Cheapest ticket to Preston (Lancs)

[adrianboult]

Good morning.

I am hoping that one of you might be able to help me please?

I need to get from St Leonard's Warrior Square to Preston next Tuesday 10th and arrive at Preston anytime after 3 or 4pm.
I then need to leave Preston the next day (11th) by 4pm for the return journey.
I work for a small charity and as usual money is tight, so I wondered if anyone had any genius ideas (splits etc) that might save some money on the tickets please?
As you can tell from this, I am a bit of an amateur on these matters so any assistance greatly appreciated!

 

[Romilly]

A St Leonards W Sq to Preston offpeak return is £120. The only relevant time restriction for your particular journey is that you can't leave Euston on the outward journey before 0926. So this would work for you timing-wise.

You can get that down a tiny bit by buying a £60 Advance (i.e. booked train only) ticket for the outward journey, and by getting a £47 Advance on the 1758 (or a later train) on the return journey.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Given the timescale, this may not be of much help, and given the hoops that you have to jump through it may be impractical. But National Rail offers at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/prd47a6bc35ce741019b6b75f6258ae9.aspx

Charity Line
Summary

Overview
Easement to Virgin Off Peak ticket restrictions
Type of offer
Ordinary Promotion
Nearest stations

Details

Virgin Trains West Coast offer qualifying charities a 20% discount off the full range of Virgin Trains-only Advance Purchase fares, including First Class.

Virgin Trains' CharityLine is over 10 years old and feedback shows that most charities now wish to book online and so thetrainline.com provide Virgin Trains with an online booking facility for charities.

Tickets can be bought up to 23.59 the day before travel and collected from a FastTicket machine at the station. The scheme requires the traveller to be in possession of a valid charity photo ID card or dated letter of authority on charity headed paper with discounted charity tickets.

The discount is available to registered charities that are able to prove a minimum 10% voluntary funding level. This can be validated by a letter from your Finance Director, or similar, stating your 10% minimum voluntary funding; or for charities with an income over £500,000, a link to the page on the Charity Commission website (OSCR in Scotland) that shows your charity's funding status.


To register at thetrainline.com

• Click on the Business Account tab and then ‘Create a business account for my company.'

• Fill in your company details. Remember to select ‘Charity' as the Business Type from the drop down menu.

• After you complete your registration, you will be provided with a business ID number.

• Once registered, please email the Charity team (charitydiscount@thetrainline.com) with the following information:

• The ID number of your business account

• Your registered charity number

• Confirmation of your eligibility

• Please put the name of your organisation in the subject line.

Activation will be completed within 15 working days of receiving a valid request.


Participating train companies
Virgin Trains;
Last updated: 03 February 2016

The Trainline amplifies this at https://www.thetrainline.com/about-us/business/charity-account:

Account for Registered UK Charities

We offer an exclusive Business Account discount to help our charity customers save money on their rail spend.

If you are a registered charity you can take advantage of exclusive savings as well as the numerous benefits of Trainline Business Account which include:

• No fixed contract, no set-up fee and no minimum spend
• Ticket collection from over 1,700 stations using any card
• Cheapest fares always highlighted
• Flexible payment methods
• Account management tools
• Access to tickets and journey information on the Trainline app

Once you have signed up for a Business Account you can apply to receive a 20% discount on all Virgin Trains Advance tickets*.

How to apply for a Charity Account

1. Open a Business Account if you do not have one already.
2. Email us at charitydiscount@trainline.com with your Trainline Business , your charity registration number and either:
   1. a notice of compliance, from the organisation's Financial Director or equivalent, stating that the Charity is 10% voluntarily funded – for charities with annual income under £500k.
   2. the link to your charity's page on the Charities Commission website showing your organisation's income status – for charities with an annual income over £500k.
3. You'll receive a confirmation for thetrainline.com within 15 days letting you know your discount is active. Don't forget you can still use your account in the meantime.

For more information email at charitydiscount@trainline.com

*Only applicable to Virgin Trains West Coast services that operate to/from London Euston. Advance fares are subject to availability.

 

[James Wake]

TrainSplit unfortunately couldn't get it down below £116 and I too have the same prices for advances (I was looking on Southern website) of £60 departing St Leonards at 0850, going to London Bridge, then Northern Line to Euston, then 1130 Virgin service to Preston arriving 1338, or there is a 0923 departure to Ashford, then 1016 SouthEastern High Speed to St Pancras, then take a 10 min walk to Euston, then get the aforementioned 1130 Virgin service to Preston. The 1758 departure coming back is still £47, going via Euston and Northern Line to London Bridge then to St Leonards arriving back at 2324.

 

[30907]

If time is no object, an Advance to Burnley Manchester Rd via Leeds is £42, plus £9.50 for a single thence to Preston. But you are talking an extra 2 hours or so.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Good morning.

I am hoping that one of you might be able to help me please?

I need to get from St Leonard's Warrior Square to Preston next Tuesday 10th and arrive at Preston anytime after 3 or 4pm.
I then need to leave Preston the next day (11th) by 4pm for the return journey.
I work for a small charity and as usual money is tight, so I wondered if anyone had any genius ideas (splits etc) that might save some money on the tickets please?
As you can tell from this, I am a bit of an amateur on these matters so any assistance greatly appreciated!

How long of a journey are you willing to endure?! There are options which will probably be considerably cheaper - however they will equally mean a really quite long journey with multiple changes. I'm thinking St Leonard's to London Victoria, then Marylebone to Moor Street, then possibly WMT to Crewe, Northern to Manchester and TPE to Preston

All of those have Advances available - some, e.g. Warrior Square to Victoria, Marylebone to Moor Street and Crewe to Manchester can often be very cheap indeed at only a few pounds. Birmingham to Crewe and Manchester to Preston would probably be more expensive. I haven't checked exact prices but I would have thought you could do it for about £40 each way.

However, in view of the length of journey required to travel at this price, as well as the fact that The Trainline offer discounts off VTWC Advances for charities, I'm not sure it's worth it.

 

[Merseysider]

Yes, a St Leonards to Wolverhampton return is £51.50 ‘via High Wycombe’ (time restrictions apply).

Wolverhampton to Preston is £48.10 for the return.

Total £99.60.

Trainsplit.com may be able to reduce this further.

Are you eligible for, or do you hold, a railcard? (Disabled, 16-25, Senior etc)

 

[Hardcastle]

Try going via Manchester it is sometimes cheaper doing a split there.