Routes valid during snow disruption?

[imagination]

Hi.

I have an advanced ticket for a journey from Aberdeen to Twyford on 16th December, with reserved seats for both the Aberdeen-King's Cross and Paddington-Twyford sections. However, today and tomorrow there are no East Coast services north of Edinburgh (as well as a drastically reduced service between Aberdeen and Edinburgh), which got me wondering about what valid options I would have for my journey if the conditions are still the same then as they are now.

Which of these would be valid if the train I wanted was cancelled:

1. Aberdeen - Edinburgh (scotrail) - King's Cross (East Coast) - Paddington (underground) - Twyford (FGW) <- The obvious route but may not be possible

2. Aberdeen - Glasgow Queen Street (scotrail) - Glasgow Central - London Euston (Virgin) - London Paddington (underground) - Twyford (FGW)

3. Aberdeen - Glasgow Queen Street (scotrail) - Glasgow Central - Manchester Piccadilly (TPE) - Reading (XC) - Twyford (FGW)

4. Aberdeen - Glasgow Queen Street (scotrail) - Edinburgh Waverley (scotrail) - London King's Cross (East Coast) - Paddington (underground) - Twyford (FGW)

5. Aberdeen - Glasgow Queen Street (scotrail) - Glasgow Central - Birmingham New Street (Virgin) - Reading (XC) - Twyford (FGW)

Thanks.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

It may depend on the routeing of the ticket. #1 will be valid regardless as it follows your booked path. If the ticket is routed EC & Connections, #1 will be the only route for sure. If it has a geographic route the options will be governed by that.

 

[imagination]

The Route is EC and Connections; Validity is Booked Train Only.

 

[MCR247]

Have you tried speaking to East coast?

 

[yorkie]

You can get a FSR train shortly before, or after, your booked departure. As for beyond Edinburgh, if EC are allowing you to go via alternative routes then you can take them but you need to ask EC! Today Virgin passengers are allowed to use EC because of problems at Bletchley.

 

[CompactDstrxion]

Normally when there is disruption in Scotland EC say you can use Scotrail services from Edinburgh, so I would say only #1 is valid.

 

[imagination]

Thing is that the train is at 9:52. There's a 9:37 and a 10:38 to Glasgow, but only an 11:05 to Edinburgh, and if that gets cancelled (which a lot of Edinburgh trains are being at the moment) then I wouldnt get to Twyford until half past 11 even if every train runs on time (using tomorrow's East coast timetable).

However, I have just checked and seen that there is a train from Dundee at 11:30, so I could get the Glasgow train as far as Dundee and change there.
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Have you tried speaking to East coast?

Not yet - as I say it is still about a week and a half away, so there may be no problems at all

 

[yorkie]

Bear in mind that if the delay is significant you will get back 100% compensation under EC's Delay Repay scheme. If journey time is more crucial then explain that and ask if you can go on Virgin (if it would be a lot quicker that way - but recently there have been some delays of 2+ hours on Glasgow-London trains via the WCML so it may not be!)

 

[hairyhandedfool]

A suitable alternative may be Aberdeen-Glasgow-Edinburgh-Kings Cross-Paddington-Twyford.

 

[DarloRich]

Slighlty off topic but i got the 1800 EC from King's Cross (KGX) To Northallerton on Saturday and the gaurd from KGX to York (who was the funniest and one of the nicest people i have ever met traveling by train - i have lost the paper with his name on and that annoys me becuase he deserves a reward from EC! Anyone able to help me out here) indicated that the "general consensus" on snow disrupted tickets was that you may take any reasonable route two hours etither side of your advertised train, if that was disrupted or cancelled. However he seemed to use a great deal of common sense on this point with the advancers sat near me!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Slighlty off topic but i got the 1800 EC from LKX To Northallerton on Saturday and the gaurd from LKX to York (who was the funniest and one of the nicest people i have ever met traveling by train - i have lost the paper with his name on and that annoys me becuase he deserves a reward from EC! Anyone able to help me out here)....

EC should be able to track him down if you give them the date and train departure time, they probably won't actually tell you who he is though.

Also, please be careful with your three letter abbreviations. Kings Cross is KGX, fortunately LKX has no listed station to be confused with, but it can easily happen.

 

[DarloRich]

Sorry - ALWAYS! get Kings Cross wrong - it is KGX as any fule nos! Have emailed EC so I will let you know what response I get.

 

[reb0118]

I was the guard on the 1105 ex ABD on Monday. Half my passengers were pre booked on the 0952 EC ABD - KGX. Common sense prevailed and they all travelled to EDB with no problems - some even managed to catch the 1400 EC EDB to KGX service.