What does the railway do with under 18s in the event of severe disruption?

SWML9102 · 3 Jul 2026

In the event of disruption the railway has a responsibility to provide a means for a passenger to reach their destination. Potentially a different train company, alternative route, or a replacement bus if the railway is completely out of action.

In the worst case of there being no other option to replace the last service of the day, the railway may provide a taxi to the final destination or, as a last resort, overnight accommodation. In those circumstances, what happens to under 18s - no hotel will take them, and if taxi is an option they are likely to refuse unaccompanied minors on the basis of child protection.

Are they given over to the care of the police? I can't think of another option!

RailUK Forums

Magrar · 3 Jul 2026

Well for a start, we have to remember that officially, this nightmare scenario of a party of one or more children having no means of completing their journey by rail, would probably feature at least one child aged 16 or 17.

So then it becomes far more likely that, assuming the taxi company has the prior authorisation of a parent or guardian, they will take that fare. After all, taxis routinely convey unaccompanied minors to school under such arrangments (dbs checked drivers, eye witness handovers, etc)

But if not, well, that's what the police are there for.

Northerngirl · 3 Jul 2026

I can't say Ive had any issues in my teen years with taxis, that was the 2010s so not sure if its changed now. Is there actually any rules on a minimum age for train travel

Trainguy34 · 3 Jul 2026

I know that occasionally Stagecoach SE, although not trains, can be pretty bad with this. Multiple times I have seen young teenage girls (alone) trying to get home with no cash, expecting to be able to use their bus pass, only to find out that you have to pay after 19:00 (19:10 bus!), with no more buses that night.
They do refuse to let them on and basically just have a go at them until they give up.

Safe to say my wallet was a couple quid lighter and stagecoaches complaints inbox was slightly heavier that night!

tfw756rider · 3 Jul 2026

Northerngirl said:
I can't say Ive had any issues in my teen years with taxis, that was the 2010s so not sure if its changed now. Is there actually any rules on a minimum age for train travel

Not in law, but that's overridden by most Train Operating Companies, which require an under-12 to be with a 16+, otherwise the British Transport Police will be called.

Islineclear3_1 · 3 Jul 2026

Trainguy34 said:
I know that occasionally Stagecoach SE, although not trains, can be pretty bad with this. Multiple times I have seen young teenage girls (alone) trying to get home with no cash, expecting to be able to use their bus pass, only to find out that you have to pay after 19:00 (19:10 bus!), with no more buses that night.
They do refuse to let them on and basically just have a go at them until they give up.

I think bus companies should have safeguarding in place and a duty of care to prevent young (vulnerable) children being abandoned alone

SWML9102 · 3 Jul 2026

Magrar said:
After all, taxis routinely convey unaccompanied minors to school under such arrangments (dbs checked drivers, eye witness handovers, etc)

School taxis nowadays are always large people carriers or small minibuses with a chaperone, never just driver plus children in a standard 5 seat car. Don't know what age that applies to though.

I recall a thread from sometime back regarding a meltdown on the west coast mainline, at Preston if I remember correctly. The op recounted his taxi journey to Scotland, but had noted that a party of school children heading home were being refused taxis because there were not sufficient responsible adults in the group to provide one per taxi.

Trainguy34 · 3 Jul 2026

Islineclear3_1 said:
I think bus companies should have safeguarding in place and a duty of care to prevent young (vulnerable) children being abandoned alone

So do I, but clearly Stagecoach aren't training their drivers on the IOU slips I have seen them use on the school buses when people forget their passes.

The exile · 3 Jul 2026

Magrar said:
Well for a start, we have to remember that officially, this nightmare scenario of a party of one or more children having no means of completing their journey by rail, would probably feature at least one child aged 16 or 17.

A large party yes (and indeed probably adults as well) but there will be plenty of 15 year olds (say) out with small groups of contemporaries in the early evening. There may be no intention of being out anywhere near as late as the last train but a combination of their carelessness and a railway meltdown could give rise to such a situation. At least they’ll almost certainly have a phone with them!

philthetube · 4 Jul 2026

Trainguy34 said:
I know that occasionally Stagecoach SE, although not trains, can be pretty bad with this. Multiple times I have seen young teenage girls (alone) trying to get home with no cash, expecting to be able to use their bus pass, only to find out that you have to pay after 19:00 (19:10 bus!), with no more buses that night.
They do refuse to let them on and basically just have a go at them until they give up.

