What has been your longest rail replacement taxi?

[styles]

Prompted by my recollection in another post about Avanti sorting us a taxi from Carlisle to Inverkeithing when weather brought down the WCML, I wondered what the longest rail replacement taxi journey has been?

According to Google Maps, Carlisle to Inverkeithing, station to station comes in at 125mi.

Have you had longer?

 

[AlterEgo]

Haven't had one myself but during my time in XC Control we once authorised one from Edinburgh to Forsinard, 251 miles by road and about six hours' drive.

 

[styles]

Haven't had one myself but during my time in XC Control we once authorised one from Edinburgh to Forsinard, 251 miles by road and about six hours' drive.

Did the cabbie appreciate it?

On my 125mi trip the driver was quite unhappy about such a long journey. He did well over the speed limit seemingly just to get it over and done with (though frankly I was that tired I didn't really care).

 

[DarloRich]

My brother once got a replacement cab from Nottingham to "Great" Yarmouth after the last train from Liverpool to Norwich terminated early

That must be about 150 miles. (Actually more as the cabbie took him home)

 

[styles]

That must be about 150 miles. (Actually more as the cabbie took him home)

Yes I don't want the cabbie I had to get in trouble but he didn't actually drop us off at Inverkeithing railway station

 

[dk1]

My brother once got a replacement cab from Nottingham to "Great" Yarmouth after the last train from Liverpool to Norwich terminated early

That must be about 150 miles. (Actually more as the cabbie took him home)

Traincrew do that quite a bit as EMR (and EMT before them) often cover Norwich work with a Nottingham crew.

 

[pdq]

Did the cabbie appreciate it?

On my 125mi trip the driver was quite unhappy about such a long journey. He did well over the speed limit seemingly just to get it over and done with (though frankly I was that tired I didn't really care).

Would the driver be able to claim overnight accommodation before driving back, as this would be over a professional driver's hours?

 

[dk1]

Would the driver be able to claim overnight accommodation before driving back, as this would be over a professional driver's hours?

That would be down to his employer surely.

 

[styles]

That would be down to his employer surely.

Also whether this journey was actually taking him over his driving hours. If it was the start or middle of his shift, a ~4-4.5h return trip might be well within what's allowed (I would hope that if it wasn't, the cabbie would refuse on that basis).

 

[dk1]

Also whether this journey was actually taking him over his driving hours. If it was the start or middle of his shift, a ~4-4.5h return trip might be well within what's allowed (I would hope that if it wasn't, the cabbie would refuse on that basis).

I was going to say. He/she could always refuse.

 

[StoneRoad]

Nothing like as long as the above examples, but back before privatisation I once had a taxi provided from Bristol Temple Meads to Chippenham. Long story but several mis-communications / real SNUFUs meant several people including me missed the last Paddington HST one evening [after it had been agreed to hold it for the five or so minutes needed, I heard that agreement !]. A couple of them were returning to RAF Lynham and had to be back ... we shared Taxi down the M4... and they got back to base with "a few minutes" to spare, then I got taken to my destination as well.

 

[pdq]

Also whether this journey was actually taking him over his driving hours. If it was the start or middle of his shift, a ~4-4.5h return trip might be well within what's allowed (I would hope that if it wasn't, the cabbie would refuse on that basis).

Apologies. I replied to the wrong message. I was thinking of the 250 mile, 6 hour one way journey.

 

[Lewisham2221]

Would the driver be able to claim overnight accommodation before driving back, as this would be over a professional driver's hours?

There are no "driver's hours" applicable to taxi drivers in the UK.

 

[dk1]

There are no "driver's hours" applicable to taxi drivers in the UK.

I did wonder as several of my colleagues ask early morning taxi drivers how long they’ve been on duty before climbing in. Many have refused to travel instead asking the on duty manager to send another. ASLEF have got very hot on this on several occasions now.

 

[HughT]

A decade ago I was provided with a taxi one wintry Saturday morning from Barmouth to Machynlleth - on arrival at Mach the driver checked with control and was authorised to take me all the way to Shrewsbury ( hadn't even asked). Would have been cheaper to pay the Delay Repay!

 

[Polarbear]

I’ve had a rail replacement taxi from Thurso to Inverness once. Outward trip from Inverness went ok, but a storm had been forecast for later that day. Turns out the storm damaged the infrastructure so taxi it was.

 

[furnessvale]

Prompted by my recollection in another post about Avanti sorting us a taxi from Carlisle to Inverkeithing when weather brought down the WCML, I wondered what the longest rail replacement taxi journey has been?

According to Google Maps, Carlisle to Inverkeithing, station to station comes in at 125mi.

Have you had longer?

Following trouble at the Chunnel years ago, we were bussed from Cheriton to Waterloo where we arrived too late for onward connections.

Me and the wife were then put in a black cab to Furness Vale, a distance of 178 miles!

They didn't even check tickets or they would have found us on free passes which may have resulted in a different outcome!

On another occasion, my brother and I, again both on free passes, were put in a private hire car from Cambridge to Parkeston Quay for the boat.

 

[Taplowgreen]

Does the TOC pay for replacement buses/taxis in these circumstances, or is it ultimately the taxpayer who picks up the tab?

 

[D6130]

On the night of Storm Daniel in September 2023, the Caledonian Sleeper's Highlander arrived at Edinburgh Waverley four and a half hours late. The Fort William portion was cancelled and the passengers provided with taxis for a journey of about 150 miles. I believe that was not the only occasion when this has happened.

 

[dk1]

Does the TOC pay for replacement buses/taxis in these circumstances, or is it ultimately the taxpayer who picks up the tab?

