Breaking a return journey from London to Belper at Nottingham?

[J-J]

Hi everyone, thanks for reading.

A simple question I hope.

We have a Super Off-Peak Return from London St Pancras to Belper, and want to break the return journey at Nottingham instead of the usual change at Derby. Because info was tricky to get when we were buying the tickets, I ended up buying them then checking with the conductor on the outbound journey. She said it would be fine on that type of ticket.

Today we are travelling back to London. We have just taken the first leg - to Nottingham - and the conductor said the journey couldn’t be broken like this, but has let us go anyway.

So: Which of these people are correct, and should we buy another ticket from Nottingham this afternoon?

Thanks

 

[Romilly]

What you propose is allowed. If you use the National Rail Enquiries website, or East Midland Trains' own online journey planner, and look for a St Pancras to Belper return journey, and specify that you want to go via Nottingham, both show the £66.50 super offpeak return as being valid for London-Nottingham-Derby-Belper-Derby-Nottingham-London.

After-thought: by doing this, you double-back through Attenborough and Beeston stations. It therefore occurred to me that the ticket might be valid only for Belper-Derby-Attenborough-East Midlands Parkway-London. However, Nottingham with Beeston and Attenborough form the Nottingham Routeing Group for the purposes of the Routeing Guide, and the Guide allows doubling-back within a Routeing Group if that is done for the purposes of changing trains.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Hi everyone, thanks for reading.

A simple question I hope.

We have a Super Off-Peak Return from London St Pancras to Belper, and want to break the return journey at Nottingham instead of the usual change at Derby. Because info was tricky to get when we were buying the tickets, I ended up buying them then checking with the conductor on the outbound journey. She said it would be fine on that type of ticket.

Today we are travelling back to London. We have just taken the first leg - to Nottingham - and the conductor said the journey couldn’t be broken like this, but has let us go anyway.

So: Which of these people are correct, and should we buy another ticket from Nottingham this afternoon?

Thanks

You are entitled to break your journey as many times as you like on the return portion of any period (month) return ticket. Going Belper-Derby-Nottingham-London is an entirely valid route as it can be traced on map NM, which is one of the maps along which you may travel on a return ticket from London to Belper (as long as you don't stop at or pass through Derby again on the Nottingham-London leg).

 

[robbeech]

Providing it is the Super off peak ticket you say there is no problem with breaking your journey at Nottingham on the outward and/or return portions. You could spend several nights in Nottingham, some in Leicester etc. The member of staff is wrong and needs the correct training.
Was this the EMT service from Belper or did you change at Derby also. I’m surprised at this advise as EMT guards are normally well trained.

 

[J-J]

Thank you very much for the prompt reply, that’s very clear.

 

[robbeech]

The crucial point is you absolutely do not need to buy anymore tickets to complete your journey. You are highly unlikely to get any more hassle but if you do you can ask for further advice here.

 

[J-J]

Sorry R, I was writing my reply when you wrote yours.

Yes this was a direct train from Belper to Nottingham.