Safe to say my wallet was a couple quid lighter and stagecoaches complaints inbox was slightly heavier that night!

This probably happens frequently and the drivers could well be familiar with the girls concerned. What do you do when the same girl turns up frequently of a Friday night with no cash.

The fact that you have seen this multiple times says it all.

Gareth1990 · 4 Jul 2026

philthetube said:
This probably happens frequently and the drivers could well be familiar with the girls concerned. What do you do when the same girl turns up frequently of a Friday night with no cash.

The fact that you have seen this multiple times says it all.

I’d rather the driver allows the girl to travel even if she is trying it on, better that than leave her stranded and then something happens to her. I don’t think the driver has thought it through either, who’s going to get the blame if something does happen…

Trainguy34 · 4 Jul 2026

philthetube said:
This probably happens frequently and the drivers could well be familiar with the girls concerned. What do you do when the same girl turns up frequently of a Friday night with no cash.

The fact that you have seen this multiple times says it all.

All different girls who I haven't seen this happen to otherwise (I'm there most nights waiting for my bus!), even if this is frequent they should still take them in my opinion as the location concerned isn't exactly the safest place at the best of times, let alone at 7pm on any night!

Bear in mind that this is also often the last bus to many of these locations, and a taxi would be much more expensive!

chris53 · 4 Jul 2026

philthetube said:
This probably happens frequently and the drivers could well be familiar with the girls concerned. What do you do when the same girl turns up frequently of a Friday night with no cash.

The fact that you have seen this multiple times says it all.

Observed this happen and usually end up paying for the young person to travel. If I was ripped off then so be it, far better than the alternative scenario of a young girl having to walk home in the dark. I can live with being ripped off for a few quid, the alternative would keep me awake

Taplowgreen · 4 Jul 2026

Magrar said:
Well for a start, we have to remember that officially, this nightmare scenario of a party of one or more children having no means of completing their journey by rail, would probably feature at least one child aged 16 or 17.

So then it becomes far more likely that, assuming the taxi company has the prior authorisation of a parent or guardian, they will take that fare. After all, taxis routinely convey unaccompanied minors to school under such arrangments (dbs checked drivers, eye witness handovers, etc)

But if not, well, that's what the police are there for.

Or perhaps that's what parents are there for?

mmh · 4 Jul 2026

SWML9102 said:
School taxis nowadays are always large people carriers or small minibuses with a chaperone, never just driver plus children in a standard 5 seat car. Don't know what age that applies to though

Sorry, but that's not accurate. Individual children without chaperones are driven to school in saloon taxis hired by councils.

Bletchleyite · 4 Jul 2026

tfw756rider said:
Not in law, but that's overridden by most Train Operating Companies, which require an under-12 to be with a 16+, otherwise the British Transport Police will be called.

There is no such rule. Under 12s routinely travel to school unaccompanied by train.

Russel · 5 Jul 2026

Bletchleyite said:
There is no such rule. Under 12s routinely travel to school unaccompanied by train.

Yep, 11 onwards is high school age.

Watershed · 5 Jul 2026

Russel said:
Yep, 11 onwards is high school age.

I commuted to school by train from the age of 11, changing trains at a major station. In fact it was that commute which probably got me into trains!

Even during all those 7 years the disruption was never bad enough that the railway organised a taxi from what I recall. There were always alternative routes or buses.

Russel · 5 Jul 2026

Watershed said:
I commuted to school by train from the age of 11, changing trains at a major station. In fact it was that commute which probably got me into trains!

Even during all those 7 years the disruption was never bad enough that the railway organised a taxi from what I recall. There were always alternative routes or buses.

My son is 10 and the though terrifies me!

I think that's a natural response as a parent though.

Stossgebet · 5 Jul 2026

My teen has an Uber account, linked to my partners Uber account and c/card. Uses it to get to/from school and elsewhere. Has done since the age of 14.

milooo · 5 Jul 2026

I was just put into a taxi with 2 other people last time there was significant disruption

D1537 · 5 Jul 2026

Bletchleyite said:
There is no such rule. Under 12s routinely travel to school unaccompanied by train.

Nevertheless, I've definitely seen that rule stated on a TOC website. I found this one for c2c ...

