'These websites say they indicate the cheapest fares, but in the case of off-peak day return travel, they don't!' - Your Letters: September 6
PICTURE FROM THE ARCHIVE: Aerial shot of Spaghetti Junction, Birmingham, taken from a helicopter on a cold day in December 2009 by our chief photographer Tim Thursfield. Officially known as the Gravelly Hill Interchange, it is positioned where the M6 motorway meets the A38(M) Aston Expressway.
DIFFICULTIES ON THE RAILWAYS
Whenever I search for train times and prices, when here on holiday, at Traveline or national rail websites, I am offered exorbitant prices for single journeys, which can vary widely from train to train; a return fare in excess of the anytime day return fare indicated on the online page; a monthly off-peak return fare, but no standard off-peak day return fare!
These websites say they indicate the cheapest fares, but in the case of off-peak day return travel, they don't! I am 76. It is not easy for me to use a computer. I do not have a bank card. The Shifnal station is unmanned. I would like to know if there is a good website for train fares that I can trust.
By the way, each year I am less able to walk unaided. Next summer, I might have to spend my holiday on the Shrewsbury platform at Shifnal’s station through being unable to use the bridge over the railway lines, the only access to and from this platform. I love the countryside here but I don't get about as much as I would like to because of poor and misleading information about fares, and, for example, I did not know you need to be a mountain climber to get on and off at Hopton Heath! Ouch!
