Getting off before booked destination?

[johnslater]

Hi there,

I have booked an advance single from Manchester to Reading for travel next week (a direct train on Crosscountry). However, I now plan to get off the train early at Oxford instead.

Will my ticket allow me through the barrier when I arrive at Oxford? If not, should I buy a separate ticket from Banbury (the preceding station) to Oxford, to allow exiting there?

What would be the best plan to stay legal at lowest cost?

thanks
- John

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Buy a single from Reading back to Oxford and travel that route.

 

[VT 390]

Officially you can only alight at Reading if thats where your Advance Single has been issued to so you could travel to Reading and then travel back to Oxford, with an additional single Reading to Oxford ticket. Looking at some random dates next week without knowing your timings there are some advance fares from £4.10.

 

[Watershed]

Advance tickets don't allow you to break your journey. This includes starting or finishing your journey at an intermediate station such as Oxford.

If you buy a ticket from Banbury to Oxford, it will not have been scanned in at the Banbury barriers so in the event someone were to check it in detail (for example if there are revenue protection staff checking tickets manually at Oxford) they would be able to see that. I think it would attract more attention than anything else.

The cheapest legal way would probably to travel via Reading and to buy a new Reading-Oxford ticket. Of course that would be somewhat nonsensical but if you want to comply with the rules, that would be the way to do it.

Now in fairness, breaking your journey by finishing short doesn't mean that you are travelling without a valid ticket. It just means you are liable to pay the difference to the cheapest valid walk-up fare that would have allowed you to break your journey. Depending on how much you paid for your Advance ticket, that difference could vary from a huge amount to very little.

The industry policy for some years now has been that people should be 'let off' if they start/finish at intermediate stations on Advance tickets, provided there's no indication it is being done to avoid a higher fare. XC sell Advances to both Oxford and Reading and so I doubt that there would be any suspicion of that in this case. So you might be comfortable with accepting the risk of being charged the difference, knowing it's somewhat unlikely to be done.

As for whether the ticket would work the barrier, the likelihood is no. Barriers have to be manually programmed to accept tickets that aren't issued to/from the station where they are located. Whilst a Manchester to Reading ticket is obviously valid to enter/exit at Oxford geographically speaking, it seems unlikely that enough people are breaking their journey on tickets that permit it, for GWR to have programmed it in. Still, I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

 

[DelW]

Would it be feasible and/or economic simply to refund the unused Reading ticket and buy a new advance to Oxford? That would avoid the annoyance of having to travel Manchester > (Oxford) > Reading > Oxford just to avoid the possibility of being stopped and penalised for stopping short.

 

[Watershed]

Would it be feasible and/or economic simply to refund the unused Reading ticket and buy a new advance to Oxford? That would avoid the annoyance of having to travel Manchester > (Oxford) > Reading > Oxford just to avoid the possibility of being stopped and penalised for stopping short.

You can't get a refund on Advances.

 

[DelW]

You can't get a refund on Advances.

Ah, thanks, I wasn't sure about that. I never use them, and that gives me another justification for that policy.

 

[LittleRedTrain]

Depending on whether the timings work, rather than travel all the way to Reading and back, you could buy an Oxford-Radley return, alight at Oxford, catch a stopper to Radley, cross over to the other platform, and come straight back to Oxford, all perfectly above board!
(Oxford Parkway might also work, depending on your final destination, you might even find that it's quicker to get off there and get a bus.).

In practice, I don't know how much the station staff at Oxford would actually care, they'd probably just wave you through.

 

[800002]

Excuse me if I'm being a little silly here, but would it not just be sufficient to be in possession of a single ticket from an origin close to Oxford, to Oxford for use of putting through the barrier?

Could this not be purchased online prior to departure and picked up from the TVM at Manchester?

Is it not just the need to have a valid ticket which will operate the barrier at Oxford?

 

[blimmo]

Depending on whether the timings work, rather than travel all the way to Reading and back, you could buy an Oxford-Radley return, alight at Oxford, catch a stopper to Radley, cross over to the other platform, and come straight back to Oxford, all perfectly above board!
(Oxford Parkway might also work, depending on your final destination, you might even find that it's quicker to get off there and get a bus.).

