Northampton to Chester woes.

[class303]

Hi,

I'm taking my mum to Chester races next month on Friday the 10th of may.

I stupidly let her buy tickets. details as follows:

Journey 1: NORTHAMPTON to CHESTER
Travel on Friday 10 May 2019

Departs Arrives By Reservations
11:05
NORTHAMPTON 11:21
MILTON KEYNES CENTRAL Train (WEST MIDLANDS TRAINS) No seat reserved with this ticket*
11:41
MILTON KEYNES CENTRAL 13:11
CHESTER Train (VIRGIN TRAINS) Coach: D
Seat: 39
Coach: D
Seat: 40
* The passenger is free to sit in any unreserved seat for the class of travel specified on the ticket

Ticket details
Passenger(s) 2 Adult(s)
Ticket type ADVANCE SINGLE
Route Only valid on booked Virgin Trains services and required connecting services.
Journey 2: CHESTER to NORTHAMPTON
Travel on Friday 10 May 2019

Departs Arrives By Reservations
18:55
CHESTER 19:18
CREWE Train (TRANSPORT FOR WALES) No seats reserved.
19:29
CREWE 20:31
MILTON KEYNES CENTRAL Train (VIRGIN TRAINS) Coach: F
Seat: 05
Coach: F
Seat: 06
20:49
MILTON KEYNES CENTRAL 21:06
NORTHAMPTON Train (WEST MIDLANDS TRAINS) No seats reserved.
Ticket details
Passenger(s) 2 Adult(s)
Ticket type OFF PEAK SINGLE (ONLINE)
Route Travel is allowed via any permitted route.



Advance singles outgoing are £29 and return singles are £28.50 she decided to save 50p by buying a combination of inflexible advances and internet only single tickets instead of the £59 off peak return. grrrrrr

It turns out we need to be at the racecourse no later than 12.30 for the hospitality package.

Is there anything that can be done here? Basically we need to get the earlier train leaving Northampton 10.05am, changing at at Milton Kenyes for the 10.41 to Chester. It appears there are no advance singles for this train though, just an internet only off peak single.

Is there anyway we can get the outward portion changed to the train 1 hour earlier? or is any part of the tickets refundable?

To make matters worse the tickets need to be collected at Northampton station with her card, I live in London.

Do I have ANY other hope or should I just write her purchases off and book 2x £59 off peak returns, like she should have done in the 1st place! grrrrrrrrrrr

Help appreciated.

 

[Merseysider]

If it was bought from CrossCountry it can be changed online without a fee.

If it was bought from VT or most other retailers you'll be charged 2x £10 amendment fees to upgrade to the off peak return.

It may be worth asking the retailer whether they'll waive the fee.

 

[class303]

If it was bought from CrossCountry it can be changed online without a fee.

If it was bought from VT or most other retailers you'll be charged 2x £10 amendment fees to upgrade to the off peak return.

It may be worth asking the retailer whether they'll waive the fee.

Thanks. It was bought through eastmidlands trains. it hasn't yet been collected from the station. Can this be done online? How do I go about changing it? Or how should my mum go about it!?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

You'll be very lucky to get to the Roodee by 1230 off the 1041 from MKC.
There are buses from the station passing the racecourse (Arriva 1 to Wrexham and others), but you won't do it in 20 minutes especially on race day.
You'll probably have discovered that you can't use the off-peak fare on the previous 0941 MKC to Chester.
There are some cheap/flexible fares on London Northwestern to Crewe, including a West Midlands Day Ranger at £24.70, valid after 0900 on any operator as far as Crewe but not via MKC.
You'd then need a return Crewe-Chester which is a steep £13.10.
Even then you can't reach Chester until after your 1230 deadline.

The only way I can see to reach the Roodee by 1230 other than paying the peak fare is:
0813 Northampton-Crewe 1024 (change at Rugby)
1049 Crewe-Chester 1112 (VT. actually the 0941 ex MKC!)
The off peak fare is £51.30, but not valid via MKC.

Coming back you'd need the 1755 ex Chester to Crewe, to pick up the 1902 Crewe-Northampton 2107.
It's also a bind that the hourly Chester-Crewe-MKC is missing at 1835, just as the peak of racegoers return.
Race days are also notorious for local overcrowding.
TfW will move mountains to put on extra stock for rugby at Cardiff, but ignore large events like Chester races.
Sorry to sound unhelpful!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Anytime Single to Crewe route LNR/WMT Only is a reasonable £37.00 - get up early and use one of those and a separate Crewe-Chester fare? Then use your existing return half to get home (though you'll lose the outward Advance, sadly).

 

[Camden]

Keep and use the existing tickets to get home.

08:13 from Northampton to Crewe, gets in 10:24 - £13.50 each (LNW booked train only)
10:49 Crewe to Chester, gets in at 11:13 - £12.90 each, valid on any train.

= £26.40 each extra, with plenty of time to walk from Chester station to the racecourse and stop for a coffee along the way.

Prices from londonnorthwesternrailway.co.uk specifying (for Northampton to Crewe) their trains only.

You could do it a bit cheaper by cutting it a bit finer and getting the 09:16, but you'd probably spend what you save on a taxi.

 

[class303]

You'll be very lucky to get to the Roodee by 1230 off the 1041 from MKC.
There are buses from the station passing the racecourse (Arriva 1 to Wrexham and others), but you won't do it in 20 minutes especially on race day.
You'll probably have discovered that you can't use the off-peak fare on the previous 0941 MKC to Chester.
There are some cheap/flexible fares on London Northwestern to Crewe, including a West Midlands Day Ranger at £24.70, valid after 0900 on any operator as far as Crewe but not via MKC.
You'd then need a return Crewe-Chester which is a steep £13.10.
Even then you can't reach Chester until after your 1230 deadline.

it's a 20 min walk according to google maps. if we're 10 mins late so be it.

 

[kieron]

If you can arrange an excess to a Northampton-Flint off peak return, this should cost no more than £29 each (£66.50 return - £57.50 already paid + 2 x £10 admin fee).

With this, you can leave Northampton at 09:05 to catch the 09:41 to Holyhead at Milton Keynes, and reach Chester at 11:13. The ticket restriction doesn't allow you to finish your outward journey at Chester, so you'd have to catch TfW trains to Flint and back, getting back to Chester at 12:15.

I'd probably ring the retailer first, as they may be able to do something with the fees if you haven't collected the tickets yet.

 

[yorkie]

If it was bought from VT or most other retailers you'll be charged 2x £10 amendment fees to upgrade to the off peak return.

It may be worth asking the retailer whether they'll waive the fee.

Some retailers will only charge £10 (e.g. Trainsplit will change any number within a single transaction, even if it relates to multiple journeys, for £10) however I don't know what EMT would do.

With this, you can leave Northampton at 09:05 to catch the 09:41 to Holyhead at Milton Keynes, and reach Chester at 11:13. The ticket restriction doesn't allow you to finish your outward journey at Chester, so you'd have to catch TfW trains to Flint and back, getting back to Chester at 12:15.

True though staff may grant permission to avoid doing the double-back, though the complication here is the ticket gates at Chester (which may reject the outward portion of such a ticket, and if so the staff may not grant permission to break the journey, but it's a lottery really and I couldn't predict how they'd react).