ATOC emasculates the All Line Rover

Good news from ATOC!

From January the All Line Rover, much used by the Noble Lord on his Pilgrimages of Grice, will have early morning restrictions placed on its use.

This from RailUK...

An ALR will not be valid on Mondays-Fridays for boarding or alighting train services operated by CrossCountry, East Coast, East Midlands Trains and Virgin Trains before 10.00 Mondays – Fridays at Birmingham New Street, Bedford, London Euston, London Kings Cross, London St Pancras, Luton, Luton Airport Parkway, Milton Keynes Central, Stevenage and Watford Junction.

Needless to say the price will not be reduced to reflect this loss of flexibility.

According to posts on Twitter these peak restrictions effectively increase the price of the ALR by around 10-15% - that on top of a 15% increase introduced last year.

Regular readers will be aware that ATOC tried to introduce similar restrictions earlier this year, but following an outcry Bernard Street quickly relented.

No such worries this time round.

These restrictions are hardly likely to inconvenience Petrol-head, as he speeds about the country in his Jag.

UPDATE: This from Billy Connections...

So on the Virgin Trains restrictions I can't BOARD at Birmingham New Street but I can at Wolverhampton or Coventry or Birmingham International…??

Same for CrossCountry…??

I hope the grippers are quick or there could be a lot of confusion!

All Line Rover - restrictions from the 23rd May

Twitter and the internet news groups were abuzz last night with stories about the All Line Rover.

Details can be found here.

It appears that ATOC has decided that All Line Rovers will not be valid for use before 10:00 on InterCity sercvices from the 23rd May.

Obviously this decision was made in advance of the election.

But Eye can't help but feel that this is akin to the train operators pissing on Lord Adonis' ministerial grave.

UPDATE: This from @FreeTradeMark, via Twitter...

ALR not being time-restricted. ATOC.

Eye wonders why the change of heart?