Can I board the train at a different station?

Huxley71

Hi,
I've bought an advanced single train ticket to London and somewhat belatedly realised that it'd actually make more sense logistically to get on the train at a station after the one I've booked.
I rung train line to enquire whether this was possible and they're telling me it's not! This seems so utterly ridiculous that I'm struggling to believe it and thought I'd double check here - does anyone know if this is do-able, or will the barrier just not open when I scan my ticket if I try to get on the same train but at a different station? 
Thanks 🙂

Tigsteroonie

If you need to put your ticket into/onto a barrier to enter the train then no, the barrier won't release. You can only do this (you shouldn't do this but people do) if you get on at an unmanned, unbarrier'd station.

daveyjp

Advanced tickets are the cheapest because there is no flexibility.

You must catch the services you are booked on.  

NB.  Don't use Trainline.  Its like using a travel agent to book a flight with Easyjet.

Neruda

To repeat, this is not allowed. You would need another ticket to pass through the barrier at the station where you boarded, and if you were seen doing this you could be in serious trouble, as in this news story:
https://www.lep.co.uk/news/ive-never-been-so-embarrassed-businessman-wrongly-detained-train-ticket-row-743571

spenderdave

It depends whether 'break of journey' is allowed and you can check that from the restriction code printed on the ticket. On most tickets (but not necessarily advance ones) you can break your outward and return journey at any point along the route and rejoin at the same or a later station. What you cannot do is to rejoin your journey at an earlier station. I have done such breaks many times on my walking trips, it is certainly allowed but the ticket barrier may block it and you have to be manually allowed through.

In this context your starting station B would be considered a 'rejoining' station with the first leg from A to B not actually taken.

Don't take what Trainline say as gospel, they are not a train company. Use the restriction code (two digit code eg B1) and check at https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

This probably though doesn't apply to advance tickets where since you are restricted to a specific train you wouldn't be able to break your journey...

(if your starting station has no barriers of course nobody would know...)

[Deleted User]

daveyjp said:

Advanced tickets are the cheapest because there is no flexibility.

You must catch the services you are booked on.  

NB.  Don't use Trainline.  Its like using a travel agent to book a flight with Easyjet.

If you were on the service you booked on, albeit just catching at a later stop (assuming you can get to the train) would that still be an issue?

Do you have any other suggestions for apps for booking trains - or just get an app / site for the train firm directly? I do my local train from station into city (about 5 stops) on trainline app, there are no booking fees for the cheap same day returns and never had an issue so wondering what reason to avoid it?

p00hsticks

Deleted_User said:

daveyjp said:

Advanced tickets are the cheapest because there is no flexibility.

You must catch the services you are booked on.  

NB.  Don't use Trainline.  Its like using a travel agent to book a flight with Easyjet.

If you were on the service you booked on, albeit just catching at a later stop (assuming you can get to the train) would that still be an issue?

Yes, I beleive it would. It sounds daft, but in my experience the advance tickets are usually only offered for long distance travel, often at considerably cheaper prices than a shorter journey along the same route would be. To stop people who have no intention of travelling the entire journey from taking advantage of this, boarding late or 'stopping short' isn't permitted in the T&C

one case that springs to mind is this one - it was over ten years ago, so I'm sure there will be more recent examples.

https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/couple-fined-ps114-for-getting-off-train-before-their-final-stop-6510426.html

JGB1955

A couple of years ago I was travelling from Oban to Crianlarich. The ticket from Oban to Glasgow (well over an hour further on) was substantially cheaper than the shorter journey. Snuck off the train, confidant that Crianlarich is an unmanned station...but still felt a bit like a criminal ,(and it was certainly against the rules,,,)

Neruda

Deleted_User said:

daveyjp said:

Advanced tickets are the cheapest because there is no flexibility.

You must catch the services you are booked on.  

NB.  Don't use Trainline.  Its like using a travel agent to book a flight with Easyjet.

Do you have any other suggestions for apps for booking trains - or just get an app / site for the train firm directly? I do my local train from station into city (about 5 stops) on trainline app, there are no booking fees for the cheap same day returns and never had an issue so wondering what reason to avoid it?

I generally buy my tickets from one of the companies that actually operates trains: generally Transpennine Express because they give Nectar points on all purchases.

elsien

I usually just use the national rail journey planner. You can play around with times and prices, it’s quite clear about any restrictions and they don’t add on the credit card fees like train line do. 

They redirect you to the relevant train company to buy the ticket so there’s no third party company to add an extra layer of complcation in the middle; you deal with the train company directly if it all goes pear-shaped.