Taking an earlier train when booked train is cancelled

[JoeM1V]

Let’s say I have an Advance from Birmingham to Norwich via Peterborough.

If the XC Birmingham-Peterborough is cancelled, I can take the previous train, which is 1h earlier, under the new industry guidelines.

Does this flexibility extend to the entire journey - ie can I take the EMR service 1h earlier from Peterborough to Norwich, or do I have to wait an hour in Peterborough and travel on my booked EMR train?

 

[Starmill]

I think this is something which is implied, potentially fairly heavily, but not actually stated anywhere in a way that removes the ambiguity.

See the lengthy discussion in this thread:

Ticket acceptance during disruption

Is "safety" an arbitrary thing? Back in the fairly recent days of 2-coach TfW 150s Cardiff to Holyhead, when almost every day people posted photos on social media of trains rammed to the gunnels, standing all down the aisles nose to armpit, querying whether it was safe, TfW always replied that...

www.railforums.co.uk

The link should take you to post 45 where what I think is the same scenario as yours was described and the many replies...

 

[janb]

The Northern briefing of the August changes made clear that yes it would apply across splits/legs of journey.

Briefing available here https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...r-cancelled-trains.272698/page-2#post-6908658

To quote

This guidance applies across all TOCs and therefore includes any connections that a customer may need to make.

and

if the customer is travelling with split tickets, they should be permitted to travel on earlier or later services for their whole journey even if disruption only affects one leg of the journey

 

[xotGD]

This sounds like a dicey scenario for the passenger. Suppose my local train into Leeds is cancelled, so I catch the previous service. I would expect nothing but grief if I then boarded the LNER to London 30 minutes ahead of the train I have an Advance for.

 

[Howardh]

This sounds like a dicey scenario for the passenger. Suppose my local train into Leeds is cancelled, so I catch the previous service. I would expect nothing but grief if I then boarded the LNER to London 30 minutes ahead of the train I have an Advance for.

It's you that have been inconvenienced by the cancellation of your first train, so you should not be put out by having to wait for the second. Looks like the posts above do confirm that you wouldn't have to wait, but if I were denied the early second part I would pay the excess and claim back off the first - after all I have saved them delay repay!

If charged a penalty then I would like to see what a magistrate or judge would conclude.

One issue though is if the second service had a guaranteed seat, that would be lost if you took an earlier train.

 

[Starmill]

The Northern briefing of the August changes made clear that yes it would apply across splits/legs of journey.

Briefing available here https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...r-cancelled-trains.272698/page-2#post-6908658

To quote

and

Good to know. Thank you.

 

[xotGD]

It's you that have been inconvenienced by the cancellation of your first train, so you should not be put out by having to wait for the second. Looks like the posts above do confirm that you wouldn't have to wait, but if I were denied the early second part I would pay the excess and claim back off the first - after all I have saved them delay repay!

If charged a penalty then I would like to see what a magistrate or judge would conclude.

One issue though is if the second service had a guaranteed seat, that would be lost if you took an earlier train.

Easy enough to make a new seat reservation on LNER.