In practice, I don't know how much the station staff at Oxford would actually care, they'd probably just wave you through.

Is that perfectly above board? You're still breaking your journey on the advance ticket (though undetectably).

Buying a ticket from the previous station the XC stopped at would imo be equally (not) permitted and equally undetectable with the advantage of not requiring any extra journey.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Aug 2026 ==

Excuse me if I'm being a little silly here, but would it not just be sufficient to be in possession of a single ticket from an origin close to Oxford, to Oxford for use of putting through the barrier?

Could this not be purchased online prior to departure and picked up from the TVM at Manchester?

Is it not just the need to have a valid ticket which will operate the barrier at Oxford?

This is *probably* sufficient to avoid anyone noticing the non-permitted stopping short but is vulnerable to all the usual ways of catching people short faring (although this isn't really short faring).

 

[VT 390]

Depending on whether the timings work, rather than travel all the way to Reading and back, you could buy an Oxford-Radley return, alight at Oxford, catch a stopper to Radley, cross over to the other platform, and come straight back to Oxford, all perfectly above board!
(Oxford Parkway might also work, depending on your final destination, you might even find that it's quicker to get off there and get a bus.).

If they were to alight at Oxford there is not really any point in doing this as you would still have ended your Advance ticket journey short of the booked destination station.

 

[Hadders]

Given the discussions about GTR and SWR and short faring, I think we need to be wary of suggesting that people purchase short distance tickets to get through barriers if the underlying ticket isn’t valid at that location.

Although starting/finishing short with an Advance ticket is not strictly in accordance with the rules for Advance tickets, the policy of the Rail industry is that no additional fare should be charged (unless there is clear evidence of intent to try and avoid a higher fare).

 

[LittleRedTrain]

If they were to alight at Oxford there is not really any point in doing this as you would still have ended your Advance ticket journey short of the booked destination station.

You would however be approaching the barriers at Oxford having alighted from a train that called at Radley (no barriers) or Oxford Parkway (where you could scan out and immediately back in) so no accusation of short faring for the ticket you presented at the barrier.
No need to present the advance ticket that you were technically using incorrectly.

 

[JonathanH]

You would however be approaching the barriers at Oxford having alighted from a train that called at Radley (no barriers) or Oxford Parkway (where you could scan out and immediately back in) so no accusation of short faring for the ticket you presented at the barrier.
No need to present the advance ticket that you were technically using incorrectly.

The passenger would not be travelling through Oxford Parkway, as you note a gated station, with no evidence of a scan in, which sounds somewhat like the Vauxhall to Waterloo issue. The original poster is better off presenting the original ticket, and being prepared for any circumstances of the inspection which may be nothing, noting the point 'Hadders' has made, than trying to buy additional tickets from stations they haven't travelled from.

 

[LittleRedTrain]

The passenger would not be travelling through Oxford Parkway, as you note a gated station, with no evidence of a scan in, which sounds somewhat like the Vauxhall to Waterloo issue. The original poster is better off presenting the original ticket, and being prepared for any circumstances of the inspection which may be nothing, noting the point 'Hadders' has made, than trying to buy additional tickets from stations they haven't travelled from.

I'm suggesting the passenger actually *make* the journey, as a quicker/cheaper option than going all the way to Reading and back

But as you say, just presenting the original ticket would probably be fine.

 

[JonathanH]

I'm suggesting the passenger actually *make* the journey, as a quicker/cheaper option than going all the way to Reading and back

But as you say, just presenting the original ticket would probably be fine.

Is it possible that the absence of a scan at Oxford on the ticket purchased to make the additional journey could potentially also raise attention?

 

[Baxenden Bank]

The OP specifically asked:

What would be the best plan to stay legal at lowest cost?

Not, what will I likely be able to get away with undetected. Or what work-around would make me look legit.