The TOC will pay and then claim it back from another operator or Network Rail. Whoever caused the fail.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Only ever needed the one rail replacement taxi. Three Bridges to Haywards Heath on a Sunday night (Monday morning). Ten miles.

 

[Requeststop]

121 Miles. A dreadful days weather, about three years back. Trying to get back to the Far West and the concourse at Padding was stuffed with Passengers. No chance of travelling from Waterloo we were told. Then a departure was announced and everyone was pushed onto a train and we set off with the promise of a journey back all the way home. A false promise as it turned out to be. Cowley Bridge Junction was flooded in spite of the remedial work done to prevent flooding and we were turfed out at Taunton. Nearly two hundred passengers at the station queuing up even standing on the stairs to the underground passage way. Freezing cold, rain almost horizontal and absolutely no plans for buses, coaches or taxi's. Nearly two hours went by and I was close to the front of the queue when four taxi's turned up and three of us clambered in to be taken to Truro.
Fortunately the driver had the good sense to go via Okehampton and Bodmin, but I arrived at Truro at about two thirty in the morning. My only taxi replacement.

 

[SAPhil]

St Pancras to Gatwick is my longest. Made the check-in deadline by about 5 minutes - just as well as this was before online airline ticketing and I had the all the tickets for a party of 4. It was only after I got to Gatwick that I realised I'd forgotten to buy an extension for my season ticket, fortunately no-one checked!

 

[185143]

On the night of Storm Daniel in September 2023, the Caledonian Sleeper's Highlander arrived at Edinburgh Waverley four and a half hours late. The Fort William portion was cancelled and the passengers provided with taxis for a journey of about 150 miles. I believe that was not the only occasion when this has happened.

Certainly isn't!

I arrived into Edinburgh over five hours late in September 2024 and around 25 of us were then taxied to Fort William.

Black cabs too, or at least, mine was. The driver absolutely loved it. A decent, guaranteed fare, no hassle from passengers and obviously fantastic scenery. I chivalrously did the other passengers a favour in telling the driver as he was about to turn round outside Wetherspoons in Fort William that he didn't need to and I was more than happy to get out there! They were a seemingly rather affluent group who were paying the driver cash in hand (I presume) to take them further.

Furthest one I know of was in a similar area. I had a Replacement taxi Fort William-Bridge of Orchy in a (not so) wild goose chase to catch the Sleeper after the ScotRail was delayed and they kindly let the Sleeper leave. Talking to the driver and he said the furthest rail job he'd ever done was Fort William-Cambridge, and once had an insurance job for medical grounds Fort William-Weymouth. All ran on the meter too.

 

[Vexed]

Furthest one I know of was in a similar area. I had a Replacement taxi Fort William-Bridge of Orchy in a (not so) wild goose chase to catch the Sleeper after the ScotRail was delayed and they kindly let the Sleeper leave. Talking to the driver and he said the furthest rail job he'd ever done was Fort William-Cambridge, and once had an insurance job for medical grounds Fort William-Weymouth. All ran on the meter too.

Furthest a driver's ever gone when I asked eas Exeter to Newcastle. Not into the Highlands though!

My two rail taxis have been 4 miles (Mill Hill Broadway to Stanmore LU) and the Southampton to Basingstoke (30 mile) one I made a thread on recently.

 

[DaventryRabbit]

I’ve had a rail replacement taxi from Thurso to Inverness once. Outward trip from Inverness went ok, but a storm had been forecast for later that day. Turns out the storm damaged the infrastructure so taxi it was.

I've had a similar experience. Replacement Minibus from Wick to Inverness after a storm forced the Midday train from Inverness to terminate somwhere en route (can't remember where). We called in at Georgmas then Thurso...to be told pax from there had literally JUST left in a seperate minibus! Our Driver then asked "Anyone for anywhere other than Inverness?" various replies came back, all for stops not too far off the A9. But one guy wanted Forsinard.. the only way there was along the Coast Road A836 heading West before heading down a 30 mile odd single track road (A897) across the Moors to Forsinard. It took a time but we actually arrived in Inverness BEFORE the train was due in.

 

[lkpridgeon]

My longest has been Basingstoke to Derby (148mile). With runners up Waterloo to Winchester (64) and Bournemouth to Basingstoke (46). All for similar unfortunate reasons... The TOCs paid directly for the taxis.

 

[mikeb42]

Paddington to Bristol several times. Further and more memorably Paddington to Swansea (actually Llandeilo by arrangement with the driver).

Memorable partly because the driver wasn't interested in doing more than 55mph down the middle lane of a deserted M4 for nearly 200 miles in the early hours of a Saturday morning. I got within millimeters of asking if I could drive instead so we could all get home before Tuesday.

I didn't as he was a otherwise a very pleasant chap who was originally from elsewhere and I suspect had not previously ventured beyond the North Circular.

The diversion to Llandeilo was necessitated by it taking so long to get to Swansea that the person who would have been giving me a lift felt unsafe to drive, what with having been up for 21 hours by 03:30. For the driver, it was clearly like a trip to Narnia. He may still be on his way back to London now...

 

[birchesgreen]

Not had any really long ones, Banbury to Leamington Spa was long enough. This was due to a broken down freight train. However, it must have cleared not long after we left BAN because the train i could have got arrived at Leamington just 5 minutes after i did by taxi!

 

[Angusbswheeler]

When my then girlfriend (now wife) lived in Oxford, and I lived in Darlington, in the late 1990s, we used to regularly travel by train on alternate weekends. The last train out of Oxford had a 15 minute connection in Birmingham. I quite often failed to make this connection meaning a taxi from York to Darlington but memorably once had a black cab from New Street to Darlington via York - 190 miles with Birmingham to York leg on a flip down rear facing seat.