London to Manchester - Valid via Birmingham?

[1e10]

Hi all,

I have a £57.35 (16-25 Railcard discount) off-peak return Manchester Stations - London Terminals valid via any permitted route with restriction code 2C.

Looking at the routing guide, I believe this ticket is valid for travel via Birmingham. The routing guide has the following routing points for London groups to Manchester groups.

GC+BM amongst others

I don't have the need to make the return London -> Manchester but bought the ticket anyway since it's only about a quid more expensive. I could however make use of the return portion between Birmingham New Street and Manchester Piccadilly on a CrossCountry service.

Am I correct?

 

[Merseysider]

Yes, that’s a valid route.

Note that the ticket restriction includes the following:

For journeys to/via Birmingham on Cross Country see restriction code 2V

...which states

Not valid for trains scheduled to depart after 04:29 and before 09:30.