Abandoning a Journey: Claiming 100% refund

[Tarquin88]

First time post, in advance of a journey. Have read posting here by MikeS8 dated 18/05/19 about "Refund on inbound and outbound..." which I found helpful.

Two planned trips in next month:

Basingstoke - Blackpool North (Mon-Fri) 0548 ex Basingstoke changing at Wolverhampton and Preston, arrive 1047. Return same day on (probably)1727 ex Blackpool North changing as above, arrive 2209

Basingstoke - Liverpool Lime Street (Sat) 0540 ex Basingstoke changing at Birmingham New Street, arrive 0940. Return same day on (probably) 1806 ex Liverpool Lime Street changing at Wolverhampton, arrive 2208

I do not wish to stay overnight to lower the cost, am buying standard off peak tickets at short notice for maximum flexibility and don't want to travel via London. I have a rough idea of the "compensation" process if there are delays on the return journey - but might need some help from here.

My enquiry is about delays on the outward journey. You will see from the proposed itinerary that the time available at both destinations is relatively brief (and there's a bus journey as well). It is, however, sufficient for my purposes - if I get there on time. My question is: is there a minimum delay point at which I could decide to abandon the outward journey (because I wasn't going to get enough time at my destination), return home and get a full refund so that I could make the journey another day?

Thanks.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

First time post, in advance of a journey. Have read posting here by MikeS8 dated 18/05/19 about "Refund on inbound and outbound..." which I found helpful.

Two planned trips in next month:

Basingstoke - Blackpool North (Mon-Fri) 0548 ex Basingstoke changing at Wolverhampton and Preston, arrive 1047. Return same day on (probably)1727 ex Blackpool North changing as above, arrive 2209

Basingstoke - Liverpool Lime Street (Sat) 0540 ex Basingstoke changing at Birmingham New Street, arrive 0940. Return same day on (probably) 1806 ex Liverpool Lime Street changing at Wolverhampton, arrive 2208

I do not wish to stay overnight to lower the cost, am buying standard off peak tickets at short notice for maximum flexibility and don't want to travel via London. I have a rough idea of the "compensation" process if there are delays on the return journey - but might need some help from here.

My enquiry is about delays on the outward journey. You will see from the proposed itinerary that the time available at both destinations is relatively brief (and there's a bus journey as well). It is, however, sufficient for my purposes - if I get there on time. My question is: is there a minimum delay point at which I could decide to abandon the outward journey (because I wasn't going to get enough time at my destination), return home and get a full refund so that I could make the journey another day?

Thanks.

No, there is no defined minimum amount of disruption before you are allowed to abandon your journey, return to your origin and receive a full refund (without a fee).

BTW, you may be able to save a large amount by buying your tickets carefully, e.g. splitting tickets using a site like TrainSplit, or buying your tickets to a destination with more permissive restrictions (e.g. instead of buying a ticket to Liverpool Lime Street, where you have to buy an Anytime Return to travel before 09:30, you could buy a ticket to Preston, where the Off-Peak Return, like with Blackpool North, is valid from 04:15).

 

[Haywain]

You will see from the proposed itinerary that the time available at both destinations is relatively brief

I don't know many people who would consider staying somewhere for 6 hours plus as being "relatively brief".

 

[paddington]

I bought a return ticket where I intended to spend 5 minutes at the destination. The purpose of the journey was to give something to someone who would be waiting at the station. The outbound train was delayed and the intended inbound was on time, meaning that if I travelled I would have to wait 1 hour at the destination for the next inbound.

The minimum connection time at the station must have been 5 minutes or less, or else I wouldn't have planned it that way. I was able to get a full refund for the ticket, which I used to buy the same ticket for a later date where my plan was successful.

 

[E759]

I'd go for the Kill Two Birds with One Stone approach for such long trips: Plan the trip to include something else at the Destination and use Advance tickets. [I visited Liverpool a couple of days ago and visited Williamson's Tunnels which was a bit different. Also the cathedrals are well worth visting.]

 

[Tarquin88]

Thanks for all the helpful comments. Knowing that I could get a full refund if there was a problem on the outbound journey meant that I could go ahead with confidence. I made the Blackpool trip a couple of weeks ago.

I note that there is a lot of criticism on this Forum of the railways, staff and passengers and some of it is undoubtedly justified. However, I travelled on six trains in one day and all of them were on time, including one that had been pressed into service because of problems elsewhere. Seat reservations were in place and all the staff I met were helpful & polite.