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Problems booking a SN & LM Advance Brighton/Hove to Liverpool on 3 May

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gray1404

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I am having Problems booking a SN & LM Advance from Brighton or Hove to Liverpool on 3 May. I notice there are changes to the LM timetables so I am wondering if that I has anything to do with it. I am only getting walk ups. I have tried searching via Birmingham and shall now try allowing extra try to change train to see if that brings the fare up.

Any advise?
 
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causton

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Try smaller journeys to see if they are available (e.g. Brighton - Watford, Watford - Crewe etc) to see if the Advances come up for them. If not, then it may be one of the trains is full or has not had a quota at all (possibly due to the timetable amendments they sometimes mark all of them as No Quota). Sorry I cannot be any more helpful without my ticket office machine in front of me :P
 

gray1404

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Try smaller journeys to see if they are available (e.g. Brighton - Watford, Watford - Crewe etc) to see if the Advances come up for them. If not, then it may be one of the trains is full or has not had a quota at all (possibly due to the timetable amendments they sometimes mark all of them as No Quota). Sorry I cannot be any more helpful without my ticket office machine in front of me :P

I've had a look for the entire day and there is nothing to Liverpool. I am able to get the £12 fare (£7.90 with a railcard) to Stafford and also to Crewe (staying on the Trent Valley line service via Stoke), but nowhere North thereof. So the problem is with the leg of the journey to Liverpool with LM.

I've also checked LM Advances between Birmingham and Liverpool on that day and there is nothing. So it looks like they have set the quota to zero for Birmingham to Liverpool.

I have sent a tweet to LM asking about this i.e. no quota all day between Birmingham and Liverpool. I wonder if this is intentional or an oversight.
 
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causton

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Just checked and there is only 1 train per hour and not the usual 2tph, so that could explain it. You could try speaking to LM (on Twitter possibly?) to see if it is a mistake, or it could be deliberate (as there is no point selling cheap advances if the train is going to be twice as busy as normal) and it is best to book to Stafford or Crewe then a separate ticket from there!
 

gray1404

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Yep, and no advances through out. Last time they reduced it to one service per hour (after Easter) they had it as an 8 car set. I suspect this is intentional to have zero advance quotas, which I think is really bad, but I've sent them a tweet to check anyway.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
So they've replied to say they never offer Advance tickets on days there are engineering works. Interesting how they still offer advances on a one train per hour 4 coach Euston to Crewe year round. Anyway, looks like I'll have to resort to a more expensive ticket.

The cheapest advance I'm finding now is VTWC and Connections with a railcard about £27.
 

Merseysider

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What're your journey requirements? There are often other tiers of AP available on obscure routes or by splitting at certain points.

I share your frustration; I need to get from Birkenhead to Stansted on the 4th and there's nothing affordable at the times I need on the conventional route (WCML). In my case there are VT advances from £5-£7 from Birmingham to Euston/Stansted but looking up APs for the whole thing started p*ssing me off so I gave up.

Edit: Ended up going LIV-DON-PBO-SSD for a very reasonable £20 on split tics. There are some very reasonable GC/HT/GR/EMT advances on these days just after the morning peak, from Leeds/Donny/Shf to London, might be worth you looking.

Have you looked at EMT for MAN-STP via Sheffield (£13.85) and joining the rest up with NT £2 advances/ cheap return for Lond-Btn?
 
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gray1404

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What're your journey requirements? There are often other tiers of AP available on obscure routes or by splitting at certain points.

I share your frustration; I need to get from Birkenhead to Stansted on the 4th and there's nothing affordable at the times I need on the conventional route (WCML). In my case there are VT advances from £5-£7 from Birmingham to Euston/Stansted but looking up APs for the whole thing started p*ssing me off so I gave up.

Have you looked at EMT for MAN-STP via Sheffield (£13.85) and joining the rest up with NT £2 advances/ cheap return for Lond-Btn?

