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"Manchester Stations" question

mrlegohead

Member
Joined
26 Jun 2025
Messages
11
Location
Birmingham
This weekend I made a return trip from Birmingham to Brighouse.

On the way to Brighouse yesterday I walked from Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Victoria.

Going back to Birmingham today I got a service towards the airport that went round the Ordsall chord, and changed at Piccadilly.

The tickets I was sold by Trainsplit were split at Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester Stations as follows:

Off-Peak Return Birmingham to Stoke-on-Trent
Off-Peak Return Stoke-on-Trent to Manchester Stations
Off-Peak Return Manchester Stations to Brighouse
Off-Peak Day Single Manchester Victoria to Manchester Piccadilly.

My question is regarding this last one - was it actually required?

Although I didn't follow it exactly, I did change in the same places as the itinerary against which these were sold indicated (CrossCountry direct BHM<->MAN and diverted TPE MCV-BGH-MAN).

As far as I am aware, Manchester Stations includes Victoria, Oxford Road, Deansgate and Piccadilly.

So I would presume that on the return journey either the ticket from Brighouse is valid to Piccadilly, or the ticket to Birmingham is valid from Victoria -- or both.

So is a ticket Victoria - Piccadilly actually required?
 
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mrlegohead

Member
Joined
26 Jun 2025
Messages
11
Location
Birmingham
I would say no, but were both the Manchester Stations tickets TOC specific and not valid on TPE which might have caused its generation? The only train round the Chord is operated by TPE.
None of the tickets were TOC specific. I was on the same TPE train all the way round to Piccadilly -- diverted I believe as they'd normally run via Huddersfield which is/was closed.
 

yorkie

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
6 Jun 2005
Messages
78,488
Location
Yorkshire
This weekend I made a return trip from Birmingham to Brighouse.

On the way to Brighouse yesterday I walked from Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Victoria.

Going back to Birmingham today I got a service towards the airport that went round the Ordsall chord, and changed at Piccadilly.

The tickets I was sold by Trainsplit were split at Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester Stations as follows:

Off-Peak Return Birmingham to Stoke-on-Trent
Off-Peak Return Stoke-on-Trent to Manchester Stations
Off-Peak Return Manchester Stations to Brighouse
Off-Peak Day Single Manchester Victoria to Manchester Piccadilly.

My question is regarding this last one - was it actually required?

Although I didn't follow it exactly, I did change in the same places as the itinerary against which these were sold indicated (CrossCountry direct BHM<->MAN and diverted TPE MCV-BGH-MAN).

As far as I am aware, Manchester Stations includes Victoria, Oxford Road, Deansgate and Piccadilly.

So I would presume that on the return journey either the ticket from Brighouse is valid to Piccadilly, or the ticket to Birmingham is valid from Victoria -- or both.

So is a ticket Victoria - Piccadilly actually required?
I will ask for this to be investigated, though I think they may need the booking reference details and this would then be used to extract the GUID.

For future reference, if anyone spots anything early on, and you have the search link (ideally the link with the GUID on the page that summarises the trains you have selected) it would be really easy to refer it directly to the right people, without any need to cross reference booking reference numbers; indeed no need for a booking to be made for the matter to be investigated.
 

MrBeanie

Member
Joined
14 Jun 2026
Messages
68
Location
west yorks
Normally there would be a through train to / from Manchester Airport that forms the services to Redcar. This appears to have been split over this weekend due to the ongoing works. With the Redcar services stopping / starting at Victoria and an additional service in place between Manchester Airport and Stalybridge going via Victoria.
 

Mcr Warrior

Veteran Member
Joined
8 Jan 2009
Messages
17,304
So, what are we talking about here? A £2.00 'over-charge' for a Manchester Victoria to Manchester Piccadilly Off Peak Day Single that was issued but which wasn't actually necessary?
 

Djgr

Established Member
Joined
30 Jul 2018
Messages
3,415
This weekend I made a return trip from Birmingham to Brighouse.

On the way to Brighouse yesterday I walked from Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Victoria.

Going back to Birmingham today I got a service towards the airport that went round the Ordsall chord, and changed at Piccadilly.

The tickets I was sold by Trainsplit were split at Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester Stations as follows:

Off-Peak Return Birmingham to Stoke-on-Trent
Off-Peak Return Stoke-on-Trent to Manchester Stations
Off-Peak Return Manchester Stations to Brighouse
Off-Peak Day Single Manchester Victoria to Manchester Piccadilly.

My question is regarding this last one - was it actually required?

Although I didn't follow it exactly, I did change in the same places as the itinerary against which these were sold indicated (CrossCountry direct BHM<->MAN and diverted TPE MCV-BGH-MAN).

As far as I am aware, Manchester Stations includes Victoria, Oxford Road, Deansgate and Piccadilly.

So I would presume that on the return journey either the ticket from Brighouse is valid to Piccadilly, or the ticket to Birmingham is valid from Victoria -- or both.

So is a ticket Victoria - Piccadilly actually required?
It's a definite no from me.

If they are not TOC or time limited tickets then, regardless of any itinerary created as part of the booking process, the tickets are indeed valid to and from any of those four Manchester stations.
 

sheff1

Established Member
Joined
24 Dec 2009
Messages
6,061
Location
Sheffield
For future reference, if anyone spots anything early on, and you have the search link (ideally the link with the GUID on the page that summarises the trains you have selected) it would be really easy to refer it directly to the right people, without any need to cross reference booking reference numbers; indeed no need for a booking to be made for the matter to be investigated.
That's useful to know ..... except I have no idea what a GUID is or where I might find it.
 

OscarH

Established Member
Joined
15 Sep 2020
Messages
1,294
Location
Crawley
That's useful to know ..... except I have no idea what a GUID is or where I might find it.
A GUID looks like 366b08c0-4a01-480f-a248-1884567d7ed6, its that pattern of numbers and a-f - not something most people would know!

Its the step after the search results, the URL starts /ticket-information - its ideal because its after you've selected an itinerary and proceeded so it identifies the exact journey. If that's still meaningless then don't worry, any URL is still useful
 

yorkie

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
6 Jun 2005
Messages
78,488
Location
Yorkshire
That's useful to know ..... except I have no idea what a GUID is or where I might find it.
You don't need to worry about that; the entire search link is fine.

Before travel, the link showing the overall search is fine, but after travel it really needs to be the link to the page that shows the trains you have selected.

For example, this link is fine up to the day of the search, while this link (on the page showing the actual trains selected) would be useful for a long time after the time of travel had expired.

1791237934751.png
 

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