Children travelling by train alone

AllyS

I have sent SW trains an e-mail asking them what the age limit is.

There are no reserved seats from here to Waterloo, but our train station is old, no barriers so I can make sure they are seated before they leave.

Both have mobile phones, nothing exciting or worth stealing, so they can keep in regular contact with everyone. DD is on a contract, so no issue of her running out of credit. Worse case sceanario they can meet Dad at Burger King (opp where they depart the train), he, me or both of us can call 20 minutes before train is due to arrive so they can get ready to depart the train. Dad works on the underground so he maybe able to flash his ID around to get on the platform for free anyway.

Anyway the rules may decide all the what if's anyway, I will let you know what they say.

puppypants

Years ago, I did a journey by train from North Wales to Oxford. It was one of the most awful experiences of my life!! Admittedly, there were 3 changes on the way, but by far, the worst was due to a delay at Birmingham because someone had jumped in front of the train I was waiting for. All passengers for that train were told to make their way to the other big station in Birmingham, which involved crossing the Bull Ring. I was petrified as it was getting dark, I was a woman travelling alone and no one seemed friendly enough to 'tag along' with.

The memory of that journey (I was in my 50s!!) would put me off what you are suggesting letting your kids do. How would they cope in that sort of situation?

skylight

The 13yo yes, not sure about the 10yo - it depends on how well they get on with each other. Mine would argue constantly.............

And I would do the trip with them first. Waterloo can be horrendous with passengers, especially for 2 kids, so they need to know their way around, meeting point, emergency contact points etc. What if the train is delayed, breaks down, Dads late etc.

Tish_P

It sounds a perfectly reasonable journey to me, especially if one or both kids has a mobile phone. It's less complicated than getting a bus! If possible, though, avoid rush hour at Waterloo as it can be horrendously busy and there are pickpockets.

Seanymph

SS regularly travels by train to his relatives in the next county - and invariably on a Sunday there is a replacement bus service, we have had drivers suffering heart attacks and delays of several hours in the middle of nowhere and all sorts of disruption.

It's that which causes the issues.

My daughters have travelled to Canada unaccompanied on planes since they were 11 and 13 - no problems, but they are chaperoned, and once they are on nothing much can go wrong - it's a closed space with no one joining or leaving.

But at those ages? That distance? No, I would wait a few years.

If you've been driving to a central point to hand them over why can you and your ex not train to a central point to hand them over? Would that be cheaper?

AllyS

puppypants wrote: »

Years ago, I did a journey by train from North Wales to Oxford. It was one of the most awful experiences of my life!! Admittedly, there were 3 changes on the way, but by far, the worst was due to a delay at Birmingham because someone had jumped in front of the train I was waiting for. All passengers for that train were told to make their way to the other big station in Birmingham, which involved crossing the Bull Ring. I was petrified as it was getting dark, I was a woman travelling alone and no one seemed friendly enough to 'tag along' with.

The memory of that journey (I was in my 50s!!) would put me off what you are suggesting letting your kids do. How would they cope in that sort of situation?

How much had to travelled beforehand? If not very much many people would be scared.

But......horrible things and changes to plans are always going to happen and maybe DS is too young to handle these, but I think one of my responsibilities as a parent is to teach them skills that will help them when they are grown up and perhaps have no one to rely on for assistance.

Tish_P

puppypants, I appreciate that it must have felt very different for you at the time, and there are probably other things you haven't included in the story, etc. - but for heaven's sake, if having to walk a short, signposted way through a major city in the late evening is one of the most awful experiences of your life, you must have made a lot of wise choices.

Complications can happen on any journey whatever the method of transport and statistically the train is far, far safer than the roads.

newcook

I’d let them do it – children are too mollycoddled these days and get driven to school because parents are too scared to let them get a bus or walk. This just leads to a complete lack of general safety when they get older (I know a woman in her 30’s who panics at the thought of getting a bus/train or even walking to the local shop on her own – mainly because her mom ferried her everywhere until she got her own car.

It’s a direct journey and from the sounds of it the kids will behave and there will be someone at both stations to collect.

CH27

How would it work out financially if you took them halfway on the train & your ex got on the train as you got off?

zagfles

newcook wrote: »

I’d let them do it – children are too mollycoddled these days and get driven to school because parents are too scared to let them get a bus or walk. This just leads to a complete lack of general safety when they get older (I know a woman in her 30’s who panics at the thought of getting a bus/train or even walking to the local shop on her own – mainly because her mom ferried her everywhere until she got her own car.

It’s a direct journey and from the sounds of it the kids will behave and there will be someone at both stations to collect.

Yes, as long at the kids were happy about it I'd let them do it. And even if there's a diversion/change of train etc a 13 year old should be just as capable of following directions etc as an adult is - sometimes more so!