 

[VT 390]

You would however be approaching the barriers at Oxford having alighted from a train that called at Radley (no barriers) or Oxford Parkway (where you could scan out and immediately back in) so no accusation of short faring for the ticket you presented at the barrier.
No need to present the advance ticket that you were technically using incorrectly.

I was thinking from the point that they would have alighted at Oxford on an advance ticket that is not officially valid.
If they are going to do this there is no reason reason for them to buy and travel on a ticket to an other station as they have already done the part of the journey that is officially invalid, buying further tickets even if making the extra journey does not change this (the original post did ask for the best plan to stay legal) it only reduces the potential for getting caught but as has been mentioned by others in this case it would not likely be an issue just to approach staff with the original advance ticket as they would not be trying to avoid a higher fare.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Buy a single from Reading back to Oxford and travel that route.

That would cost £12.50 before any applicable railcard discount.

 

[VT 390]

That would cost £12.50 before any applicable railcard discount.

There are some advance fares for cheaper than that and would still be valid if a delay to the original Cross Country service occurs, providing the minimum connection time is allowed.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

That would cost £12.50 before any applicable railcard discount.

But remains the legal way to achieve the result requested. Or as has been said by others, obtain an upgrade between the Advance fare already paid and the cheapest walk-up fare for the journey actually undertaken.

 

[johnslater]

The OP specifically asked:



Not, what will I likely be able to get away with undetected. Or what work-around would make me look legit.

I confess to being willing to consider viable options in those other scenarios though...

Thanks to all for your thoughtful replies. I have decided to purchase an off-peak single (valid on any train) from Reading to Oxford, but to use it only to exit the gateline at Oxford without making the unnecessary trip to Reading. I feel this is a reasonable adjustment to my original plan, at reasonable cost.

 

[Merseysider]

If it were me I would contact XC via eg Twitter / live chat and explain I needed to get off a stop early due to eg family reasons, and ask them to make an exception & give permission to get off early at no additional charge... asking them to pass it on to a manager if needed. Their social media team have worked wonders in the past.

 

[johnslater]

If it were me I would contact XC via eg Twitter / live chat and explain I needed to get off a stop early due to eg family reasons, and ask them to make an exception & give permission to get off early at no additional charge... asking them to pass it on to a manager if needed. Their social media team have worked wonders in the past.

I have already purchased the extra ticket, but I will also contact XC as you suggest. Thanks.

 

[Man of Kent]

You can't get a refund on Advances.

But you can get them amended before travel. That may be cheaper (oh, too late now - just seen post #24) than buying an extra ticket for a journey that it isn't being made.

 

[a_c_skinner]

Was there not a few years ago a huge fuss when a Durham academic got off at Darlo and the upshot was that stopping short whilst not approved would be allowed? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11420790 . This doesn't have the end of the story but IIRC it was a softening of attitude.

 

[johnslater]

But you can get them amended before travel. That may be cheaper (oh, too late now - just seen post #24) than buying an extra ticket for a journey that it isn't being made.

Not too late. My extra ticket is refundable. I will try to get it amended. Thanks.

 

[Hadders]

But you can get them amended before travel. That may be cheaper (oh, too late now - just seen post #24) than buying an extra ticket for a journey that it isn't being made.

You can only amend the date and time, not origin or destination.

 

[xotGD]

All this talk of tickets not being scanned at the origin. Not an issue with paper tickets.

 

[SaltAndVinegar]

can’t you just buy a Banbury-Oxford single, get it fulfilled to paper ticket, assuming your XC service calls at Banbury… it would be valid on the train you’re already travelling on… then use that to exit at Oxford?

Don’t buy it from the same online account you’ve used to purchase your existing advance fare. Use a different retailer, and a different email address.

Then there’s no potential for “oh you just arrived from… Reading?” With staff realising there have been no recent Reading arrivals or there’s some kind of disruption which would make that highly improbable

In an ideal world they’d just let you out, but we know enforcement of policies can be highly variable. I unfortunately doubt customer service will be able to do much for you beyond saying “it will probably be OK”.