apex ticket crossing London

[catfordbags]

If I buy my daughter an APEX ticket from Chester to Brighton, assuming she travels on the correct train from Chester to London, is she obligated to catch the reserved train from London to Brighton.?

ie - can she spend a few hours mooching around London then catch any train to Brighton ?

Many thanks

MC

 

[JonathanH]

If I buy my daughter an APEX ticket from Chester to Brighton, assuming she travels on the correct train from Chester to London, is she obligated to catch the reserved train from London to Brighton.?

ie - can she spend a few hours mooching around London then catch any train to Brighton ?

Many thanks

MC

If there is a (counted place) reservation for a particular service between London and Brighton marked on the ticket, yes. If there isn't a reservation, ie travelling by Thameslink, then some delay in London might be admissible.

However, by strict definition of the terms of advance tickets, a break of journey, ie delaying the south of London part of the journey is not allowed.

I've never tested it but I do wonder whether a very observant revenue official could call someone up on the connecting service if they saw that the journey north of London was much earlier in the day.

You might find it cheaper to split the tickets anyway depending on the time of travel as the pricing of the cheapest level of advance fares for the Chester to London portion is not now available for a through journey south of London.

 

[paul1609]

In practice I don't think either Southern or Southeastern (with the possible exception of HS1) enforce the booked train on tickets to from "the North"

 

[maxbarnish]

I agree with Paul1609 - I've had no issues at all using a through advance ticket from Welling or Woolwich to Cranbrook and taking several hours in central London

 

[JonathanH]

I agree with Paul1609 - I've had no issues at all using a through advance ticket from Welling or Woolwich to Cranbrook and taking several hours in central London

Yes, there should be no issue at all at gatelines - the greater challenge is whether an extremely attentive member of revenue staff doing a thorough inspection could challenge the timing shown on the ticket given that officially no break of journey is permitted.

 

[yorkie]

Officially you are not supposed to break your journey on am Advance ticket (APEX tickets were replaced with Advance in 2007, in case anyone is wondering!)

 

[Saperstein]

Officially you are not supposed to break your journey on am Advance ticket (APEX tickets were replaced with Advance in 2007, in case anyone is wondering!)

Yes, I did wonder if the OP was harking back to the days of British Rail!

Saperstein

 

[Trackman]

No problems here, been doing it for years.
I checked this out ages ago.
NRCoT points you to this about BOJ on advance tickets, nothing about time limits.

You may not start, break and resume, or end your journey at any intermediate station except to change to/from connecting trains as shown on the ticket(s) or other valid travel itinerary.

 

[yorkie]

Yes, and good luck obtaining an itinerary with "several hours" spare in London!

You may get a couple of hours to cross London; there are sites that will do that for you (or a booking office can) but the intention is not to let you make two separate journeys on one ticket.

 

[Trackman]

I’ve spoke too soon, seen the new advance reservation coupons for my journey anyway. Now you are definitely not valid if stopped.

Anyway I have to buy 3 tickets now, all in all it’s costing me 90p extra to wander around Manchester and London at my leisure. I’ve also shaved off £1 by using contactless to cross London.

 

[smsm1]

Why can't we have something the the Deutsche Bahn system which allows you to enter stops of up to 48 hours. I've used this to great effect to visit family on the way, get cheaper tickets, or have a better overnight stop in e.g. Brussels.

 

[yorkie]

Why can't we have something the the Deutsche Bahn system which allows you to enter stops of up to 48 hours. I've used this to great effect to visit family on the way, get cheaper tickets, or have a better overnight stop in e.g. Brussels.

The train companies prefer people to "split" their tickets when doing an extended break of journey. The view of the train companies appears to be that people should do separate searches to and from the point at where you have the overnight stay. I can't see this changing any time soon.

Some booking sites do allow additional interchange time to be chosen at a location of your choice, but not for anywhere near 48 hours.