Journey with split Advance tickets - options during current disruption

[Andrew99]

I am due to travel from Runcorn to Reading via Banbury on Friday evening. I booked Advance tickets several weeks ago. As there was no cheap through ticket available, I bought separate tickets Runcorn to Birmingham and Birmingham to Reading.

I understand that the Cross Country service is currently not running between Birmingham and Reading due to flooding and that it will not be running tomorrow either.

In the event that the service is not restored on Friday, what are my options? Do I have to take my booked train to Birmingham and then see what is available from there? Alternatively, would there be any chance of being allowed on a Runcorn - Euston service with my tickets? Could I decide not to travel and get a full refund (including of the Runcorn - Birmingham ticket)?

I would be very grateful for any thoughts or advice.

Andrew

 

[alastair]

I am due to travel from Runcorn to Reading via Banbury on Friday evening. I booked Advance tickets several weeks ago. As there was no cheap through ticket available, I bought separate tickets Runcorn to Birmingham and Birmingham to Reading.

I understand that the Cross Country service is currently not running between Birmingham and Reading due to flooding and that it will not be running tomorrow either.

In the event that the service is not restored on Friday, what are my options? Do I have to take my booked train to Birmingham and then see what is available from there? Alternatively, would there be any chance of being allowed on a Runcorn - Euston service with my tickets? Could I decide not to travel and get a full refund (including of the Runcorn - Birmingham ticket)?

I would be very grateful for any thoughts or advice.

Andrew

From the XC website:

Description
Flooding in the Radley area is causing disruption to services between Didcot Parkway and Oxford.
The following alterations will take place until at least Friday 10 January:

CrossCountry

Services between Southampton Central and Newcastle will start from / terminate at Birmingham New Street.

Services from Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly will terminate at Reading. Services from Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth will terminate at Oxford.

Alternative travel arrangements

Passengers at stations North of Birmingham New Street should use trains to London Euston for onward connections. Passengers at stations south of Birmingham New Street should use trains to London Marylebone for onward connections. Passengers at Birmingham New Street may also travel south via Bristol Temple Meads.

CrossCountry passengers may use First Great Western, Chiltern, East Midlands Trains, Virgin, London Midland, South West Trains, East Coast, Grand Central and London Underground services on reasonable routes.

Sounds like XC have arranged a blanket acceptance of their tickets of their tickets on many other TOC's so you should be OK. If I were you I would get to Runcorn in time for the direct Euston train before your booked Brum train.If you want to play it safe speak to the TM on the Euston train and show him both tickets and confirm he is happy for you to travel to Euston. Or,(and this is what I would do) just get on the Euston train and when/if there is a ticket check show both tickets and say that you are following the instructions on the XC website. Remember there will be lots of other people in a similiar situation.The fact that you have a split ticket at Brum is unlikely to be an issue but of course if you get a real jobsworth TM it could be.

My experience of travelling on advances when there is big disruption has been generally good. Advance rules are waived and I have usually been "looked after" and got to my destination. Which is as it should be of course!

 

[yorkie]

Well, you can definitely travel via London!

The only issue is, Virgin could - in theory - insist that you also travel via Birmingham, from where it appears you can either travel via Bristol (not recommended - a very long way round), or via the Chilterns (recommended if you can get a 'Silver' train - can you leave early enough to make the 1555?), or via the WCML. Out of those options, I would consider Chiltern, this has the added advantage that Marylebone - Paddington is very easy by Bakerloo line (it's also walkable)

What time are you booked to arrive into Reading, and what's the earliest you can get to Runcorn station?

 

[Andrew99]

Alastair / Yorkie - many thanks for your replies.

Unfortunately I am not booked to travel until relatively late in the evening. My tickets are for the 1852 departure from Runcorn to Birmingham New Street (arriving 2019), and then the 2033 Cross Country service to Reading (arriving 2217).

In the event the disruption continues into Friday, my most comfortable alternative would be to catch the 1903 Virgin service from Runcorn to Euston, which should see me in Reading about the same time as my booked trains. If I stick to my booked connection to Birmingham and then travel via London from there, I won't make it to Reading until about midnight.

Alastair's experience suggests that the direct London route is an option, although I am concerned that some Virgin TMs may take the line that the cross-acceptance arranged by XC does not extend to combination tickets (particularly as the first ticket in the combination is a London Midland only Advance). I think I'll probably try boarding the 1903 and then seeking out the TM once on board. In the worst case, I can then pay for a single to Stafford and cross back to my booked London Midland train there.

Thanks again for the advice. Hopefully the Oxford route will dry out between now and Friday evening...

Andrew

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Given that the 1852 is a London Midland service (and I therefore expect that you have an 'LM Only' ticket) and the 1903 is a Virgin Trains service, I'd suggest having a word with Virgin Trains Customer Service about use of the 1903 as soon as possible, I would expect them to say no, but it's worth a shot.

 

[Andrew99]

Yes - the Runcorn to Birmingham ticket is LM Only, unfortunately.

Since it looks like the line is not going to reopen tomorrow, I am going to try to get to Runcorn early and seek advice from the Ticket Office staff there. Hopefully they will either allow me to use the Virgin service or to transfer to the earlier LM train at 1824, which will make a much more comfortable connection via Birmingham and Euston.

I usually avoid using multiple tickets due to the potential for this sort of complication when things go wrong. However, for Runcorn to Reading it is virtually impossible to get a through Advance fare, whereas LM and XC often have good fares available for the individual legs.

Looks like tomorrow is going to be a long day