If train is late arriving, is my ticket still valid

[micksimm]

If I book a journey that involves two trains (say Reading to Church Fenton changing at York), what happens if train 1 arrives late and I miss train 2? I have a ticket for train 2 but can I board the next available train without incurring a penalty? Clearly I would not expect a seat reservation. Do the same rules apply for all Train operators??

 

[bengley]

Yes, your ticket would be accepted, but you may need to speak to station staff before boarding the second train.

 

[anthony263]

If it is 1 single advance ticket instead of 2 seperate advance tickets then it will be valid for use on the next available train.

I have had this when i have travled from port talbot to Bristol Tm but the london service i was booked to travel on was 12 minutes late meaning that it arrived into cardiff 5 minutes after the taunton train had left so i just caught the next portsmouth harbour train and after speaking to station staff and the conductor of the portsmouth harbour train.

 

[micksimm]

If it is 1 single advance ticket instead of 2 seperate advance tickets then it will be valid for use on the next available train.

Thanks both.
Doesn't that depend on how the ticket machine dispenses the tickets?
I intend to book one journey and maybe the machine will give me separate advance tickets for each part of the journey. I can't remember how this worked last time-

 

[AlterEgo]

You will usually get one ticket (such as ADV SGL from Milton Keynes Central to Newcastle) but two seat reservation tickets, one for each reservation you have on each train.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

It depends on what you requested and/or bought. If you asked for an advance fare from A-C then you will get one ticket (with reservations) and all is well. If you asked for a ticket from A-B and another from B-C then you will get two tickets and might encounter problems depending on the staff you meet and the details of the journey. Without wishing to go down a well trodden path again, some people believe that there is an issue in the conditions of the advance fare that could prevent you from travelling further, others people believe that there is no issue at all.

 

[bradders1983]

If I book a journey that involves two trains (say Reading to Church Fenton changing at York), what happens if train 1 arrives late and I miss train 2? I have a ticket for train 2 but can I board the next available train without incurring a penalty? Clearly I would not expect a seat reservation. Do the same rules apply for all Train operators??

You wouldn't expect a reservation on the second train, because quite simply there aren't any. It is a Northern train.

 

[transportphoto]

It is a can of worms - according to the NRCoC you can use more than one ticket for one journey (Unable to quote exact words as on my phone) but it depends on how each person interprets this.
hth - TP

 

[Ferret]

It is a can of worms - according to the NRCoC you can use more than one ticket for one journey (Unable to quote exact words as on my phone) but it depends on how each person interprets this.
hth - TP

It's a can of worms that we've opened before too!!! From a personal point of view, I'm happy to accept the second ticket in such circumstances - not really worth giving the newspapers yet more ammunition to have a go at us now is it?

 

[Flamingo]

If two tickets are involved, I would probably accept the second ticket if I have some sort of proof the first ticket actually existed, and was not a convenient excuse for an over-running meeting or similar.

 

[yorkie]

If I book a journey that involves two trains (say Reading to Church Fenton changing at York), what happens if train 1 arrives late and I miss train 2? I have a ticket for train 2 but can I board the next available train without incurring a penalty? Clearly I would not expect a seat reservation. Do the same rules apply for all Train operators??

There would not be a ticket from York to Church Fenton that is restricted to only one train, because Advance tickets are
(a) Not available on this flow;
(b) Generally not available for flows that are so short; and
(c) Not issued for journeys wholly on Northern trains as Northern do not sell AP tickets.
In addition to this, the trains are non-reservable.

Anyway, assuming you are asking about Advance tickets, the rules regarding delays are as follows:

b) If delays occur while
travelling, they will be
allowed to take the next
available train(s) to complete
their journey.

The question is: Can I combine more than one ticket for one journey? The answer is yes, providing you comply with the restrictions in the National Rail Conditions of Carriage.

A ticket from Reading to York routed EC & Connections would be the same price to Church Fenton. If the routeing is via CrossCountry (known as XC or CC) then it may be cheaper to split (as the XC only tickets are cheaper than XC & Connections)

If two tickets are involved, I would probably accept the second ticket if I have some sort of proof the first ticket actually existed, and was not a convenient excuse for an over-running meeting or similar.

That's quite right; after all it is the combination that is valid for one journey, so if they aren't both provided then that doesn't count.

 

[the sniper]

I'd just like to run this past you guys if you don't mind:

If you were going to do a round trip with three Advance tickets, one from A to B, one from B to C, and a final one from C back to A, what would be the situation with the two latter journeys if you missed your first connection due to a delay?

For example, if you missed your scheduled B to C service due to the A to B service running late, you'd be allowed to catch the next B to C service available, but, what if catching that still meant you'd also miss your C to A train, even though the B to C service you caught ran on time. Would you be able to catch a later train from C to A too? If yes, do you need to prove that you missing your connection at B (which would have been many hours earlier) resulted in you missing your C to A service? And how is it best to go about this if so?

Sorry for the rather complicated explanation.

If anyone if curious, A is BHM, B is EXD and C is Waterloo.

 

[Pumbaa]

I've had similar dilemmas before; example London - London via Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leicester, Birmingham, London!

Late running XC Brum - Sheffield meant I would miss my Sheffield - Leicester EMT service. But obviously I bailed at Chesterfield in order to make it. Where would I stand in this case if I'd chosen to continue to Sheffield or not been aware that my XC service was delayed by a few minutes? All APs other than a SDS Leicester - Birmingham, but with only an hourly service I would still miss my Brum - London VT service!

 

[MikeWh]

This is a twist on the conundrum of split ticketing and delays. Clearly the reason for your delay (if it happened) would be a fault of the railway system, but because they are three separate journeys it is not written in stone what should happen.

My advice would be to buy all three tickets in one transaction. Make sure you allow at least the minimum connection time at Exeter and Waterloo (standard time to use tube between Waterloo and Euston?). If there is a delay on the first leg, get the ticket endorsed so you can show someone at Euston if need be, and keep all tickets for the whole day so you can prove it's a round trip.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I agree with MikeWh's advice :

My advice would be to buy all three tickets in one transaction. Make sure you allow at least the minimum connection time at Exeter and Waterloo (standard time to use tube between Waterloo and Euston?). If there is a delay on the first leg, get the ticket endorsed so you can show someone at Euston if need be, and keep all tickets for the whole day so you can prove it's a round trip.

I also agree with his caution that this is in a poorly defined area of the Regulations, so there cannot be a simple answer.
Keeping all the documentation, including notes of the actual arrival times endorsed by the guard/TM if possible, will be valuable.

However, I will add a couple more points:
- You will need to ensure that you left at least the "minimum connection time" at each station where you change - if you don't and you missed your connection within that brief period, then it will be your bad planning that is at fault, not the rail operators!
- MikeWh's interpretation is reasonable provided that you really are making a continuous round-trip. If, on the other hand, you wanted to spend some time visiting somewhere in one of the remote towns, and as a consequence of the late arrival of the early train, you delayed that visit AND THEN, as a consequence of your visit off railway property, you were late for the final journey, then I would say 'No. Your Advance ticket would not be valid on a later train'.

 

[the sniper]

Thanks for your advise chaps.

If all was to run to plan I'd have 19 minutes to change at Exeter and 1hr 5 minutes to get from Waterloo to Euston via the Northern line (which I'd be buying a paper ticket for, so some proof I'd gone straight from WAT to EUS), so plenty of time if no delays are encountered. And I am indeed just doing the round trip, not stopping off anywhere.