I know exactly how you feel. My journey requirements are Brighton OR Hove to Liverpool (or indeed anywhere where I can get back to Formby on either the Tuesday (or failing that the Monday). Can travel at anytime of day.

I might check Preston now as there's a bus to Formby from there.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
UPDATE

Advise please: I am going to get an Advance ticket to Crewe, then a separate ticket onto either Liverpool South Parkway or Liverpool Lime Street from there. I will not decide which station until I arrive at Crewe as it will depend if there is a LM due out to LPY or VT to LIV. In the case of the latter then I would be best getting a VT Only walk up ticket. However, as there is a possibility of a delay on the way up from the South Coast, I am not going to decide on which further ticket I will need until I get nearer to Crewe and will get this when I get off the train from the booking office.

My question is though, given there is a chance of a delay, if I am delayed by an hour or more I will become entitled to Delay Repay for 100% of the value of my ticket. I know that split tickets are fine normally as it the overall/entire journey that counts. However, would I be expected to purchase all of my tickets BEFORE I start my journey from Brighton to benefit from this? Could the TOC get out of paying Delay Repay for my entire journey (i.e. including onto Liverpool) on that basis that I hadn't purchased my ticket for the final leg to Liverpool already when I started travel earlier on in the day (as the time of printing is stated on a ticket)?
 
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bb21

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If you are aware of the delays when you purchase your ticket, then compensation would not be due, and that is how it has always worked, officially.

So, you need to purchase all your ticket in advance. Not purchasing in advance essentially means you don't really have a plan, and have not entered into a contract.

Only in times of extreme disruption can I see this being relaxed, but what qualifies as "extreme disruption" differs by company.
 

gray1404

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I believe some TOCs will only pay out for one ticket. So it may not matter either way unfortunately!

I believe that is against the rules for Delay Repay if they are doing that and the passenger holds a valid split ticket combination and has allowed the minimum connection times. They have to pay out on the entire journey.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
If you are aware of the delays when you purchase your ticket, then compensation would not be due, and that is how it has always worked, officially.

So, you need to purchase all your ticket in advance. Not purchasing in advance essentially means you don't really have a plan, and have not entered into a contract.

Only in times of extreme disruption can I see this being relaxed, but what qualifies as "extreme disruption" differs by company.

Sounds like it is worth trying to get all of the tickets before you start your journey. But either way, worth submitting a claim anyway and see what you get back.
 

OwlMan

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Advise please: I am going to get an Advance ticket to Crewe, then a separate ticket onto either Liverpool South Parkway or Liverpool Lime Street from there. I will not decide which station until I arrive at Crewe as it will depend if there is a LM due out to LPY or VT to LIV. In the case of the latter then I would be best getting a VT Only walk up ticket. However, as there is a possibility of a delay on the way up from the South Coast, I am not going to decide on which further ticket I will need until I get nearer to Crewe and will get this when I get off the train from the booking office.

My question is though, given there is a chance of a delay, if I am delayed by an hour or more I will become entitled to Delay Repay for 100% of the value of my ticket. I know that split tickets are fine normally as it the overall/entire journey that counts. However, would I be expected to purchase all of my tickets BEFORE I start my journey from Brighton to benefit from this? Could the TOC get out of paying Delay Repay for my entire journey (i.e. including onto Liverpool) on that basis that I hadn't purchased my ticket for the final leg to Liverpool already when I started travel earlier on in the day (as the time of printing is stated on a ticket)?

If you arrive at Crewe only holding a ticket to Crewe that ticket expires and can not be used as part of split ticketing for future buys. All tickets for your journey should be held before travel
By buying a further ticket at Crewe and then claiming that the made the journey using split tickets in order to claim delay repay could be considered as fraud.

from NRCOC
Your obligations
You must:

Have a valid ticket or tickets for the whole of your journey, at the time you want to
travel and on the route and trains you want to use. Unless otherwise indicated,
you must purchase your ticket before boarding the train you intend to use.
 
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