When Do 'Off Peak' Trains to London ACTUALLY Start?

A question about : When Do 'Off Peak' Trains to London ACTUALLY Start?

Hi everyone,

I commute to work from Hitchin to London every day. My usual morning route is Hitchin to Moorgate via Finsbury Park / Kings Cross (depending on delays etc), and my route home is Moorgate -> Kings Cross -> Hitchin.

I currently get the 8.52am or the 9.01am arriving in Moorgate at around 9.45am, and the 6.23pm or 6.43pm from Kings Cross home.

I have so far, been buying anytime London Terminal return tickets. I have a railcard so it seems to be the cheapest option for me. However when getting the 9.01 this morning, I thought to myself; wouldn't it be great if this extra minute after 9am counted as off peak? I'd save myself so much money etc etc. I have always been a little confused as to the rules of peak/off peak (whether it's the time you go through the first barrier, or end your journey; whether peak times even count in the evening, as as a teenager I would always get an off peak travel card when visiting London and get any train home in the evening, even ones stuffed full of commuters with no problem etc).

So I thought I'd check. But checking left me even more confused. Thetrainline.com tells me that both of my trains are off peak, which is amazing! I would save myself over Ј20 a week! This is my first job out of uni and I don't earn much, so Ј20 a week would make all the difference (paying more than I ever paid in rent up north on trains is painful!). However I also tried Great Northern's website to be sure, which was much more sketchy about it and I couldn't select off peak as a ticket option for my usual trains. Now I'm not sure if it is, or it isn't.

Can anyone shed light on this? What time does off peak actually start Monday-Friday? Can I buy off peak return for my route? I don't want to get caught out if I can't!

Sorry for all the waffling, and I'm sure this probably gets asked a lot, but I just could not find a definitive answer so thought I'd ask. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Best answers:

• The East Coast Rail site says
  You can travel anytime at the weekend, and Monday to Friday on most trains that leave after 09.30.
• Peak/off-peak rules vary depending on the ticket held, it's not a blanket time restriction.
  For a Hitchin-London off-peak day return, you can't leave Hitchin between 0430 and the 0925, or leave London between 1630-1901 inclusive.
• I see - so thetrainline.com must have a glitch! That is such a shame - so close to off peak, yet so far. Thank you for your help
• Which company operates the trains that you normally use? They have the right to decide what sort of tickets to accept for their trains, and so they will provide the most authoritative answer.
• You also need to consider any restrictions imposed on railcard discounted tickets.
  For example, in the T&Cs for a 16-25 railcard it says:
  Quote:
• From what I can see you are stuck with an Anytime Day Return at Ј16.05. Have you considered season tickets?