Cancelled trains and advance tickets

[cuccir]

Hello - I have an advance ticket on Monday 27/12 from Barrow-in-Furness to Manchester Picadilly. I'm booked onto the 13:26 out of Lancaster, and was scheduled onto a Northern Rail train from Barrow. That's cancelled due to the strike, so I'd like to take the 11:25 TPE from Barrow to Lancaster (terminates at Preston). I'm confident that there'd be no problem there, but I'd like to then get the 12:27 from Lancaster to Manchester. I think that under the advance T&C I should be able to do this (" If the train you purchased a ticket for is cancelled or delayed by more than 60 minutes, special arrangements will be made to accommodate you on another train"), but I'm not sure whether I can or not.

My alternative would be to speak to someone at the station tomorrow (I'm travelling anyway up to Foxfield for Christmas Eve drinks) and see if I can rebook my ticket for those earlier services without booking fee, on the grounds of cancellation, but when I went along earlier in the week the staff were fairly uninformed about the strike ("It's only Northern Rail so it doesn't really matter"). But do you think I should be able to rebook?
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Oh and to complicate the matter, I can't cancel my advance and rebook, as the journey planner is not acknowledging that my train will be cancelled, although the.northern rail website confirms that it is

 

[yorkie]

If your train is cancelled you can get a refund if you choose not to travel.

As for re-booking, unless there is an easement that isn't possible however there should be no need, as if the train is cancelled they have to accommodate you on another service. In general the rule tends to be that you can take the train before, or the train after, what you are booked on. However a general easement may be issued when there is serious disruption to say you can get any train.

In your specific case, once you get to Lancaster, it is theoretically possible that the guard may force you to wait an hour for your train. I do not see any reason that you could refuse such a request. I would imagine that the guard from Barrow would work to at least Preston? In which case if you ask the guard at, or shortly after leaving, Barrow, whether you can stay on beyond Lancaster, I expect most TPE guards would probably say yes. If it's a different guard from Preston there may be an issue there, but once accepted by the earlier guard I wouldn't expect there to be a problem.

TPE guards on my route do seem to be pretty good, so if your route is similar I reckon the guard will be helpful. No promises though; I can only speculate.

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Assuming the strike goes ahead, which looks likely, the only Northern services out of Barrow will be to Workington.

However, I would point out that, under the conditions of your ticket, if there are delays while travelling you may use later services. Now before everyone starts on me, I will say that I would hope that staff would use common sense, however, there are plenty of 'bad eggs' out there.

If you don't ask you don't get, but don't go thinking you have a right to use earlier services, you do not.

Station staff will not tell you that you are fine to travel earlier, it is not their place to say, but they can arrange later travel, or agree another course of action. Only the guard can allow you onboard an earlier train at his/her discretion.

My advice is NOT to rebook the ticket, this may infact land you with a fee to pay and even if that is waived, you will more than likely get a more expensive ticket.

 

[cuccir]

OK cheers - its much as I expected then. Yorkie - unfortunately my TPE train from Barrow doesn't go through to Manchester, otherwise I think the guard would probably let me stay on. I'll have to try and speak to the guard at the connecting train at Lancaster and hope he can accomodate me.

HHF - the T&Cs state only 'special arrangements will be made to accomodate you on another train', absolutely no mention of later/earlier. In this case I'm confident that it means that I can get the earlier train out of Barrow, to Lancaster (ie, covering the cancelled part), so that I can connect with my booked train there. After that, i think the ticket is only valid on the booked service from Lancaster, but I agree with you that hopefully the guard for the 12:27 will be reasonable and not make me wait for an hour at the station!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

OK cheers - its much as I expected then. Yorkie - unfortunately my TPE train from Barrow doesn't go through to Manchester, otherwise I think the guard would probably let me stay on. I'll have to try and speak to the guard at the connecting train at Lancaster and hope he can accomodate me.

HHF - the T&Cs state only 'special arrangements will be made to accomodate you on another train', absolutely no mention of later/earlier. In this case I'm confident that it means that I can get the earlier train out of Barrow, to Lancaster (ie, covering the cancelled part), so that I can connect with my booked train there. After that, i think the ticket is only valid on the booked service from Lancaster, but I agree with you that hopefully the guard for the 12:27 will be reasonable and not make me wait for an hour at the station!

Hmm, I had another look at the FRPP cos I thought it said different and I was wrong and maybe they will let you get the earlier one to Lancaster, good luck anyway.