Train Travel Question

woodyt

I'm travelling to Runcorn from Bognor Regis over the festive period and as advised on MSE I've bought seperate tickets from Bognor to London and then London to Runcorn as it's a lot cheaper.
My only concern is that even though I've left plenty of time (about 2 hours!) to get the London train what happens if I get a major delay?
My train ticket is only valid for one specific train. Will I end up having to pay an extortionate price for another ticket or would I be better off just getting an open return where I can use any train?
Any advice greatly received.

Mark_Hewitt

Did you buy the single tickets as part of the same journey?

dzug1

You are allowed to use 2 tickets for one journey and if the first part is delayed to the extent that you miss the second train you are allowed to use the next one - as long as you have allowed sufficient time for the change.

It's best to get the ticket endorsed if this happens - not all staff are correctly trained in the rules.

It would be very unusual (though not unknown) for two hours to be insufficient to cross London

AirlieBird

But wouldn't his problem be that as he's got two separate tickets finishing/starting at two different London terminals he doesn't have a ticket to cross London. As there's a gap between where one ticket finishes and the next one starts wouldn't it treated as two separate journeys?

woodyt

Thanks for the info so far.
The Bognor to Victoria ticket has been bought via Southern and the Euston to Runcorn via Redspottedhanky.
We were going to get the underground tickets on the day.
Also not sure about the Oyster card. We go to London maybe twice a year,is it worth getting one?
Many thanks

yorkie2

AirlieBird wrote: »

But wouldn't his problem be that as he's got two separate tickets finishing/starting at two different London terminals he doesn't have a ticket to cross London. As there's a gap between where one ticket finishes and the next one starts wouldn't it treated as two separate journeys?

I disagree. There is no gap that I can see - where do you think the gap is?

I don't see why this is any different to combining tickets such as Skipton - Bradford Stations plus Bradford Stations to London Terminals? What ticket would you buy to fill that 'gap'?

yorkie2

woodyt wrote: »

We were going to get the underground tickets on the day.
Also not sure about the Oyster card. We go to London maybe twice a year,is it worth getting one?
Many thanks

An Oyster card is definitely worthwhile. At 2011 prices a Zone 1 single is £1.90 on Oyster PAYG or £4 on paper paid with cash.

im-lost

yorkie2 wrote: »

I disagree. There is no gap that I can see - where do you think the gap is?

I don't see why this is any different to combining tickets such as Skipton - Bradford Stations plus Bradford Stations to London Terminals? What ticket would you buy to fill that 'gap'?

The gap between Euston and Victoria? there's obviously no ticket,
hence a gap is formed.

Now if it was from X to Victoria to Y then fine there's no gap, but there
obviously is in this case.

dzug1

But how - by train - would you fill that gap? And both stations are London terminals.

yorkie2

im-lost wrote: »

The gap between Euston and Victoria?
there's obviously no ticket,
hence a gap is formed.

There's no National Rail line between Euston and Victoria, both are members of London Terminals and the transfer (by foot or LU) between them is treated as 0 miles.

im-lost wrote: »

Now if it was from X to Victoria to Y then fine there's no gap, but there
obviously is in this case.

Obviously is a gap? There obviously isn't a gap more like!:rotfl:

The difference between the posts by you and AirlieBird compared to the posts by dzug2 and me, is that your posts are questions about a subject that you do not know, posted as responses to someone asking what the rules are and, rather dangerously could be interpreted as facts, while myself and dzug2 are quoting facts.

Extract from the Advance Fares FAQs in The Manual:

The_Manual wrote:

Q22. Can a passenger travel on any other service than the one on which they are reserved, without changing the booking?

A. the following principles apply.

....

2) Once the journey has begun. If the passenger is delayed and the train company or it's partners [are] at fault, which should be check by [staff] control office, change to a train of the same company is allowed to get them to their destination with the least delay. This is irrespective of the combination of rail tickets held. Examples are:

Included: are passsengers on valid:

....

Combination of rail and partner tickets.

e.g. Advance ticket Bristol-Paddington plus tube single ticket, plus advance ticket Kings Cross to Hull;

....

Condition 19 of the National Rail Conditions of Carriage allows a customer to use "two or more tickets for one journey".

In this case, it is important that the minimum connection time is adhered to.

Two hours is far in excess of the minimum connection time in this case.

Virgin Trains will honour the London Terminals - Runcorn ticket in the unlikely event of the train being missed due to late running of the Southern train. In the highly unlikely event of a member of Virgin staff charging the OP, a letter to customer services should be drafted, which I will be happy to read, and Virgin would definitely refund the customer in that case (I know someone who works for Virgin customer services and have discussed this issue at length with him - this is not the first time it's cropped up).

It is vital that people like the OP are given accurate information. The OP can be sure of this by asking at a dedicated Fares, Tickets & Routeing forum, where experts are on-hand.

woodyt

Many thanks for all the responses.All seems a lot clearer now.:j