Split ticket 0838 SHF - ELY

[Bakerbloke]

Yesterday I bought a Sheffield to Ely for the now heavily delayed 0838 but had it split at Nottingham to save some money. The tickets are Advance purchase for booked train only but now I have found out that the train will terminate at Nottingham and a new train will do Nott to Ely departing on time. Will my more expensive Nott to Ely be valid on the next service? I thought it would be safe to split on a train that normally does the entire through journey?

 

[cuccir]

Can I clarify - you purchased an Advance ticket Sheffield-Nottingham, and an Advance Nottingham-Ely?

Yes, you will be fine if you are delayed en route, which you appear to have been - see here.

Note that the ticket will probably say 'EMT only' on the bottom, or something similar. If it does, it means you can only use East Midlands Trains to complete the journey (though you can always ask a guard of another train before boarding - he/she may say yes!).

 

[Bakerbloke]

Yes both advance tickets and they say EMT only. Train was actually cancelled at Sheffield so will be on the next service (0934) to Ely. The annoying thing is that there was a way via Doncaster that would have got me to Peterborough in time to catch my booked train to Ely

 

[SickyNicky]

The annoying thing is that there was a way via Doncaster that would have got me to Peterborough in time to catch my booked train to Ely

That, of course, is the downside of splitting. You often lose flexibility, especially where there are two or more routes to your destination. You need to ask yourself if the saving you're making is worth the loss of flexibility. In my mind, it's often worth paying a few quid more for a completely flexible through ticket.

 

[yorkie]

In this case not being allowed to use TPE/EC via Doncaster is a limitation of being on EMT Only tickets, rather than splitting. If you had merely split at Sheffield with Any Permitted tickets, you'd have been fine to go via Doncaster.

If the disruption is particularly bad and/or the delay is extensive, arrangements can be put in place to allow you to use a different operator.

 

[SickyNicky]

Probably a bit of both in reality. I'm pretty sure that with split tickets at Nottingham (even if they were ANY PERMITTED) there's no route you could take that includes Doncaster.

 

[yorkie]

Sorry, yes, you're right. But anyway it's both reasons really. But if the ticket was routed Any Permitted there'd be a far greater chance of being allowed via Doncaster, but still could be refused.

 

[Bakerbloke]

Made it in the end -was about 1hr and a half late. Thanks for the replies.