Swindon to Belfast anytime single via Stranraer

[bkhtele]

The rail sea to Ireland leaflet obtained in Swindon rail station shows an anytime single ticket with Stena from Zone G (including Swindon, London , Dover etc) as £49 to Belfast via Stranraer. When I have booked this at Swindon station I have had some success.

Recently I booked successfully Didcot Parkway to Belfast via Stranraer On a Sunday Didcot - Paddington-KingsCross - Edinburgh - Glasgow - Stranraer - HSS to Belfast £49. This was shown on the internet and on the station system.

When I have tried to book this ticket before via London from Swindon various booking clerks have told me it is not valid via London, is this normally correct. It seems that if the price is not shown on their system for a particuar journey they will usually not book it

The leaflet says that "fares apply via Stranrarer from any station with the zone listed" So I believe that it is valid by any train including via London

I have found the journey proposed by journey planner via didcot or cheltenham difficult and complex. Often a journey via London is a lot simpler with some alternative if connections fail. Please help

 

[4SRKT]

£49? Is that all? Judging by your route, you could buy this ticket to cover a large range of journey options for less than the normal fare, and never set foot in Northern Ireland.

Are you going thumper bashing over there?

 

[devon_metro]

£49? Is that all? Judging by your route, you could buy this ticket to cover a large range of journey options for less than the normal fare, and never set foot in Northern Ireland.

Are you going thumper bashing over there?

You could, but you are meant to have a ferry reservation iirc...

Yorkie..!

 

[bkhtele]

Bargain fare! Set up to compete with Ryanair and Easyjet. A lot slower but much more interesting journey! I visit relatives from time to time

 

[4SRKT]

You could, but you are meant to have a ferry reservation iirc...

Yorkie..!

Doesn't matter. Just don't use it. I can't see how you could get an anytime fare from Swindon to (for example) Glasgow any other way.

 

[yorkie]

on what basis do they claim the ticket is invalid in accordance with the Routeing Guide?

 

[First class]

I brought these ferry prices up a while back

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=24035

Basically, you could get to a lot of places in the UK for £30 single just by buying a ticket to Ireland. Anyone can make the reservation- of course, doesn't mean you have to use it.

 

[yorkie]

The Routeing Guide does not cover tickets to Belfast (and beyond) so they only possible course of action is to look up Stranraer as the destination. This clearly shows via London as being valid.

 

[bkhtele]

The booking staff have not been able to get the £49 ticket via London on their ticket machine with reservations only via didcot or Cheltenham. I have also seen fgw Internet try and charge £49 + advance single. On one occassion (Sunday) I got them to book the ferry & I then travelled without train reservations. Don't fancy doing this on a busy day. Also kings cross underground insisted I pay tube fare which is clearly wrong. If I am challenged on the train or at paddington what should I say? At Swindon station what would be the best approach? Simply refer to stranraer in the routing guide? Interestingly Hungerford to Belfast via Reading and london seems to be freely available on the Internet at £49!

 

[Deerfold]

The website gives some interesting results - what a shame you can't buy online...

 

[yorkie]

"he via London, Maltese Cross symbol on a ticket signifies that the ticket may be used via London Underground or Thameslink services. Unless a ticket specifies that the journey must be made via London, passengers are free to use an alternative ‘permitted route’ for their journey as provided by the
Routeing Guide.

In some instances (particularly long distance cross country journeys) the
Manual will show an "any permitted" fare but without the via London, Maltese
cross symbol. Reference to Section C (the “yellow pages”) may show via
London to be a permitted route for this journey and in such instances travel
via London to include cross-London transfer would be permitted."

LU drones interpretation is that "No Maltese cross means not valid" that's because the people doing ticket training have no brains whatsoever. Or maybe it's a cynical attempt to increase revenue, I'm not sure. I know people who have had LU training and they've told me that they learnt more from ticketing by themselves than at LU training.

I've argued with them before at King's Cross over another ticket that permitted travel via London, I won the argument eventually but only because one of the barrier staff saw sense and told the other one to allow us through. At Paddington I did the trick to avoid the barriers as I couldn't be bothered with another argument.

I've had Belfast tickets accepted on (NX)EC without question, and on FGW without question. It's only the LU drones who do not accept it, as it goes against their script.

 

[jamesontheroad]

£49? Is that all? Judging by your route, you could buy this ticket to cover a large range of journey options for less than the normal fare, and never set foot in Northern Ireland.

I can't believe I've never thought of that one. Although I am in NI a bit, I usually fly. But the flat walk-up Anytime fares (with full railcard discount) would be a handy way home from my family in East Anglia to Glasgow when there aren't any Advance fares left

 

[djw1981]

Doing the return may be mnore difficult though.

