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Advance ticket for non-existent train !!!

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mgood

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I bought an Advance ticket today for the 14:29 from Crewe to London on Mon 26 August. Afterwards I found an 'amended timetable' in a section about about Bank Holiday works which shows the train isn't running !! Why are Virgin selling tickets for non-existent trains ? Any thoughts

PS - you can still buy them now !!
 
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yorkie

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I bought an Advance ticket today for the 14:29 from Crewe to London on Mon 26 August. Afterwards I found an 'amended timetable' in a section about about Bank Holiday works which shows the train isn't running !! Why are Virgin selling tickets for non-existent trains ? Any thoughts

PS - you can still buy them now !!
The question is wrong; all retailers are required to offer itineraries on trains that are shown as running in the timetable feeds.

The question should be: why have Virgin Trains changed their timetable at short notice? It will probably be down to Network Rail giving them less than the supposedly required 12 week timetables for the works.

The train will disappear from the feeds soon; probably tomorrow if they marked it for removal today.

Your options are:
1) claim a full refund ;
2) depart earlier in order to arrive on time; or
3) depart on the first available train after the booked time, and claim Delay Repay if you arrive sufficiently late.
 

mgood

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Presumably options 2 and 3 are allowed even if its an Advance ticket for a specific train ?
 

_toommm_

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Presumably options 2 and 3 are allowed even if its an Advance ticket for a specific train ?

Absolutely - it's not your fault if they've removed a train from the timetable, although you won't have a seat reservation unless you make a new one.

There's a train at 14:01 from Crewe which arrives into London at 16:32, or one at 14:56 arriving 16:36.

The second train will get you into London exactly half an hour late, allowing you to do option 3 that Yorkie suggested.

EDIT: Amended arrival times.
 
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causton

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Are we all jumping the gun a bit?

It may just be missing from that PDF timetable.

The one an hour before and an hour after (and two hours after as well) runs.

Maybe it might be worth checking if it actually is cancelled before using a backup plan!
 

robbeech

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Absolutely - it's not your fault if they've removed a train from the timetable, although you won't have a seat reservation unless you make a new one.

There's a train at 14:01 from Crewe which arrives into London at 15:32, or one at 14:56 arriving 15:36.

The second train will get you into London exactly half an hour late, allowing you to do option 3 that Yorkie suggested.

Actually, you MAY have a seat reservation. Frequently trains are just re timed significantly (to add time for a diversion) so more often than not your seat will be on the train before or after the one that no longer exists. Of course, finding this out isn’t always straightforward. Staff will likely have no idea.

This situation is all too common now.
 

M28361M

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Are we all jumping the gun a bit?

It may just be missing from that PDF timetable.

The PDF timetable for Monday 26 August is showing several trains with codes for Fridays Only and Fridays Excepted at the top of the column, so I think we can safely assume there are a few mistakes in it.

The 1429 starts from Manchester Piccadilly at 1355, and Virgin's "spanner" page mentioned upthread says:

Services between London and Manchester

From Saturday 24 – midday 26 August a reduced service (two services per hour) will operate between London and Manchester.

Your train is after midday on 26 August, so a normal timetable should be in operation by then.

Just looked and your train is still showing up with Advance tickets available. It might be worth printing off an itinerary showing that train (if you don't have one with your booking confirmation), so you have proof just in case that train does get deleted in the next few days.
 
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