Marches flooding disruption - pre-booked ticket validity

[SWML9102]

Hello All,

First time post here and hoping the knowledgeable forum members can give some advice. I have pre-booked tickets to travel from Bridgend South Wales to York (via Manchester) this coming Friday. Due to the flood damage between Abergavenny and Hereford I am looking at my alternatives.

I see TfW have ticket acceptance in place with GWR and XC and are also recommending customers to allow up to 2 hours extra to make connections. I presume this means that I could take an earlier train than booked and travel Bridgend - Bristol - Birmingham - Manchester and pick up my TPE connection there? Tickets were booked via Trainsplit (all Advances - booked train only) with splits at Leominster and Manchester Picc. I am really hoping that due to the likely disruption I won't be obliged to travel via Leominster. But I think I may be pushing my luck to attempt to travel direct to York from Birmingham?

What do forum members think? Thanks in advance.

SWML9102

 

[30907]

XC via Birmingham and Manchester should be fine; as you say via Sheffield would be pushing your luck. No harm in asking XC between Parkway and Brum though - especially if you happen to have boarded a Sheffield route train.

 

[221129]

IF there is still ticket acceptance by then, then you would need to go via Manchester.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Unless you can get permission or there is acceptance relevant to that a split would mandate you to travel via the split points, yes. That's the downside of saving money by splitting.

It's effectively the same as one ticket routed via the split points.

 

[SWML9102]

Thanks both. OK, assuming the line is still closed at Hereford we'll aim to connect onto the 0700 XC from Cardiff which goes direct to Man Picc anyway and should give us plenty of time to pick up our booked 1135 York train. Fingers crossed everything will be back up and running as normal again and we can have an extra hour in bed!

SWML9102

 

[221129]

Just remember that just because the line is closed doesn't mean ticket acceptance will still be in place.

 

[SWML9102]

Point taken re the split points. I did ask about validity in the OP, I suppose what I really meant was what would you expect to be permitted in disruption like this? Although tickets are marked for booked train only and TfW only, TfW have already advertised that passengers may travel at earlier times to make connections and make use of other operators such as XC. My expectation would be that most guards would probably treat a split ticket in the same way as a through ticket in these circumstances? Although I certainly wouldn't want to assume that without asking first.

 

[Grizzly]

It might be worth contacting TfW to see if your split tickets would be accepted on other routes. If you have to travel via Leominster, the bus looks like it adds an hour on, so you could either leave approx. an hour early, or leave at the booked time and take a later train from Manchester to York.
I made a similar journey yesterday (in the opposite direction), and my TfW only ticket was accepted on XC without any problem (though I only split at Manchester).

 

[SWML9102]

Thanks Grizzly

We are planning to leave early as we would rather spend more time in York. Plan A to get off at Newport and take the replacement bus via Hereford. If Newport looks chaotic with long queues then we can take advice before getting the XC to see if it would be permitted and then go via Birmingham. Either way we should end up in York at the same time.

 

[Grizzly]

No problem SWML9102. Hope it goes OK.