here’s the important bit), you need to be juggling a single banana and whisper the word ‘discount’, which brings the price down by 7%, only then you order the ticket you want.”
A third replied: “It’s utter madness, isn’t it? I have to resort to split-ticketing in order to get a reasonable price.”
Another added: “Off for a weekend in London next month. £250 cheaper to fly return from Glasgow for two people than take the train.”
A fifth commented: “How have these ridiculous prices become normalised? It’s utter insanity.”
