I'm proud to be British. Correction - I'm usually proud to be British, but there are times that I squirm with embarrassment at what we do to visitors to our country.

Last night (or, rather, early this morning) I was up at Chippenham Station meeting 3 people off the train due in at 00:56 - they had flown into the UK in the evening and made their way from Stanstead, rebooking tickets for each leg of the journey as they went. And they were in a state of some shock as the said that they hadn't realised it would cost 200 pounds for them to get from Paddington to Chippenham.

I feel that they have been ripped off. And ripped off by a system that seems to be set up to maximise its income from those who don't know the tricks and techniques for getting a good fare. Looking at the same journey for the same time next week, the online booking service is telling me about no less that 27 different fares available for that single journey and, guess what, my delegates were charged the highest possible fare. With a premium of 1.1 billion pounds to be paid to the government, First Great Western has to maximise its income - but is this selling of overpriced tickets to vulnerable groups who know no better really a morally acceptable way of doing it? And is this the way to encourage the tourist business?
(written 2006-10-26, updated 2009-01-01)

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