Break of journey via London

[planetdek]

Hi First Time Poster so be gentle.

I am travelling from Wigan to Ipswich via London Euston on an Off peak return ticket with Avanti West Coast.
Can anyone tell me if a break of the journey is permitted? I want to stay overnight in London on the outward leg continuing on to Ipswich the following day.
Will this be allowed ? The ticket includes tube travel from Euston to Liverpool Street and onwards to Ipswich, will the barriers still work the next day? I will not need to break my Return journey from Ipswich a week later.
I am struggling to get a definitive answer from Avanti and there are various 'opinions' on the Internet. Rail ticketing is baffling, it really should not be this hard. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[hexagon789]

Hi First Time Poster so be gentle.

I am travelling from Wigan to Ipswich via London Euston on an Off peak return ticket with Avanti West Coast.
Can anyone tell me if a break of the journey is permitted? I want to stay overnight in London on the outward leg continuing on to Ipswich the following day.
Will this be allowed ? The ticket includes tube travel from Euston to Liverpool Street and onwards to Ipswich, will the barriers still work the next day? I will not need to break my Return journey from Ipswich a week later.
I am struggling to get a definitive answer from Avanti and there are various 'opinions' on the Internet. Rail ticketing is baffling, it really should not be this hard. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Is this the Off-Peak Return at £152.60?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Hi First Time Poster so be gentle.

I am travelling from Wigan to Ipswich via London Euston on an Off peak return ticket with Avanti West Coast.
Can anyone tell me if a break of the journey is permitted? I want to stay overnight in London on the outward leg continuing on to Ipswich the following day.
Will this be allowed ? The ticket includes tube travel from Euston to Liverpool Street and onwards to Ipswich, will the barriers still work the next day? I will not need to break my Return journey from Ipswich a week later.
I am struggling to get a definitive answer from Avanti and there are various 'opinions' on the Internet. Rail ticketing is baffling, it really should not be this hard. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Assuming the ticket you're looking at is this: https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=WGN&dest=IPS&grpo=0446&ldn=1&tkt=SVR (i.e. the Off-Peak Return at £152.60 as quoted above by @hexagon789), then no, you can't break overnight: per the 'validity' box:

VALIDITY
One journey in each direction to be made within:​
Outward Validity:​	AS ADVERTISED (1 day)​
Return Validity:​	AS ADVERTISED (1 month)​

The Outward validity is expressly stated as '1 day'

I suppose it might be possible to argue that you were unable to get further than London on day 1 and so had to break your journey there, but my gut feeling is that while you might be right you'd have to argue the point on the London - Ipswich leg of your journey.

A further gut feeling (that I haven't followed up) is that you should be able to make considerable savings on the fare if you're prepared to book Advance tickets, which would tie you to specific trains. Have a look at journey planners such as the one that this forum is affiliated to and linked at the top of the page.

 

[planetdek]

@hexagon789 & @Fawkes Cat - thank you both so much for your rapid responses and advice. The website brfares.com is a revelation. I did not think i would be able to buy the one ticket but it was proving hard to get an answer then I stumbled across this forum. Brilliant , I shall be bookmarking. Thanks again.

 

[hexagon789]

then no, you can't break overnight: per the 'validity' box:

Thats exactly why I was asking!

@hexagon789 & @Fawkes Cat - thank you both so much for your rapid responses and advice. The website brfares.com is a revelation. I did not think i would be able to buy the one ticket but it was proving hard to get an answer then I stumbled across this forum. Brilliant , I shall be bookmarking. Thanks again.

Do bear in mind BRfares is more intended for those who have a good understanding of the fares system, not to put you off, but it's a little unwieldy for the unfamiliar. The best feature in my opinion is the Fare Validity Code checker, which is very useful to all, more so than the lists of all potentially available fares between two stations.

 

[Haywain]

The best feature in my opinion is the Fare Validity Code checker, which is very useful to all,

Although we currently have another thread running where someone has found that confusing by reading the unpublished restrictions.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Aug 2024 ==

Assuming the ticket you're looking at is this: https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=WGN&dest=IPS&grpo=0446&ldn=1&tkt=SVR (i.e. the Off-Peak Return at £152.60 as quoted above by @hexagon789), then no, you can't break overnight:

Although if you can generate an itinerary that provides that overnight break it has to be permitted in accordance with the contract formed at purchase. And it is possible to generate such an itinerary.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Is the cheapest option, *if* using an Off Peak Return from Wigan to Ipswich, likely to be to then buy an additional Advance Single for the following day's onward leg from London Liverpool Street to Ipswich?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Although if you can generate an itinerary that provides that overnight break it has to be permitted in accordance with the contract formed at purchase. And it is possible to generate such an itinerary.

I will double down on my original view:

I suppose it might be possible to argue that you were unable to get further than London on day 1 and so had to break your journey there, but my gut feeling is that while you might be right you'd have to argue the point on the London - Ipswich leg of your journey

Just because you're contractually able to do it, that doesn't mean it will be easy...

 

[Haywain]

Just because you're contractually able to do it, that doesn't mean it will be easy...

I am not arguing that it would be easy, I am just saying it can be done.

 

[planetdek]

Is the cheapest option, *if* using an Off Peak Return from Wigan to Ipswich, likely to be to then buy an additional Advance Single for the following day's onward leg from London Liverpool Street to Ipswich?

That is indeed the cheapest option , thanks for the tip. Only saves about £5 but still I a can buy an overpriced coffee with it.