Advance Tickets and Weather Disruption

[Okey Red]

Sorry if this has been answered (new member syndrome) but I have an Advance Single from Exeter St Davids to Stirling (with connections at Birmingham and Haymarket) for Thurs. 20th Feb at 11:23.
The train was originally booked to start from Penzance and obviously due to the Dawlish incident, it's cancelled.
There is a later train showing at around 12:30 from Exeter, but obviously I will then miss the connections onward.

There is however, a train starting from Bristol that reaches Birmingham at the same time as my original train would have, run by the same TOC CrossCountry.

What I'm trying to find out is would my ticket allow me to get on the rail replacement buses at Exeter up to Bristol and join the train there which would allow me to still meet my original connections?

For information, the ticket was booked from the trainline as one journey, obviously with connections and booked in January before the travel disruption.

 

[Searle]

There's a bit of information about it here.

Basically it seems like a job of get yourself to Birmingham as quick as you can and then pick up your VT service from there. Because of the flooding between Taunton and Bridgwater, there is only one service before the 12:23, and that's the 09:23 to Newcastle. Your ticket would certainly be allowed on this service, and would probably give you enough slack time for delays (even if it is an early start!).

The best advice I can give is try to get yourself to Bristol, where there are half hourly services to Birmingham. Catch the first one you can, and then wait for the connecting train up into Scotland.

Good luck!

 

[John @ home]

would my ticket allow me to get on the rail replacement buses at Exeter up to Bristol and join the train there which would allow me to still meet my original connections?

Yes..

 

[Okey Red]

So it seems I have the option of both the earlier Exeter train or the Bristol starting service. I wasn't sure if Advance tickets are allowed travel on earlier trains as I'd only read about them being allowed on the next available service afterwards.
I was worried I might get on the replacement bus and end up being fined on the Bristol train for breaking the ticket conditions or something similar.
To be honest, I'd rather be at Exeter 2 hours early and catch a train from there and hang around at Birmingham instead of going to Bristol but I'm not sure which is best way of doing it at the moment.

 

[Searle]

I can't imagine you would be fined at all for whatever choice you made, as long as it's reasonable!

 

[Olympian]

Sorry if this has been answered (new member syndrome) but I have an Advance Single from Exeter St Davids to Stirling (with connections at Birmingham and Haymarket) for Thurs. 20th Feb at 11:23.
The train was originally booked to start from Penzance and obviously due to the Dawlish incident, it's cancelled.
There is a later train showing at around 12:30 from Exeter, but obviously I will then miss the connections onward.

There is however, a train starting from Bristol that reaches Birmingham at the same time as my original train would have, run by the same TOC CrossCountry.

What I'm trying to find out is would my ticket allow me to get on the rail replacement buses at Exeter up to Bristol and join the train there which would allow me to still meet my original connections?

For information, the ticket was booked from the trainline as one journey, obviously with connections and booked in January before the travel disruption.

The East Coast website is showing a 1025 bus from Exeter St Davids to Bristol Parkway arr. 1210 from where you pick up your booked train at 1239 for 1925 arrival into sitrling after changes at Birmingham New Street and Haymarket.

If you don't mind getting to Stirling later then you could always show up at Exeter for your original 1123 train and be put on the 1125 bus to Bristol Parkway and then 1339 train from there to Birmingham from where the East Coast site is showing 1515 Virgin train to Glasgow Central then 2018 from Glasgow Queen Street to Sirling arr. 2100.

If you choose to do the latter then you'd be entitled to compensation from Cross Country under their "Delay Repay" scheme for the inconvenience of their cancelled 1123 train from Exeter resulting in your arrival into Stirling being more than 30 minutes later than your original booking.

So it's up to you if you want to leave Exeter earlier or arrive Stirling later than your original booking. The official NRE advice that Searle linked to says "Passengers holding Advance tickets from or to stations West of Bristol may travel on earlier or later trains."