I had to go to Birmingham the other day, travelling in the morning rush hour. My destination was right in the city centre, a pain in the ass to get to and park so I went to the station to check out the trains. Peak train fares are horrific, nearly a £100 making the car an inconvenient but economically unavoidable choice. That is until Alf, (not his real name but I want to make sure his bosses never find out), the man in the ticket office who had probably worked on the railway for 40 years or more intervened. Alf sold me two tickets; one was from my home station (more or less in the middle of a field) to another station part way to Birmingham that is also in the middle of a field. The second one was from the field to Birmingham. Now field to field tickets don't have a peak hour surcharge, no perceived rush hour and by the time I get to the second field it's late enough to get an off-peak ticket. Total charge less than £45. Now this is all legal and above board but you may say that Alf lost his company £55 by offering me good service. No he didn't, if the only option was the £100 ticket I would have driven and they would have got zilch. Instead they get the advertised (but not the maximum) fare for the journey that I make. They will probably make a few quid more in the Buffet car and I will go back to Alf again, a happy customer, knowing that I will get treated well.
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