Oxford - Birmingham - Edinburgh outbound overnight break

[sas]

I've got an off-peak return from Oxford to Edinburgh for Tue 31st March. According to the T&Cs:

The outward part of Off-Peak Return tickets are valid for travel on the date shown on your ticket. Break of journey for an overnight stay is allowed. Where a journey continues into the next day, travel must resume before 1200 and no further break of journey is allowed except to change trains.

The National Rail site suggests at least one journey with an overnight break:
Oxford 22:56 - Banbury 23:26
Banbury 23:29 - Birmingham Moor Street 00:23
Walk to Birmingham New Street
Birmingham New Street 06:17 - Edinburgh 10:23

so I bought a ticket planning to stop overnight at Birmingham, and continuing on a train before 12:00 the following day.

However the T&Cs also say

Please note Outward Break of Journey is not permitted on Virgin Trains

so I contacted thetrainline.com to see whether I could only continue on a Cross-Country service, and they replied

I have checked with National Rail Enquiries and can confirm that there is no valid train for overnight journey. The last train from Oxford is at 1636 hours, which will arrive Edinburgh Waverley.

i.e. an overnight break is not allowed. Does anyone know what the actual rules are... and how much is it to get the date on my ticket changed to Wednesday if necessary?

Thanks

 

[mark_hammond75]

As far as I can work out, there shouldn't be any problem with an outward break in Birmingham.

In Avantix it says that the Off Peak Return is valid for an outward break of journey, and it think the fare is set by Cross Country (CC?). I can't see where the crazy "Outward Break of Journey is not permitted on Virgin Trains" comes in to it? Unless they are saying that even if Virgin don't set the fare, then they wont let you break your journey? Does anyone actualy know in which way Virgin are trying to impose this ban? Are they removing the outward break from their tickets, or are they trying to say that you can't use any other TOC's ticket on their trains after a break of Journey?

Who knows!

Anyway, what's to stop you saying that you made it Birmingham just after the last train from there to Edinburgh and had to spend the night there?

 

[yorkie]

Break of journey IS allowed on that ticket.

SVR - OFF-PEAK R CC
00700 - NOT LONDON

1 Adult @£ 111.20 = £ 111.20

Break of Jrny: (OUT) YES

BREAK OF JOURNEY
Break of journey is allowed on
Off-Peak tickets unless
otherwise indicated by a
restriction shown against
the ticket's validity code.


However staying overnight where no onward transport is available is not considered a "break of journey" and is allowed anyway.

The person answering your query has been given very minimal training, has possibly not been in the job very long, has possibly never visited this country and is representing National Rail which is actually ATOC, an organisation that treats its customers with such contempt that it believes that passengers should "buy CDs instead of Savers". So if they ever give a right answer it's more of a fluke than anything else.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I can't see where the crazy "Outward Break of Journey is not permitted on Virgin Trains" comes in to it?

It doesn't. it's lazy programmers with an IQ less than that of a chimp (with apologies to chimpanzees). Instead of displaying this message when VT set the fare, it seems to say it regardless, and instead of saying it is not permitted where VT set the fare, it just says not permitted on VT. They're cabbages, pure and simple.

Unless they are saying that even if Virgin don't set the fare, then they wont let you break your journey?

The system doesn't work like that and the cabbages should know that.

Does anyone actualy know in which way Virgin are trying to impose this ban?

They will have a hard time enforcing it, but they can only apply it to their own fares

Are they removing the outward break from their tickets,

correct.

or are they trying to say that you can't use any other TOC's ticket on their trains after a break of Journey?

They can't say that. NRES are claiming that but they are a bunch of clueless fools.

Anyway, what's to stop you saying that you made it Birmingham just after the last train from there to Edinburgh and had to spend the night there?

Exactly. Providing the journey is resumed by 1200 they can't stop you.

 

[sas]

Thanks, that's clarified things. It's a shame their enquires service is so clueless as their speed of response was impressive, less than two hours on a Sunday.