ASA Adjudication on Grand Central Railway Company Ltd

Ad

A token collect offer, in the Hartlepool Mail, for free rail travel to London had a front-page flash that stated "FREE RAIL TRAVEL TO LONDON ON GRAND CENTRAL. SEE PAGE 29 OF TODAY'S Mail FOR DETAILS". Text inside the newspaper stated "FREE rail travel to London: - just buy the return portion ... We are offering readers free train tickets to London between 6th and 24th October ... Collect 5 'Grand Central' tokens from the Hartlepool Mail to travel FREE to London when buying a Grand Central return ticket. Tokens will be in each night from 29/09/08 to the 10/10/08. Tickets must be booked through Grand Central on 0845 xxx xxxx Monday to Friday 8.30am - 5.00pm". Terms and Conditions in a box at the right-hand side of the ad stated "Tickets are issued by Grand Central direct. Tokens to be shown to the on-board crew as proof of purchase ... Travel is to be made between 6th and 24th October only. To avoid overcrowding on busy trains, tickets available may be limited on some services".

Issue

1. The complainant, who had tried to book a ticket to London using the tokens on Monday 6th October for travel on Tuesday 7th October, but was told that no tickets were available, challenged the availability of the free tickets.

2. The ASA challenged whether the front-page flash was misleading, because it did not make clear that the free ticket was dependent on buying a ticket from London to Hartlepool.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. Grand Central Railway Company Ltd (Grand Central) explained that customers who had collected the free tokens from the newspaper bought their tickets over the phone from their ticket office. They said their sales people recorded details of each transaction made under the offer and issued customers tickets with reserved seats. Grand Central submitted documentation that showed the number of tickets that had been sold, as well as the reservations spreadsheets for the offer period.

Grand Central explained that they set quotas for the number of promotional tickets available to ensure that trains were not overloaded at any particular time. They said, however, that the data showed that there were adequate seats available both on the day in question and across the promotional period.

2. Grand Central said they did not believe the front-page flash was misleading. They pointed out that such flashes regularly appeared in newspapers, and that the intention was to highlight an initiative that would be of interest to readers by signposting the relevant page in the newspaper.

Assessment

1. Not upheld

The ASA noted the documentation submitted by Grand Central, which showed that only a very small proportion of the 300 promotional tickets available for travel on Tuesday 7th October had been sold. We understood from the sales and reservations information provided that on only one train service on one day of the promotional period were tickets unavailable, but that there was availability on every other train service on every day of the promotion. We considered that customers had a reasonable prospect of taking up the advertised offer, and we therefore concluded that on this point the ad was not misleading.

On this point we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness), 27.4 (Sales promotion rules), 30.1 and 30.2 (Availability) and 31.1 (Administration) but did not find it in breach.

2. Upheld

We noted Grand Central's argument that the front-page flash was in line with other similar promotions and directed readers to the relevant page in the newspaper. We considered, however, that the claim "FREE RAIL TRAVEL TO LONDON ON GRAND CENTRAL" might be understood by consumers to mean that the whole of the journey to and from London was free. We understood that, in order to take up the offer, consumers had to buy the return portion of their ticket, which was equivalent to half the price of a round trip fare to London. We considered that the front page flash should have made it clear to consumers that the free ticket to London was dependent on buying a return ticket from London, in order to make consumers aware that additional costs would be incurred in taking up the offer. Because it did not, we concluded that the front-page flash was misleading.

On this point the ad breached CAP Code clauses 7.1 and 7.2 (Truthfulness), 32.5 (Free offers and free trials) and 34.1 (Significant conditions for promotions).

Action

The ad must not be repeated again in its current form. We told Grand Central to make it clear in future front-page flashes that the free ticket was dependent on customers buying the return portion of the ticket.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)