Advice on heavily delayed 1810 Euston to Birmingham, Sat 6 December

[John92]

Hi all
I've tried looking at other past posts for advice on this (whilst the below was happening!) and read one forum post of a person who had booked a dinner service from Scotland and her mother was stranded waiting for her at a platform - and the advice from others here was unless she had travel insurance, other than delay repay, there was no other form of recourse for her (though I think that was for a fatality)

Unfortunately on Saturday I was on what transpired to be the journey from hell - the 1810 from Euston to Birmingham International broke down, and after being departed at Watford Junction, I eventually got on board a subsequent service (where we stood all the way for 100+ mins) and arrived at BI at 2250 - a whopping 3 hours 35 minutes after the arrival time (as the final train was also repeatedly delayed too). I completely missed the show I was planning to go to and the hotel was a waste of money. I didn't have travel insurance for either. The original service was boiling hot, we weren't offered any water and the shop closed for a stock check (which seemed bizzare when it was needed most when we were stranded?)

To add insult to injury - the return journey back to London on Sunday morning was cancelled due to overrunning engineering works after Rugby. Eventually got back into London two hours late again....pretty miserable all round.

Is there any point even complaining about this to Avanti? Having had similar bad experiences before with them on Birmingham gigs (the worst being arriving back into London last year 3 hours late at 4.30am after a James gig!), its really put me off ever using Avaanti, and particularly Birmingham as a city, again (sadly).

Many thanks in advance!

 

[tonycockram]

You’ll be entitled to
A full refund through delay repay for the journey. I’d then send something through to avanti customer services showing your losses for the day and see if they are willing to provide a gesture of good will.

I’ve had them pay me quite nicely before

 

[dvboy]

I believe many of the passengers from the 1810 ended up on what was the 2024 from Euston.

I was on this train which not only been delayed because of the congestion at Watford Junction caused by the breakdown of 1810, but also further delayed because of a smoke alarm activation just before Milton Keynes.

 

[John92]

You’ll be entitled to
A full refund through delay repay for the journey. I’d then send something through to avanti customer services showing your losses for the day and see if they are willing to provide a gesture of good will.

I’ve had them pay me quite nicely before

Thanks - ive sent in a complaint to Avanti. Will update here what the outcome is for others future reference. I guess they may use the travel insurance card but the length of the delay was infuriating

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Dec 2025 ==

I believe many of the passengers from the 1810 ended up on what was the 2024 from Euston.

I was on this train which not only been delayed because of the congestion at Watford Junction caused by the breakdown of 1810, but also further delayed because of a smoke alarm activation just before Milton Keynes.

Ah - that's probably the one I caught. The smoke alarm delays were infuriating

 

[londonbridge]

So you were going to a show in Birmingham and booked on a train that wasn’t due to arrive at Birmingham International until 7:15pm? Don’t you think that was cutting it fine to begin with, before the possibility of train delays was considered? I’d have been travelling much earlier than that, indeed the last time I did a gig in Birmingham I was at New Street by 5:50.

 

[John92]

Completely legitimate point! For evening trains say to Birmingham NS, i have got the train into NS around 7pm no problem. Thought this time, with not much Interest in the support act, a 1 hour 45 min buffer was alright, but hindsight says otherwise.

I guess it was a bit unlucky too - apart from the 1814 stuck behind us, I understand all other trains behind were rerouted around us, from what Avanti said on Twitter.

A lesson though for the reasons you say, plus travel insurance... It has prompted me also to maybe avoid Avanti routes, given they are the least reliable operator (happy to be corrected)

 

[Hadders]

It doesn't matter what form of transport you use, sometimes 'stuff' happens. Over the years I've been delayed by hours due to:

Road traffic accidents
Rail delays (for various reasons)
Flights delayed, cancelled or diverted

If you need to be somewhere and want as much certainty as possible of being there then you need to travel early. You can plan to arrive a few minutes before the event, and most of the time that will work, but there will be times when things just go wrong.

 

[peteb]

Hi all
I've tried looking at other past posts for advice on this (whilst the below was happening!) and read one forum post of a person who had booked a dinner service from Scotland and her mother was stranded waiting for her at a platform - and the advice from others here was unless she had travel insurance, other than delay repay, there was no other form of recourse for her (though I think that was for a fatality)

Unfortunately on Saturday I was on what transpired to be the journey from hell - the 1810 from Euston to Birmingham International broke down, and after being departed at Watford Junction, I eventually got on board a subsequent service (where we stood all the way for 100+ mins) and arrived at BI at 2250 - a whopping 3 hours 35 minutes after the arrival time (as the final train was also repeatedly delayed too). I completely missed the show I was planning to go to and the hotel was a waste of money. I didn't have travel insurance for either. The original service was boiling hot, we weren't offered any water and the shop closed for a stock check (which seemed bizzare when it was needed most when we were stranded?)

To add insult to injury - the return journey back to London on Sunday morning was cancelled due to overrunning engineering works after Rugby. Eventually got back into London two hours late again....pretty miserable all round.

Is there any point even complaining about this to Avanti? Having had similar bad experiences before with them on Birmingham gigs (the worst being arriving back into London last year 3 hours late at 4.30am after a James gig!), its really put me off ever using Avaanti, and particularly Birmingham as a city, again (sadly).

Many thanks in advance!

Next time (if there is a next time) try Chiltern Marylebone to Solihull direct. The bus to Birmingham International goes from outside Solihull station frontage. From International bus stop you walk over the rail station footbridge (lifts and escalators provided) to the NEC/Arena. Yes, it takes longer than Avanti but from experience Chiltern seems more reliable.

Of course if you're reasonably young there's a possibility of getting HS2 to Birmingham International...........at some point in the future!

 

[Belperpete]

Next time (if there is a next time) try Chiltern Marylebone to Solihull direct. ..... Yes, it takes longer than Avanti but from experience Chiltern seems more reliable.

So going via Chiltern would entail leaving earlier. However, If leaving earlier, wouldn't it be better to simply catch an earlier Avanti service? That would give some allowance for delays. Chiltern do sometimes get delayed, and as it is only a two-track railway, they can go seriously bad.