Shropshire rail passengers warned buying tickets online can cost more than at ticket offices

Shropshire and Mid Wales rail user group SARPA said passengers deserved a fair and transparent fares system, but people have been wrongly conditioned to believe buying online is always cheaper.

The group said it has seen a number of examples, including one Mid Wales man who was attending a job interview in Telford.

He was charged almost £25 online – double the price he would have paid at a ticket office.

Meanwhile, three people who paid £61 for a day trip from Shrewsbury to Barmouth could have got their tickets for just £24.50.

Group chairman Angus Eickhoff said: "Passengers deserve a fair and transparent fares system where the cheapest prices are not hidden.

"It was all too easy to find other instances of the best fare not being offered online. Perhaps today's people have been conditioned to believe that online is best but with rail fares this is clearly not the case.

"Unless you have a reasonable knowledge of how the fare system works you're only a few clicks away from being overcharged.

"We advise passengers to avoid websites and use ticket offices instead."

Mr Eickhoff said recently a family of two adults and one child without any railcard had been charged £66 for a day trip to Chester from Newtown, which included a £1.50 booking fee.

He said: "The journey could have been done for £48.50 if the best fare had been offered, or just £29.40 with a family railcard.

"Even including purchasing a family railcard for 12 months for £30, giving further future benefits, it would have been cheaper at £59.40 than the online retailer's price.

"Another instance brought to our attention was a man going to a job interview in Telford from Caersws, having to be in Telford for 10.30am.

"A price of £24.85 including a 75p booking fee was charged by Trainline for a return journey leaving Caersws at 8.28am. The man had a Cambrian Railcard but was not told that he could use this. He could have done so, giving him an £11.65 fare."

Another example discovered by the group included a three adults on a day trip to Barmouth from Shrewsbury on August 13. Trainline offered a fare of £61.50 including a £1.50 booking fee.

The best price possible is actually £45.