Splitting a journey over 2 tickets.

[brianfraser]

It can sometimes be cheaper to buy 2 individual tickets for a journey, rather than a through ticket. For example, when I travelled from Inverkeithing to York on the ECML, I found a cheap Edinburgh to York advance single and purchased a standard single from Inverkeithing to Edinburgh and did this leg on a local train. I guess this is a fairly common strategy.

But sometimes you can save money by breaking your journey into two legs while staying on the same train. Promotional deals often link two popular destinations like Edinburgh to York and York to London. Is it actually permissable to do this, or does the small print say you must exit the train at your destination station (I suppose you could always climb back on).

 

[headshot119]

No as long as you follow condition 19 of the National Rail Conditions of Carriage

19. Using a combination of tickets
You may use two or more tickets for one journey as long as together they cover the entire
journey and one of the following applies:
(a) they are both Zonal Tickets (unless special conditions prohibit their use);
(b) the train you are in calls at a station where you change from one
ticket to another; or
(c) one of the tickets is a Season Ticket (which for this purpose does not include
Season Tickets or travel passes issued on behalf of a passenger transport
executive or local authority) or a leisure travel pass, and the other ticket(s) is/are not.
You must comply with any restriction shown on the tickets relating to travel in the trains of
a particular Train Company or Train Companies (see Condition 10).
If you do not comply with this Condition, you will be treated as having joined the train
without a ticket and the relevant parts of Condition 2 or 4 will apply, either to the entire
journey, or from the last station where the train stopped at which at least one of the
tickets was valid.
For the purposes of this Condition, a “leisure travel pass” means any multi-journey ticket
(excluding Season Tickets) valid for:
(i) at least 7 consecutive days; or
(ii) at least 3 days in a period of at least 7 consecutive days
and includes rover tickets, travel passes, flexipass tickets and Britrail passes.

You can remain on the same train.