Boarding at Glasgow with an unstamped etc ticket from Belfast (via Stranraer) may not go down well. You could of course put a pen squiggle on, but defacing tickets is an offence and you may need to get a southbound train in the time period shortkly afetr a train fromn Stranraer arrived to maintain plausibility

 

[First class]

Doing the return may be mnore difficult though.

Boarding at Glasgow with an unstamped etc ticket from Belfast (via Stranraer) may not go down well. You could of course put a pen squiggle on, but defacing tickets is an offence and you may need to get a southbound train in the time period shortkly afetr a train fromn Stranraer arrived to maintain plausibility

I don't agree.

The ferry companies don't touch your tickets, and secondly, as you have full break of journey there and back, it wouldn't matter whether your train matched any ferry sailings.

I've been from Penzance to Inverness without my ticket being stamped- doesn't mean it looks any more suspicious.

It doesn't say you have to get the ferry, just says you have to have a ferry reservation which nobody could argue with.

Maybe you got a lift from Stranraer-Glasgow? Nothing to prevent that!

Finally, you can squiggle on your own ticket- it's not an offence (providing it doesn't say something like free 1st class upgrade etc), just be prepared to cause confusion with on-board train crew who think an inspector/guard has done it to indicate it's used.

 

[glynn80]

You could of course put a pen squiggle on, but defacing tickets is an offence and you may need to get a southbound train in the time period shortkly afetr a train fromn Stranraer arrived to maintain plausibility

Finally, you can squiggle on your own ticket- it's not an offence (providing it doesn't say something like free 1st class upgrade etc), just be prepared to cause confusion with on-board train crew who think an inspector/guard has done it to indicate it's used.

Tampering with a ticket is not an "offence" as in it doesn't break any law/byelaw. What it does do however is render the ticket invalid according to the NRCoC which state the following:

23. If a ticket is damaged or altered

If a ticket has been damaged or has been tampered with or altered in any way, it is not valid for travel. However, if you return it to the Train Company or travel agent which sold it to you, they will arrange for a replacement ticket to be issued unless it has reason to suspect that the ticket has, or will be, used for fraudulent or improper purposes. You may have to pay a reasonable administrative charge (not exceeding £10) for the replacement.

(Emphasis added personally)

 

[4SRKT]

If you were really worried, you could go out to Paisley Gilmour St and ride back in to get your ticket stamped. Don't see the point though as it's quite plausible that you could travel from Stranraer to Glasgow without getting gripped, or as has been pointed out, you could have got a lift.

 

[Oracle]

OTT a bit but RAIL today suggests that there are terrible connections at Stranraer with the ferries with the new TT. Or none at all!

 

[4SRKT]

OTT a bit but RAIL today suggests that there are terrible connections at Stranraer with the ferries with the new TT. Or none at all!

My father says the same. He travels regularly to Northern Ireland from York, but now prefers to go via Holyhead > Dun Laoghaire. He does miss out on his favourite sausage supper opposite Ayr station tho.......

 

[bkhtele]

There are around 1 or 2 decent journeys still each way, true they have messed up the timetable! Euston 11.30am via Carlisle & kilmaronock stran 18.52 ferry 19.55 Belfast 22.05.
From Belfast 11.45 stran 13.45 train 14.43 via Glasgow euston 23.38 or catch the sleeper from Glasgow to Euston.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

The Routeing Guide does not cover tickets to Belfast (and beyond) so they only possible course of action is to look up Stranraer as the destination. This clearly shows via London as being valid.

Would the East Coast mainline via Edinburgh to Stranraer also be a valid route?

 

[First class]

Are you intending to travel London-Edinburgh-Glasgow-Stranraer?

 

[bkhtele]

Yes from Swindon on the sailrail £49 anytime single

 

[D6975]

I've just been looking at taking a trip to Belfast during a forthcoming planned trip to Scotland. Starting at Ayr, intending to do the overnight sailing, the National Rail website gives this:

23:38 Ayr [AYR]
Stranraer [STR] 01:00 1 1h 22m First ScotRail service from Kilmarnock to Stranraer
01:00 Stranraer [STR] Stranraer Harbour [SRE]
01:20 0h 20m
This journey involves a wait of over 90 minutes for a connecting train.
14:20 Stranraer Harbour [SRE] Belfast Port [BFA]
16:30 2h 10m
TRANSFER 16:30 Belfast Port [BFA] Belfast Central [BFC]
17:30 1h 00m


Apparently there are no ships between 01.00 and 14.20 from Stranraer!!!
Absolute pants!! (the website that is)
There are af course several sailings - I'd already looked up on the Stena site to check that there was an overnight, so I was aiming for the 03.15 off Stranraer.
Since it's been revamped, all the final links to information about Rover tickets have gone belly up as well, you can't get past the choose a letter A-Z bit - I've reported it to them so hopefully something will be done about it.