Ladies/Gents
I have just booked a weekday advance from Wellingborough (WEL) to Dover Priory (DVP).
The train leaves WEL in the early morning and the itinerary that the ATOS booking website gave is as follows:
- 0523 WEL to St Pancras, arrive 0616
- Transfer St Pancras to Liverpool Street via Tube
- 0702 Liverpool Street to Stratford (SRA), arrive 0709
- Transfer to Stratford International (SFA) via "Metro" [read: DLR]
- 0749 from SFA to Ashford and thence DVP.
A very convoluted routeing I know; it would've been much simpler to arrive into St Pancras and simply walk over to the Southeastern platforms for the direct Dover service -- but this is what the system spat out, plus the fare was very cheap and gets me in at the ideal time.
The trouble is that I am travelling with a bicycle and thus am prohibited from making the LUL connection at that time of day; DLR connections by bicycle are never permitted. Would it be permissible for me to cycle directly from St Pancras to SFA whilst maintaining the validity of my Advance ticket? Alternatively, would it be permissible to cycle from St Pancras to Liverpool Street and then walk/cycle the short distance from SRA to SFA?
I am concerned about the attitude the gateline staff might have at SFA if we entering the station from "landside", as opposed to coming straight up from the DLR station attached.
I spoke to Southeastern earlier and the representative offered a surprisingly nebulous answer, suggesting that "they're not going to know whether you've just come off the tube or walked into the station". I appreciate that this may be the case in practice(or not?), but what are the specific conditions relating to my circumstances (so that I have something to fall back on if challenged)?
Also, does anyone have experience of how sympathetic the SE HS1 guards/gateline staff are towards cyclists? There will be four of us, but I assume that the service from SFA will be lightly loaded so I don't believe there will be an issue.
Thanks in advance.
I have just booked a weekday advance from Wellingborough (WEL) to Dover Priory (DVP).
The train leaves WEL in the early morning and the itinerary that the ATOS booking website gave is as follows:
- 0523 WEL to St Pancras, arrive 0616
- Transfer St Pancras to Liverpool Street via Tube
- 0702 Liverpool Street to Stratford (SRA), arrive 0709
- Transfer to Stratford International (SFA) via "Metro" [read: DLR]
- 0749 from SFA to Ashford and thence DVP.
A very convoluted routeing I know; it would've been much simpler to arrive into St Pancras and simply walk over to the Southeastern platforms for the direct Dover service -- but this is what the system spat out, plus the fare was very cheap and gets me in at the ideal time.
The trouble is that I am travelling with a bicycle and thus am prohibited from making the LUL connection at that time of day; DLR connections by bicycle are never permitted. Would it be permissible for me to cycle directly from St Pancras to SFA whilst maintaining the validity of my Advance ticket? Alternatively, would it be permissible to cycle from St Pancras to Liverpool Street and then walk/cycle the short distance from SRA to SFA?
I am concerned about the attitude the gateline staff might have at SFA if we entering the station from "landside", as opposed to coming straight up from the DLR station attached.
I spoke to Southeastern earlier and the representative offered a surprisingly nebulous answer, suggesting that "they're not going to know whether you've just come off the tube or walked into the station". I appreciate that this may be the case in practice(or not?), but what are the specific conditions relating to my circumstances (so that I have something to fall back on if challenged)?
Also, does anyone have experience of how sympathetic the SE HS1 guards/gateline staff are towards cyclists? There will be four of us, but I assume that the service from SFA will be lightly loaded so I don't believe there will be an issue.
Thanks in advance.
Last edited: