Great Ticket Sale courtesy of Grant Shapps

[Andy Pacer]

Tamworth is convenient by road from Derby and Nottingham, Rugby is convenient from Leicester and Northampton is convenient from Market Harborough, Kettering and Wellingborough. Parking is reasonably priced at all three. Fares are significantly lower. Same goes for Bletchley too. Obviously this only really applies for those with car access. Connecting CrossCountry services are of course available to Tamworth and to Nuneaton but these are generally low in capacity and therefore not necccesarily particularly cheap, plus it adds an extra connection. We're straying far from topic here but it's well known that on weekdays journeys on EMR from this area to London are always very expensive. This has improved slightly for people who can use the new Corby services as Advance availability is better on those.

Leicester to Tamworth? Via Derby? I was referring to the direct route which, I suspect, is also what @Howardh was referring to. Anything other than a train on the direct route will significantly impact journey time, even if it might be cheaper. The fact is that removing the intermediate stops south of Kettering on Leicester to London services has reduced the opportunities to save from splitting tickets.

I know a fair few people from Derby who drive to Lichfield Trent Valley to get the train to London. It’s just off the A38 and therefore more convenient than Tamworth if driving.

Derby, Leicester and Nottingham fares to London are awful really.

Nuneaton tends to be my station of choice when using the train to/from London, despite living near Leicester and next to the MML!

That said, as part of this sale I've got a return trip tomorrow for £23 and also a ticket on the 0630 from Leicester on a Wednesday in a couple of weeks time for £11.50 (all as part of this sale).

 

[Skymonster]

£6.40 for Derby-Blackpool return and £6.00 for Derby-Scarborough return - good results IMO!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Advised today of a friends group who managed St Pancras to Broadstairs via Ashford for £9 each single (with railcards) - and a mere £4.50 from St Albans to St Pancras for a group of 9. Terrific value and exactly the sort of business required. (on a Wednesday)

 

[Hadders]

Thameslink don't do Advance fares so they have been selling off peak day returns at half price, but only to London. £6.45 for an off peak day return from Stevenage to London with a railcard is an absolute bargain.

 

[Starmill]

Thameslink Only Advance tickets are now available on a very small number of routes, for example Brighton to St Albans City.

 

[rich.davies]

Managed to take advantage of this "Rail Sale" offer.

Shrewsbury to Swansea via the Heart of Wales lines is one I've always wanted to do and got it for £10.20 one way and a return back to Wrexham from Swansea for £16.70. Bargain if i must say so myself.

 

[JBuchananGB]

Just thought I’d mention that I have successfully collected my Rail Sale tickets at my local Merseyrail station. Tickets bought from Trainsplit for travel on Northern and Avanti. First time I’ve tried collecting TOD tickets from Merseyrail.

 

[trover]

Apart from 'for test use only', does anyone spot error on rail sale magstripe tickets? One of my tickets has 'mandatory reservation coupon 1 of 1' and 'mandatory reservation coupon 2 of 1' with other details printed correctly; another one has collection receipt of wrong value, printed £1.50 instead of £1.90 which is total value of two railcard discounted Northern tickets.

I'm thinking whether I should contact the retailer before travel as 'mandatory reservation coupon 2 of 1' seems counterfeit

 

[erk]

Apart from 'for test use only', does anyone spot error on rail sale magstripe tickets?

I have a ticket marked "Mandatory reservations detailed on coupon xxxxx-xxxy". The single coupon with those numbers has two reservations and the text "MANDATORY RESERVATION COUPON 1 OF 2". But this isn't in the Rail Sale (off-topic alert).

 

[Royston Vasey]

Thameslink don't do Advance fares so they have been selling off peak day returns at half price, but only to London. £6.45 for an off peak day return from Stevenage to London with a railcard is an absolute bargain.

I've helped my wife avail of a few of these for her packed social programme in London, and one or two of my own business visits. So both my bosses are happy with me.

Any fare including the Underground is not included, so I booked her returns to London Terminals and she'll use contactless the rest of the way.

I got one of these tickets from Royston to Elephant & Castle (all Thameslink) £14.50 reduced to £13 with Network Railcard, so they're not necessarily just to London Terminals, but I cannot get one to Denmark Hill (all Thameslink) - so I am assuming they're only available to London Terminals or London Thameslink.

The SDR has no evening restrictions either. Tremendous value.

Checking a date in mid May, there are also discounted advances available on all services Cambridge and Whittlesford to Liverpool Street for £4 off peak and £10 in the peak!

 

[miklcct]

The offer is so attractive that I have finally booked tickets for multiple days of travel despite not on the direct route - I can't think of anything in the Southern region which can beat the £1.75 Railcard-discount AP Southern only fares along Southampton - Victoria route, combined with £2.35 XC sale between Bournemouth - Southampton that I can get between Bournemouth and most South London places for just £4.10!!! compared with £7.45 the absolute cheapest by SWR (with little availability, most commonly about £13.25, with no sale to Clapham Junction) + an Oyster fare in London.

 

[Leisurefirst]

Am I missing something? Is the railcard discount selective according to TO?
Was looking at tickets just now Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour.
£12.20 for two with or without Two Together railcard?
Was looking at departures 09.30 onwards but not giving the railcard discount.

 

[davews]

The SWR website says that they don't give railcard discounts in their great ticket sale offer. It depends on the train operator, some do, some don't. In the case of SWR offer tickets are ONLY available for journeys to and from Waterloo, which is pretty limiting.

 

[STINT47]

The SWR website says that they don't give railcard discounts in their great ticket sale offer. It depends on the train operator, some do, some don't. In the case of SWR offer tickets are ONLY available for journeys to and from Waterloo, which is pretty limiting.

Given the amount of control the DFT has at the moment you would have thought they would have made railcard discounts standard across all TOCs. Joined up planning? No chance.

 

[island]

If anyone had stopped to think about it I suspect they'd have made it no extra discount across the board, so what we have is a better outcome!

 

[Leisurefirst]

The SWR website says that they don't give railcard discounts in their great ticket sale offer. It depends on the train operator, some do, some don't. In the case of SWR offer tickets are ONLY available for journeys to and from Waterloo, which is pretty limiting.

Thank you.
I eventually found the detail on their website too.
Bit odd that the companies could pick and choose but as another reply has said, better some than none!

 

[BluePenguin]

Apart from 'for test use only', does anyone spot error on rail sale magstripe tickets? One of my tickets has 'mandatory reservation coupon 1 of 1' and 'mandatory reservation coupon 2 of 1' with other details printed correctly; another one has collection receipt of wrong value, printed £1.50 instead of £1.90 which is total value of two railcard discounted Northern tickets.

I'm thinking whether I should contact the retailer before travel as 'mandatory reservation coupon 2 of 1' seems counterfeit

Yes, all of my tickets today had mandatory reservation coupons and came in 2 sections. I travelled to Chatham on Thursday. Today I went to Stratford International and then to Southend. Neither Southeastern or C2C do seat reservations

 

[Andy Pacer]

Various opportunities for Leicester to Sheffield for £2.50 each way. Booked one myself in a few Saturdays time.

 

[miklcct]

In the case of SWR offer tickets are ONLY available for journeys to and from Waterloo, which is pretty limiting.

I would use the word useless instead of limiting, as a zone 1 tube fare will wipe out any possible "saving" compared to buying a regular Advance to Clapham Junction and staying out of zone 1 for inner-London travel.

 

[Nova1]

am I being shown the correct fare here? seems absolutely mentally priced. Or has crosscountry just always been like this…

 

[trover]

Yes, all of my tickets today had mandatory reservation coupons and came in 2 sections. I travelled to Chatham on Thursday. Today I went to Stratford International and then to Southend. Neither Southeastern or C2C do seat reservations

Mine was issued as 3 coupons: the ticket it self + one reservation coupon printed as 'mandatory reservation coupon 1 of 1' + another reservation coupon printed as 'mandatory reservation coupon 2 of 1'

Is that the case for you too?

 

[Starmill]

am I being shown the correct fare here? seems absolutely mentally priced. Or has crosscountry just always been like this…

What, Plymouth to Birmingham for £27.50? Yes that seems to be right, what's the problem? The Off Peak Single is £141.10.

 

[Furryanimal]

Got a return trip from Cwmbran to Carmarthen today for £11.40 using trainsplit.
Had no idea this sale was on....

 

[Trainbike46]

What, Plymouth to Birmingham for £27.50? Yes that seems to be right, what's the problem? The Off Peak Single is £141.10.

I think the issue might be with the advances shown below it, @ £120 and £135, which does seem a bit steep for an advance ticket

 

[Andy Pacer]

I think the issue might be with the advances shown below it, @ £120 and £135, which does seem a bit steep for an advance ticket

Seems high. I usually split at Cheltenham on that route.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

What, Plymouth to Birmingham for £27.50? Yes that seems to be right, what's the problem? The Off Peak Single is £141.10.

Think it's £27.10.

I think the issue might be with the advances shown below it, @ £120 and £135, which does seem a bit steep for an advance ticket

Quite!

Seems high. I usually split at Cheltenham on that route.

Appears to be yet another instance of (inflexible train-specific) advance tickets being priced not all that much just below that of the more flexible walk up anytime/off peak product.

The promotional rail sale advance tickets at £27.10 seem quite cheap in comparison!

P.S. Can any further savings on this rail sale advance through fare be achieved by splitting at Cheltenham?

 

[Andy Pacer]

The promotional rail sale advance tickets at £27.10 seem quite cheap in comparison!

P.S. Can any further savings on this rail sale advance through fare be achieved by splitting at Cheltenham?

Not as far as I can see.

My Cheltenham splits are usually to/from Bristol or Exeter (and Birmingham) and seems to combine an advance with an off peak single (or day return).

 

[py_megapixel]

Birmingham to Plymouth is a rather long way - about 180 miles. £27 is very good value for that journey.

 

[alistairlees]

Birmingham to Plymouth is a rather long way - about 180 miles. £27 is very good value for that journey.

Leeds to Plymouth is just £35.00, so there are plenty of good deals on cross country for once

 

[Andy Pacer]

Birmingham to Plymouth is a rather long way - about 180 miles. £27 is very good value for that journey.

It's excellent. I think the point of controvery was the alternative advance fares appearing to be quite expensive.