LNER Advance tickets on strike day: station not served

[Brooke]

Hello,

I have an LNER First Advance ticket from Kings Cross to Harrogate next Saturday 2nd morning. But all trains through Harrogate (both LNER and Northern) seem to be cancelled due to strike action.

The LNER website only offers rebookings on other days, which is not suitable.

My current thinking is to use my existing London to Harrogate ticket on the next LNER London to York train instead, then take a taxi from York to Harrogate.

Will that be valid, or will I get fined for wrong train / wrong route?

(And could I in l theory anyway try to claim the taxi fare from LNER?)

Thanks in advance!

 

[Haywain]

Was your booking for a through train to Harrogate, or with a change to Northern at Leeds?

 

[Brooke]

Was your booking for a through train to Harrogate, or with a change to Northern at Leeds?

Direct LNER train from Kings Cross to Harrogate, no changes.

 

[Haywain]

Direct LNER train from Kings Cross to Harrogate, no changes.

In which case you would have to ask LNER to reroute you. If they refuse you will have to make alternative arrangements at your own expense and reclaim from LNER, but I don't think you can take that as meaning you can get a taxi when other public transport is available at far lower cost. You will, inevitably, be able to claim Delay Repay as a result.

 

[gray1404]

I'd ask LNER what to do first via customer services if there is time. Alternatively on social media. In the absence of anything sensible from them I'd do below. In addition you could ask at the station on the day of travel if you have time before departure.

I'd get an LNER train near to your original departure time to York i.e. the one after or before your original booked time (or Leeds if onward transport connections are better but I'd stick as close as possible to the original route your booked train was going to take) then use a public bus to Harrogate. Before you go for the bus you could ask at York or Leeds for help in case they offer a taxi.

I would then seek to recover the cost of the bus fare from LNER by sending them my bus ticket and claim delay repay based on the time I arrive in Harrogate. I'm guessing the bus fare will be £2.

I would expect them to be a bit funny about paying up though so you may have to escalate.

 

[Hadders]

In the first instance, as the delay will be more than 60 minutes you should ask LNER to re-route you under the Passenger Rights and Obligations Regulations. They will no doubt refuse and say you need to either travel on an alternative date or request a refund.

Assuming LNER refuse to re-route you then you will need to make your own arrangements and claim the cost back from them. I can't see there will be an issue travelling via York but you should seek minimise the additional cost. Don't expect LNER to pay up easily, you will probably have to take legal action (or at least threaten it) to get them to pay-up.

LNER won't pay Delay Repay as they will say the service was cancelled prior to 22:00 the previous evening so won't be part of the 'Published Timetable of the Day'.

 

[Brooke]

Thanks everyone - very helpful guidance.

I’ll give LNER a call now that I have this impartial advice and see what they suggest.

 

[Haywain]

I think I'd be wanting to put it in writing.

 

[skyhigh]

I'd get an LNER train near to your original departure time to York i.e. the one after or before your original booked time (or Leeds if onward transport connections are better but I'd stick as close as possible to the original route your booked train was going to take) then use a public bus to Harrogate. Before you go for the bus you could ask at York or Leeds for help in case they offer a taxi.

I would then seek to recover the cost of the bus fare from LNER by sending them my bus ticket and claim delay repay based on the time I arrive in Harrogate. I'm guessing the bus fare will be £2.

I wouldn't go to York if you can avoid it as there are no direct buses to Harrogate. You'd have to get a bus/train to Leeds and a bus to Harrogate from there.

From Leeds the 36 leaves relatively close to the station, runs every 12 mins and will cost £2.

 

[gray1404]

I wouldn't go to York if you can avoid it as there are no direct buses to Harrogate. You'd have to get a bus/train to Leeds and a bus to Harrogate from there.

From Leeds the 36 leaves relatively close to the station, runs every 12 mins and will cost £2.

Yes i seemed to think it is Leeds that has the direct buses. In this case it is not unreasonable then to get LNER to Leeds and catch the bus.

 

[Brooke]

Thanks everyone for the input.

Quick update for people’s info: I called LNER and they indeed have no trains to Harrogate. They said I can use my ticket on any LNER train +/- a couple of hours of booked train, but that I should book a seat.

Based on the advice above, I tried to book London to Leeds seat only using my Harrogate ticket ID but this just spewed error messages. So another call back to LNER confirmed no available seats at that time, so I’m back to York again.

Finally: I followed up in writing with the chatbot, eventually got referred to a real agent, who confirmed the same. So now I have it in writing ready for the inevitable back & forth on the barriers or train on Saturday.

I’ll let you know what happens in reality on Saturday.

 

[Hadders]

There is no requirement to book a seat, although I understand why you would want to.

If it’s easier to travel via Leeds then I would get to Kings Cross early and head for coach C as that carriage is where the unreserved seats are.

 

[gray1404]

Seriously do not be travelling via York when Leeds would be much easier in terms of onward connections and overall faster journey time.

 

[Brooke]

Hello all, just to share how this worked out today.

Took the 0905 KX to Leeds without seat reservation; loads of space in First. Very pleasant journey, with the hostess turning out to be one of the HQ staff covering due to the strike action. No queries at all about using Advance Single on wrong train etc.

Ticket checks being run by Northern at Leeds exit were fairly agressive. Quite the back & forth with them about leaving Leeds station with a ticket to Harrogate, so apparently they haven’t noticed that there’s a strike on! But thru in the end once I pointed out the obvious…

36 bus to Harrogate worked well as previous posters recommended.

 

[gray1404]

I'm glad your trip worked out wel and you were able to go via Leeds and onto the bus. Are you going to ask LNER to refund the bus fare plus delay?

The ticket checks at Leeds carried out by Northern should not have been aggressive and this in its self warrants a complaint. Also unacceptable your ticket was queried and their lack of knowledge of no Harrogate services.