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Dover man, Alan Sencicle, of Danes Court, has continued his pleas for cheaper rail fares with Southeastern

00:00, 21 February 2014

updated: 11:41, 21 February 2014

Rail fare campaigner, Alan Sencicle, has found another flaw in Southeastern’s latest bid to advertise a limited time off-peak advance fare to east Kent.

The current offer allows rail users to visit Dover, Deal, Folkestone and Margate for £10 during off-peak times.

It has been implemented until March 16 has been advertised on the rail company’s website.

A keen Mr Sencicle is part of the White Cliffs Country Tourism Alliance (WCCTA) and lives in Danes Court has continued to push for more out of Southeastern.

Alan Sencicle pushes for a "level playing field" with advance train fares
Alan Sencicle pushes for a "level playing field" with advance train fares

He said: “Although this is a very attractive offer, I very much doubt it will be widely advertised.

“Although there are indications that Southeastern have responded to my pleas for rail fares to the Kent Coast that are more in line with those available from London to Brighton, Southampton and Bournemouth, the equitable solution can only be an advance fare structure available 365 days a year.”

Mr Sencicle also found a problem with the booking service on the website.

He added: “Unfortunately, this offer is not as helpful as it appeared to be. The Southeastern website fails to make it clear that it is available for £10 day trips only.

“This only becomes clear when you try to make a booking for journeys on two different days. When hovering over the £10 price box the fare is described as a web off-peak day return.”

However, since his meeting with Southeastern last year the rail firm has made progress, acknowledged by Mr Sencicle himself.

“Since I spoke at the Southeastern stakeholder meeting last October, there have been a total of four such offers. Firstly, a £25 offer from London over several consecutive weekends, followed by the all embracing 25% discount on off-peak tickets from November 16 to December 24.

“So far this year, there has been a 20% discount offer from February 14 to 17 immediately followed by the current £10 day return ticket from London to Dover, Deal, Folkestone and Margate that is available from February 18 to March 16.

Spokesman for Southeastern previously said: "Once we enter a direct award period we will come out of revenue support and will be in a position to offer more discounted fares."

Mr Sencicle concluded: “Members of the WCCTA and our many supporters will not relax our advance rail fares campaign until we achieve a far more level playing field.”

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