Partner Article

North East firm serves up Oysters for travellers

A North East travel company was fed up of its clients getting ripped off when travelling around London so they decided to start selling travel passes from its base in County Durham.

Chester-le-Track, which owns the railway station in Chester-le-Street, sells discounted rail travel at the ticket office, on the phone and via the web.

Ten years ago Alex Nelson became ‘stationmaster’ when he took over the station which had been unstaffed since the 1980s. His aim was to provide the sort of service passengers get at a bigger mainline station.

Alex prides himself on guiding his customers through the often complex ticketing system on today’s railways. He believes that he can help save passengers time as well as money.

And he has also encouraged more train operating companies to call at the market town station so there are now 28 trains each weekday.

Now he has turned his attention to helping travellers once they arrive in London. Chester-le-Track was the first outlet outside the capital to sell Oyster cards, the discount travel scheme for tube and bus travel. Instead of passengers having to queue and pay a three pound deposit once they get to Kings Cross, passengers from the region can pick up an Oyster card from his firm.

Alex said: “I felt travellers from the North East were being ripped off for using the same tickets that people down there can use. So far I’ve sold a thousand Oyster cards and we’ve never had one back.”

The cards cost £20, including a £3 deposit, and can be bought from the station ticket office or by sending a cheque for £20 made payable to ‘Chester-le-Track’.

Further details can be found at www.nationalrail.com.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .