Avoiding London - whatcha reckon my chances and exactly what to ask for?

[Egg Centric]

I have an advance from Durham to Kings Cross leaving 3:45ish - my ultimate destination being Watford. I've a vague plan of trying to get someone to endorse the ticket to travel via Birmingham instead so that I can avoid what will probably be a couple of hours queueing at Euston at the other end.

How do you reckon my chances and who would you recommend approaching for the greatest possibilities of success? Am I missing out on a more sensible option? (I did look into just switching to other services but they were mostly unavailable, presumably due to cross country's silly reservation policy)

Ticket was bought through railforums.co.uk if it makes a difference!

 

[Snow1964]

Just to be clear have you bought a ticket to Watford or Kings Cross

 

[yorkie]

Cancel the journey using the refund portal and book the itinerary you want, to the destination you want to go to.

 

[skyhigh]

How do you reckon my chances and who would you recommend approaching for the greatest possibilities of success?

If you have an Advance from Durham to King's Cross, the chances of them letting you go via Birmingham to get to Watford are almost nil.

 

[deltic]

Why do you think you will be queuing for hours at Euston? London Overground to Watford are rarely full at Euston and you could also see what the Met Line is like at Kings Cross.

 

[Haywain]

Cancel the journey using the refund portal and book the itinerary you want, to the destination you want to go to.

Probably too late as the OP is likely to be travelling today. I can’t imagine there would be any prospect of “a couple of hours queuing at Euston” on any normal day.

 

[Egg Centric]

Probably too late as the OP is likely to be travelling today. I can’t imagine there would be any prospect of “a couple of hours queuing at Euston” on any normal day.

Precisely.

I've just deciced to risk it and if I have to queue a couple of hours so be it. Oddly this train is pretty busy itself which I wouldn't have anticipated.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Precisely.

I've just deciced to risk it and if I have to queue a couple of hours so be it. Oddly this train is pretty busy itself which I wouldn't have anticipated.

LNER trains are back to normal if not busier for leisure travel

 

[Hadders]

You won't have a two hour wait to travel from Euston to Watford.

 

[miklcct]

You won't have a two hour wait to travel from Euston to Watford.

Are you talking about Overground to Watford High Street or LNR to Watford Junction?

 

[Hadders]

Are you talking about Overground to Watford High Street or LNR to Watford Junction?

Both. You might have to stand on LNR but I thinkj it's highly unlikely that you wouldn't get on a train.

I'm sure @Egg Centric will update us in due course.

 

[Egg Centric]

Are you talking about Overground to Watford High Street or LNR to Watford Junction?

Happy with either as my ultimate destination is a Premier Inn roughly equidistant between the two.

Both. You might have to stand on LNR but I thinkj it's highly unlikely that you wouldn't get on a train.

I'm sure @Egg Centric will update us in due course.

Will do

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Sep 2022 ==

Update since I promised: No queues whatsoever at either Kings Cross, St Pancras (probably) or Euston. Seems quieter than normal if anything

 

[High Dyke]

That would be right. I caught a train to London King's Cross about 08:20 this morning, only stop at Stevenage. There was me and one other in coach B all the way. The rest of the train was lightly loaded too.

 

[Hadders]

Update since I promised: No queues whatsoever at either Kings Cross, St Pancras (probably) or Euston. Seems quieter than normal if anything

As I suspected then

Good that you had a straightforward journey.

 

[Egg Centric]

As I suspected then

Good that you had a straightforward journey.

Thanks. Must admit I feel a wee bit silly given how easy it was.

I was warned by many people "oop norf" about how horrendous it was going to be - and I had already come to those conclusions myself. So I don't think I was utterly delusional. Just wrong and presumably ill informed.

Since (hopefully) this isn't going to happen again for at least fifteen years I don't think there's much future applicability to anything really. But thanks and maybe this thread will help a future historian.

 

[yorkie]

Thanks. Must admit I feel a wee bit silly given how easy it was.

I was warned by many people "oop norf" about how horrendous it was going to be - and I had already come to those conclusions myself. So I don't think I was utterly delusional. Just wrong and presumably ill informed.

Since (hopefully) this isn't going to happen again for at least fifteen years I don't think there's much future applicability to anything really. But thanks and maybe this thread will help a future historian.

Maybe they heard of someone having to queue at one of the stations around Green Park and thought that would apply to Euston.

People up north who don't visit London (much) don't always have an accurate idea of what London is like.