I would like to inform your readers of a way to keep costs down when travelling on the train from Chippenham to Reading and London as I too have been affected by the large fare increases for walk-on' tickets over the past few years.

The answer is to book two tickets for your journey rather that just one. So instead of a Saver return to London Paddington ask the ticket clerk for a return from Chippenham to Didcot Parkway and then a Day Travelcard from Didcot Parkway to London.

You will halve the price of the Saver ticket, whilst still retaining a degree of flexibility for your journey, without the need to book on specific services and have London tube and bus travel thrown in!

The only proviso for the above is that your train must stop at Didcot Parkway (most services from Chippenham do).

The practice is completely legal and the ticket offices are obliged to sell the tickets to you.

J Adamczuk.

Chippenham