Grimsby Town - London Terminals this weekend

I have an advance single from Grimsby Town to London Terminals.

I have a single ticket and a reservation coupon for the East Coast service dep Newark North Gate at 1302. I have no reservation on any service t get me to Newark, although the itinerary from East Coast gives me the 1128 Grimsby Town to Newark.

Am I obliged to get that train even though I have no reservation coupon for it? Could I get a different train? Would I want to? I need to try and find time to eat something somewhere without paying East Coast catering prices for a sandwich.

Or is it packed lunch for me?

Others may have a more definitive answer, but I think you should be able to use an earlier service to get to Newark. You must use the booked EC train though.

The snag with advance purchase tickets is that break of journey is not permitted, except to change trains or use station facilities. So even if you do use an earlier train from Grimsby, your only option would be to use the station facilities at somewhere en-route.

The rule is you should take appropriate connecting trains. This is stated in the ticket conditions.

The Advance FAQs in The Manual introduce a further restriction - although stating you can take an earlier train than the one on your itinerary, you can only take non-reservable trains. So, providing the Lincoln - Newark train is not reservable (which, if going via Lincoln, it will not be reservable) then that is fine. If the train is reservable then that opens up a can of worms, as some people believe that this rule is not part of the contract, though some other people disagree.

Walking between Newark Castle and Newark Northgate is not a break of journey. (and no, let's not get into the question of whether you can walk into a shop while doing the walk it's been done to death in other threads many times anyway!)

If you'd like to read more debates surrounding the rules on taking earlier trains on the connections part of Advance tickets, there are dozens of threads on the subject.

The trains from Grimsby to Lincoln aren't that frequent at all, so the next earliest train may be considerably earlier. A packed lunch may prove easier!

There is a nice little independent cafe on the island platform at newark, so even if you're only there for 5 minutes you'll have time to get a coffee and a sandwich.

That'll do me, 34D. I'll not mess about with alternative trains, then.

I don't think I've ever noticed that cafe, even though I've been on the island platform a couple of times.