Missed trains caused by delays en route to station

[AY1975]

Has anyone ever missed the train on which they had an Advance ticket because of delays on non-National Rail forms of transport (taxis, buses, trams/light rail, London Underground, etc) which they used to get to the station?

If so, did you (a) just accept that you would have to buy a new, more expensive ticket, (b) chance it and hope that the on-train staff would be sympathetic if you explained the situation to them, (c) go to the ticket office (if you had time) and try to persuade the staff to endorse your ticket to allow you to take the next available train or (d) buy a new ticket and then write to the train operator concerned afterwards?

It happened to me on a couple of occasions several years ago, both because of delays on the London Underground. Both times I simply coughed up for a new ticket. To be fair, both times I underestimated the amount of time I would need to get to the station.

As I understand it, train operators are not legally liable for the failure of non-National Rail forms of transport used to get to the station, but I guess there is nothing to stop them using their discretion in such cases.

Depending on the circumstances (and especially if you genuinely did allow yourself plenty of time to get to the station) it might also be worth contacting the taxi, bus, tram or metro operator concerned, as I guess they could potentially be liable for consequential losses (in the same way as train operators are if the failure of their train service causes you to miss a flight, for example).

 

[philthetube]

I was delayed to Euston by the Underground, I went to the Virgin help desk who endorsed my ticket for travel on the next train, no problem.

 

[AlterEgo]

I was delayed to Euston by the Underground, I went to the Virgin help desk who endorsed my ticket for travel on the next train, no problem.

In nearly all cases involving the Tube the staff are bound in that case to endorse the ticket.

Think the OP needs to re-scope the question as I'm not sure they intended to involve scenarios where the railway was contractually bound to accept the ticket.

 

[Merseysider]

Did once miss my booked LM up from Euston after my Megabus from Paris pulled into Victoria over 2 hours late.

Bought a new return ticket, took Virgin, and later had half of that refunded as a goodwill gesture. Megabus also refunded me the coach fare in its entirety so I wasn't down by much.

I'd never just get on without a valid ticket in the hopes of talking my way out of it though. That's just asking for trouble.

When I lived in Germany, I forgot to set my alarm once and overslept Missed my train down to Basel so bought another ticket, but DB later refunded this.

Absent any staff to ask permission of, I'd suppose that's the best way forward.

 

[philthetube]

In nearly all cases involving the Tube the staff are bound in that case to endorse the ticket.

Think the OP needs to re-scope the question as I'm not sure they intended to involve scenarios where the railway was contractually bound to accept the ticket.

I am not sure about this as I travelled the underground journey on a freedom pass, so tickets only bought from Euston, the only person I ever know to be refused was a bloke who I would expect to turn up with a bad attitude anyway.

I have advised, by phone, two people to ask for tickets endorsing and they have both had no problem.

 

[Bald Rick]

Imagine turning up at Ryanair check in 29 minutes before departure and saying your bus was late.

The railway is quite good, really.

 

[najaB]

Imagine turning up at Ryanair check in 29 minutes before departure and saying your bus was late.

Cost me £80 - though that was Easyjet.

 

[Richard1960]

I was delayed once for a East Midlands train from Norwich to Chesterfield on an advance ,I rang East Midlands Trains c/s and they allowed me to use the ticket on the next train.

Always liked East Midlands trains C/S since then very helpful.

 

[soil]

Imagine turning up at Ryanair check in 29 minutes before departure and saying your bus was late.

The railway is quite good, really.

Missed a flight from Bali to London (cost - many hundreds: my fault entirely), they put me on the next flight at no charge (Singapore Airlines). And in the exit row on the (then) new A380, upstairs.

 

[westv]

Imagine turning up at Ryanair check in 29 minutes before departure and saying your bus was late.

The railway is quite good, really.

I would never rely on a train to get me to an airport on time.

 

[najaB]

I would never rely on a train to get me to an airport on time.

I would, have and will. But I budget way more time than is strictly necessary.

 

[sheff1]

Has anyone ever missed the train on which they had an Advance ticket because of delays on non-National Rail forms of transport (taxis, buses, trams/light rail, London Underground, etc) which they used to get to the station?

Yes. There was a bomb scare and much of the city centre was evacuated and closed off.

I did not take any of your options though. I spoke to one of the staff on the concourse who confirmed that tickets were being accepted on later trains .... and they were without question.

