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Cheapest ticket in the uk?!

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giblets

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Hi, bit of a silly question, but what is the cheapest ticket I could buy On the day!?
Bit more info, but off to London zoo and they have an offer of 2:1 tickets with any national rail ticket ( for that days travel). Unfortunately I am down for the weekend and won't be taking the train (have the kids), so if I went to a station, what's the cheapest ticket I could order from a ticket counter? (Would be over the bank holiday weekend) ,
 
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Bletchleyite

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It does seem that it's worded as *any* "orange" ticket but I can see arguments if it's a completely irrelevant one (e.g. internal tickets on the Merseyrail loop are quite cheap). So I'd suggest picking a London terminus and buying a single from the first stop out (say South Hampstead to Euston or something). You could buy it online and collect from a TVM if you think you'll get hassle for it.
 

giblets

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Oyster card in London. Was under the impression northern tickets would be cheaper, is that not the case? Alternatively I guess I could go to a station and pick up any used ticket!?
 

Bletchleyite

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How will you be getting around London?

Good point, a paper ODTC would count provided it is on NR ticket stock and not LU ticket stock.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Oyster card in London. Was under the impression northern tickets would be cheaper, is that not the case? Alternatively I guess I could go to a station and pick up any used ticket!?

They would (the cheapest one I've seen in the past is Liverpool Central to Liverpool Lime St or vice versa, which is I believe under a quid) but I can foresee arguments if it's not one you could have used to travel to the attraction you're visiting, as it's taking the mick somewhat to start with.

I must admit to being very surprised there isn't a minimum ticket price to avoid people doing that kind of thing.
 
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TheEdge

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I think the current cheapest ticket in the UK is Devonport to Dockyard, off peak single is £1, return is £1.10

The Liverpool example is £1.75/£1.85.

I've done the 2 for 1 offer before by buying the cheapest ticket I could to a London terminal from outside of Oyster (so I could say I was from outside London). In my case I was coming from Norwich on a staff pass going to London Zoo. IIRC it ended up being a cheap day return from Ingatestone.
 
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Are you taking the train to London, staying for the weekend, then leaving London by train? If so, keep your train tickets as the FAQ at http://m.daysoutguide.co.uk/faq.aspx states:

Return Train Tickets - You will be able to use your return train tickets with the vouchers at any time between the outward and return journey - if you came on Thursday and returned on Sunday, you could use the vouchers on Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday. In order to do this please ensure that you retain the outward portion of your ticket as you will need to show both tickets at the attraction - just ask the staff at the ticket barrier to let you through which they will be happy to do.
 

giblets

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Cheers, will be driving into town, have free parking, and it'll be half the price in fuel as train, otherwise that would be great!
I'll try and scab (pick up!) a used ticket, the it'll be a ticket from Lichfield! Thanks all
 

IanD

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...as it's taking the mick somewhat to start with.

If these attractions didn't take the mick and just charged reasonable prices to start with then there'd be no need to offer discounts to anyone and no-one would need to resort to retaliatory mickey taking.
 

CyrusWuff

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Waterloo East - Charing Cross with a Jobcentreplus discount is a fairly popular one...
 

hidden

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I used a 2 for 1 recently in London and they didn't even ask to see the tickets.
 

Jordeh

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If I recall correctly Matlock to Matlock Bath is the cheapest (60p single, 70p return).
 

Peter Mugridge

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Just a heads up - picking up a ticket at random for the same date will not get you into the zoo any cheaper, nor will simply buying a rail ticket on the day to get there and then producing it at the gate - even if you genuinely have used that ticket to get to London.

The offer requires you to state at the ticket office when buying your travel tickets that you wish to use the zoo's offer - you will then be given a voucher and it is that which you have to produce at the zoo ticket desk in order to get the cheap entry.

How do I know? Answer - we went to the zoo yesterday and we were refused the discount because we did not have the said voucher... So check the full details of such offers before attempting any of the convulted solutions that appearing in this thread!
 

Qwerty133

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Just a heads up - picking up a ticket at random for the same date will not get you into the zoo any cheaper, nor will simply buying a rail ticket on the day to get there and then producing it at the gate - even if you genuinely have used that ticket to get to London.

The offer requires you to state at the ticket office when buying your travel tickets that you wish to use the zoo's offer - you will then be given a voucher and it is that which you have to produce at the zoo ticket desk in order to get the cheap entry.

How do I know? Answer - we went to the zoo yesterday and we were refused the discount because we did not have the said voucher... So check the full details of such offers before attempting any of the convulted solutions that appearing in this thread!
The vouchers may be printed from daysoutguide.co.uk
 

CyrusWuff

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Leaflets containing said vouchers can also be obtained at most railway stations in the South East, and National Express have a similar offer as well.
 

RJ

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Just a heads up - picking up a ticket at random for the same date will not get you into the zoo any cheaper, nor will simply buying a rail ticket on the day to get there and then producing it at the gate - even if you genuinely have used that ticket to get to London.

The offer requires you to state at the ticket office when buying your travel tickets that you wish to use the zoo's offer - you will then be given a voucher and it is that which you have to produce at the zoo ticket desk in order to get the cheap entry.

How do I know? Answer - we went to the zoo yesterday and we were refused the discount because we did not have the said voucher... So check the full details of such offers before attempting any of the convulted solutions that appearing in this thread!

Well yes - I assume it went without saying that you pick up a 2 for 1 leaflet or print out the voucher beforehand.
 

Andyh82

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This loop hole is one of the ones that Martin Lewis often promotes on his shows and on TV, so they must be aware of it and don't mind.

Leaflets containing said vouchers can also be obtained at most railway stations in the South East, and National Express have a similar offer as well.

Virgin Trains and East Coast as was, participated in the scheme as well (don't know if they still do), so the voucher leaflets might be able to be picked up 'up north' at any of their stations as well.
 

Peter Mugridge

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Well yes - I assume it went without saying that you pick up a 2 for 1 leaflet or print out the voucher beforehand.

Well... as both my wife and myself are registered disabled ( for different reasons - I'm cloth eared and she's partly sighted and epileptic ) and both our kids are registered young carers we can usually get into places at concession rates anyway, so 2 for 1 offers aren't usually on our radar.

In the case of the zoo, even the concession prices are sky high. Ditto the London Dungeon...
 

Merseysider

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Am I missing something?

What does emoji12 mean?
emoji12 is an unsupported smiley from a mobile device or laptop etc. As the forum does not recognise it, it will show as plain text to most, which is why it is preferred that members use 'normal' emoticons such as these -> :roll: ;)
 
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Perhaps not helpful to you, and already beaten by the 80p LTV-LIC (nice), but I once used a £1 "Friends & Family" ticket (offered to those travelling with someone who holds an nTrain or nNetwork pass) for one of these offers.

I enquired with London Midland beforehand and was advised that any ticket on orange stock and bearing the National Rail logo is valid for the purpose of these offers.
 

bb21

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What about a free "Penalty.Fare Warning" ticket? ;)
 
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