I have never personally had a counted place reservation for a rail replacement bus - although other may have.
Until we hear back as to what sort of ticket and reservations you have been issued with what I will say is: You could seek permission when you get to Preston and see what they say. You could show your ticket and say something like: "would it be all right if I waited for the direct train in 45 minutes rather then take the rail replacement bus?" It does sound very reasonable given some people do not like road travel and the worst that can happen is they say no and you get the bus anyway.
As you haven't got the ticket yet, would you post the date and time of departure on here please (or PM me) so I can check if you will be issued with a counted place reservation for the bus or if you will simply be free to take any reasonable connecting service.
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Thanks for your PM.
I have just gone online to book this fare. It is currently showing at £13 so I would book this while it is that cheap! The system is only offering reservations for the Glasgow to Preston sector. It would therefore be fair to say that you are free to take any reasonable connection from Preston as you should only get a reservation between Glasgow and Preston. I see that the 23:27 does not even have counted place reservations so I do not think it will be a problem.
HOWEVER, make sure you opt to get a paper ticket (do not go for e-ticket or m-ticket or anything) as the guard will be used to having paper tickets on the usual orange card on which passengers are getting local connections as part of a longer journey. So selecting postal delivery (although be careful not to pay for it) or collection from the Fast Ticket Machine at the station
Hope that helps.