Imagine turning up at Ryanair check in 29 minutes before departure and saying your bus was late.

The railway is quite good, really.

I would hope the railway is better than Ryanair !

I was, in fact, on my way to Gatwick when the bomb went off at Victoria and trains were cancelled (bit of a bomb theme here !). When I eventually reached the airport, via a bus to Clapham Jn, I was rebooked from my missed Air Europe flight to Air Malta without any problem.

 

[LowLevel]

If the TOC has blank ticket acceptance, I'll take without question or comment (we do this mutually with local trams or LU etc).

Otherwise, if people ask me, the answer will be yes, solidly - as long as there is a vaguely good reason it's no skin off my nose and even if there isn't, if it's not busy I'll often wave you on.

If you chance it, you'll still get a fair hearing, but I'll be much more interested in things like 'did you only leave 5 mins slack time when you never would when driving'.

If you try and tell me what I'm doing then naturally as with all these things, it'll turn in to 'you now owe me x quid'.

Attitude is everything for me!

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

The only time this happened to me, two years ago with East Coast at KGX, they wouldn't endorse the ticket even when just 10 mins late due to tube delay. I could have argued the point, I suppose, but didn't. I just didn't make the trip. Perhaps there is something to VT after all!

 

[urbophile]

Late arrival of a flight into Manchester meant that we missed our booked Northern Rail train back to Liverpool. The conductor on the next available train out accepted our ticket without even a raised eyebrow; though that was Northern, the connection at Piccadilly was onto East Midlands and similarly no problem.

 

[westv]

The only time this happened to me, two years ago with East Coast at KGX, they wouldn't endorse the ticket even when just 10 mins late due to tube delay. I could have argued the point, I suppose, but didn't. I just didn't make the trip. Perhaps there is something to VT after all!

I would have asked the guard first and then gone to the ticket office if they had redirected me there.

 

[rg177]

I would have asked the guard first and then gone to the ticket office if they had redirected me there.

Indeed, I've missed a connection at York before (when needing to connect onto the Northern stopper via Garforth to Leeds) and the help desk thing point blank refused to endorse it for the many TPE services, turning a 20 minute delay into a 65 minute delay.

I headed for the next TPE, asked the guard and hopped on. Much easier.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I've had it once, heading down to Stansted. One Stagecoach bus didn't turn up, the second broke down at the bus stop, the third took twice as long to get to town as normal. Saw the train pulling out of Newcastle. Had to buy new tickets, and the ticket office staff were worse than useless, trying to sell an Anytime ticket rather than the (valid) off peak. We'd left enough time to get to Stansted so we caught our flight, but nearly £200 lighter.

I got my money back in RTVs from NXEC, but that had more to do with who I knew at NXEC at the time rather than any normal generosity on their part.

But it was traumatic enough that I never bothered with the train again: I drove down the night before and got a hotel. I could take a taxi instead of the bus, and get a train even earlier, or buy flexible tickets, but by the time I'd paid for all that it was cheaper to drive and get a Travelodge.

 

[les.]

I once missed my booked train due to being held up by delays caused by a road accident on the way to the station.

I asked for advice at the counter of my station and they said that I should be okay to catch the next train, even though I could well be charged by the conductor but I explained the situation when he came to check my ticket and he was fine.

I'm fairly sure he would have been well within his rights to charge me a full ticket fare had he wanted to though.

 

[Howardh]

I would never rely on a train to get me to an airport on time.

Nor a bus or taxi, or even my own car! I leave for an airport, whenever possible, with plenty of time to spare. Sometimes that means spending two hours or more inside the retail opportunities hell called Manchester Airport, but rather that than sitting on a train wondering when it's going to go, or a hard shoulder because the 18-yr-old Toyota taxi's engine has just dropped out.

 

[Howardh]

Late arrival of a flight into Manchester meant that we missed our booked Northern Rail train back to Liverpool. The conductor on the next available train out accepted our ticket without even a raised eyebrow; though that was Northern, the connection at Piccadilly was onto East Midlands and similarly no problem.

Isn't there a built-in 3 hour leeway for advanced tickets from the airport for that very reason? I'm pretty sure at least one company, Transpennine, have that leeway in their t's and c's to enable pax to purchase advance cheapies?

But if a delay means your off-peak ticket is used in the peak hours then I think the death penalty applies