Delays and advance fare validity

[uefacup81]

I'm travelling back tomorrow from Ebbw Vale to Norwich using the return portion of an advance ticket. The outward journey was a bit tight, having to rush across Paddington from the tube, and across Cardiff Central to catch the Ebbw Vale train.

If I get similarly delayed on the return journey, will my ticket still be valid on trains I'll have missed? And if so, what evidence of the delay will I be expected to provide?

 

[soil]

Is it booked as one ticket? Or do you have separate tickets?


There are official minimum connection times, what time is your train scheduled into Paddington and then out of Liverpool Street?

 

[uefacup81]

Booked it all as one ticket. I chose my reservation on the first train of each journey, and the booking engine did the rest.

I'm on the 1655 out of Cardiff, and the 2030 out of Liverpool Street. So it would seem that any short connections would be down to the booking engine?

 

[Harlesden]

According to National Rail website, Advance tickets are only sold as one way tickets
QUOTE Advance Ticket

Buy in advance and save £s
What are Advance tickets?

Advance fares are Single (one-way) tickets offering great value for money on many longer distance journeys.

You must book in advance and fares are sold in limited numbers and so subject to availability. In general, the further ahead you book, the cheaper the Advance fare will be. You can mix and match Advance fares for a return journey.
UNQUOTE
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46583.aspx

 

[uefacup81]

According to National Rail website, Advance tickets are only sold as one way tickets
QUOTE Advance Ticket

Buy in advance and save £s
What are Advance tickets?

Advance fares are Single (one-way) tickets offering great value for money on many longer distance journeys.

You must book in advance and fares are sold in limited numbers and so subject to availability. In general, the further ahead you book, the cheaper the Advance fare will be. You can mix and match Advance fares for a return journey.
UNQUOTE
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46583.aspx

Apologies. They're two single advance tickets.

 

[causton]

In short: Yes, your ticket will be valid as long as you make the first booked train. If, for example, your bus is late to Ebbw Vale, and you miss your train, your ticket will not be valid* but if you get on the Cardiff to Paddington train and that train is delayed, your ticket will be valid on later services. It may be advisable to get a member of staff on that train to validate your ticket for later services or to get permission from someone at Liverpool Street but it is not always necessary.


*there is more to this, regarding whether you have a booked seat/place on the train, but as I am sure this is not relevant to your query I won't expand too much on it!

 

[SickyNicky]

I agree with causton. You can combine your advance tickets together to form a journey. If you are delayed on your journey, your tickets will be honoured on later trains, although you must still observe any TOC restrictions (for example, if your ticket is AP EAST COAST ONLY, you can only use East Coast trains).

I would generally suggest that you have your onward ticket endorsed at the ticket office where you have missed your onward train, but this isn't strictly necessary.

You can find further information in section 1.1.3.1.2 of our ticketing guide here: http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=1179550&postcount=5