What proof do you need of a valid route?

[glynn80]

Glynn, quite often in that situation Guards receive pager messages advising that there is 'serious disruption on route X-Y, please allow travel by any reasonable route'. For example - if the WCML goes down the swanny, EMT will often accept BHM-London Terminals tickets as valid via Leicester to St Pancake even though I've a strong idea that's not a permitted route in the routeing guide....!

I think the point is still relevant though, even if the route seemed slightly unreasonable (e.g. Manchester to Grantham to London, one may ask why not just Manchester to Sheffield to London), for a passenger with limited rail knowledge it may be the only other route they know to London. But of course as you have said, leniancy is the order of the day when delays are occurring.

 

[ashworth]

Almost the opposite happened to me last summer when an AP ticket offered me a route that even some inexperienced travellers may have thought a bit illogical.

It was good value at only £9.50 for a AP single from Blackpool North to Mansfield with Virgin Trains and Connections.
The route given was Blackpool North to Preston (TPE reserved seat), Preston to Crewe (VT reserved seat), Crewe to Stockport (VT reserved seat), Stockport to Nottingham (EMT reserved seat) and Nottingham to Mansfield (unreserved)

Quite a zig zagging doubling back route going right down to Crewe and then back up to Stockport, accross to Sheffield, then down to Nottingham and then back north to Mansfield. I wonder if this is a valid route?

The reason why I was sold a ticket via this route is because to get a cheap AP fare from Blackpool to Mansfield you have to use Virgin Trains to Crewe as no AP tickets are available on the more direct route via Manchester.
The outward route was easy as I was routed via Nottingham, Derby and Crewe but on the return journey the connections at Crewe for Derby only allow about 5 minutes and so the online booking systems do not show these journeys as it does not meet the minimum connection time at Crewe.
Therefore by experimenting I found that by entering 'avoid Manchester' it came up with cheap AP tickets by the above route.

Interestingly, when I got to Crewe I didn't double back to Stockport. I got on the more direct (unreservable) Derby train and arrived in Mansfield 1 hour earlier than I would have done via Stockport!

 

[Ferret]

Interestingly, when I got to Crewe I didn't double back to Stockport. I got on the more direct (unreservable) Derby train and arrived in Mansfield 1 hour earlier than I would have done via Stockport!

Hmm, glad you got away with that one given that it would have said on your ticket "valid only with reservations"!!!!!

 

[ashworth]

Hmm, glad you got away with that one given that it would have said on your ticket "valid only with reservations"!!!!!

I just travelled back the same route via Derby and Nottingham that I had used on the outward journey. My identical tickets for both journeys said 'Virgin Trains and connections'.
On the outward journey my trains from Mansfield to Nottingham, Nottingham to Derby and Derby to Crewe, although on my printout were all unreservable local trains. It was only the Crewe to Preston and Preston to Blackpool sections of my journey where I had to travel on specific trains.
I therefore just did the same in reverse on the return journey. Crewe to Derby, Derby to Nottingham and Nottingham to Mansfield all unreserved so no problem.