C2C - "we will not allow any child under the age of 12 to travel without an adult (aged 16 or over)"

... but the one I saw was a bigger TOC (I think EMR) but of course, I can't find any sign of that now.

liamf656 · 5 Jul 2026

When I was 14 I was stranded in Goole due to a points failure. The 158 I was on went ECS in the Doncaster direction, and Northern arranged for me to travel with the guard in a taxi to Hull. It was handled very well in the circumstances

yorkie · 5 Jul 2026

D1537 said:
Nevertheless, I've definitely seen that rule stated on a TOC website. I found this one for c2c ...

C2C - "we will not allow any child under the age of 12 to travel without an adult (aged 16 or over)"

... but the one I saw was a bigger TOC (I think EMR) but of course, I can't find any sign of that now.

c2c are making this up; there is no such rule and the police absolutely would not assist if the child was old enough to be travelling alone (certainly at age 11, if not 10).

I have absolutely no doubt that, as a minimum there will be Year 7 pupils who have not yet had their birthday using c2c trains (on the first day of term in two months time, this would be ~98% of pupils in that year group). I am sure we would have heard if any of them were being denied travel or if the police were being called for secondary school kids going to school.

Whoever wrote that hasn't got a clue. If they had said "under 10", then it could have been taken seriously.

If someone called BTP for an 11 year old travelling alone, and purely for that reason, then I would consider that to be a case of wasting police time.

Edit: there is a previous thread here:

Should children be allowed to travel unaccompanied on the rail network?

Moderator note - split from: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/tpe-cancelled-no-alternative-offered.236177/ Who did he speak to? And what exactly was said? Regardless of the minutiae over what the child is due given the train wasn’t scheduled to run, you can’t just leave a child with a...

www.railforums.co.uk

mmh · 5 Jul 2026

D1537 said:
Nevertheless, I've definitely seen that rule stated on a TOC website. I found this one for c2c ...

C2C - "we will not allow any child under the age of 12 to travel without an adult (aged 16 or over)"

... but the one I saw was a bigger TOC (I think EMR) but of course, I can't find any sign of that now.

That's a meaningless thing for C2C to say, though. Completely unenforceable - nobody is checking a passenger's age before they board, and there's no law saying someone can't travel unaccompanied.

You get this a lot though - "rules" written by someone based on what they think should be the case, not what is.

MatthewE707 · 5 Jul 2026

yorkie said:
I have absolutely no doubt that, as a minimum there will be Year 7 pupils who have not yet had their birthday using c2c trains (on the first day of term in two months time, this would be ~98% of pupils in that year group). I am sure we would have heard if any of them were being denied travel or if the police were being called for secondary school kids going to school.

Absolutely - there are plenty of Year 7s at schools near me who travel to school with c2c, and I've never seen any problems with them being denied travel or anything.

LLivery · 5 Jul 2026

D1537 said:
Nevertheless, I've definitely seen that rule stated on a TOC website. I found this one for c2c ...

C2C - "we will not allow any child under the age of 12 to travel without an adult (aged 16 or over)"

... but the one I saw was a bigger TOC (I think EMR) but of course, I can't find any sign of that now.

~~So you can fly across the world at 14 on BA without an adult with you, but can't go from Pitsea to Leigh-on-Sea? I expect that nonsense to disappear shortly.~~

Purple Train · 5 Jul 2026

LLivery said:
So you can fly across the world at 14 on BA without an adult with you, but can't go from Pitsea to Leigh-on-Sea? I expect that nonsense to disappear shortly.

It says that under 12s can't travel without someone on an adult ticket, not that under 16s can't travel alone.

LLivery · 5 Jul 2026

Purple Train said:
It says that under 12s can't travel without someone on an adult ticket, not that under 16s can't travel alone.

Ah! I missed read it!

godfreycomplex · 5 Jul 2026

Trainguy34 said:
I know that occasionally Stagecoach SE, although not trains, can be pretty bad with this. Multiple times I have seen young teenage girls (alone) trying to get home with no cash, expecting to be able to use their bus pass, only to find out that you have to pay after 19:00 (19:10 bus!), with no more buses that night.
They do refuse to let them on and basically just have a go at them until they give up.

Safe to say my wallet was a couple quid lighter and stagecoaches complaints inbox was slightly heavier that night!

That is horrifying. Fair play for you for helping out but it shouldn’t be down to the kind heartedness of a passer by

What does the railway do with under 18s in the event of severe disruption?

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