Validity of tickets when lines are closed

[jbb]

Sometimes when my line is closed due to some problem (euston-rugby) they make an announcement that tickets will be accepted on other lines to St Pancras or Paddington I think, depending on where the problem is. Obviously this would help a great deal going to Birmingham or north of there but doesn't really help to/from Rugby.

My question is, when this happens, is it acceptable to drive to a station on the alternative line and catch a train from there to London, by which I mean would my season ticket me accepted? Or is it only trains from my original station via a different route?

 

[GadgetMan]

The email from control(s) are normally worded along the lines of;

We have agreed to convey XX(TOC)'s passengers on our trains between xx(station) and xx(station).

I would read that as to and from any stations between those points as long as you hold a ticket of some relevance.

Just to add, we can't have rules to cover every single eventuality especially those involving unexpected delays/blockages. Most staff on the railway are very reasonable. The key is communication and remaining polite. As long as you explain the situation and remain polite you will find a positive outcome (in 99.9% of cases).

 

[calc7]

And as with most instances you can always buy a new ticket if challenged and I would guess most reasonable ones have a good chance of being refunded.

 

[michael769]

Generally when there is significant disruption on my line, I travel to the other line in the area and approach the guard and ask if I can travel on my (season) ticket - I have never been refused yet!

In my experience is that train crews are pretty good with reasonable requests, in such cases, if you seek them out up front.

 

[jbb]

Thanks for the advice.
Thinking about it, it's probably a bad idea because I'd have to travel back to the same station later to collect my car, and I imagine that travelling back many hours after the disruption ended on the alternate route wouldn't be welcomed.

 

[142094]

Unfortunately it is hard to tell - for example yesterday's disruption, EC tickets were being accepted on Virgin, TPE, CrossCountry and Northern, then later in the day this changed when services were able to get past the failed train near Berwick. In that situation the guard on Virgin etc might then decide to make you buy a new ticket.

 

[wintonian]

Unfortunately it is hard to tell - for example yesterday's disruption, EC tickets were being accepted on Virgin, TPE, CrossCountry and Northern, then later in the day this changed when services were able to get past the failed train near Berwick. In that situation the guard on Virgin etc might then decide to make you buy a new ticket.

It's even harder to tell when announcements at Kings Cross say Virgin, Grand Central and Hull trains are accepting each others tickets, but the guard on your EC trains emphasises that they are not accepting GC tickets whilst still sitting at Kings Cross.

 

[londonbridge]

I had my London Midland Great Escape ticket for the Saturday in November when there was disruption on the West coast mainline. I used the London Midland ticket to Crewe and then on to Manchester with a Crewe-Manchester return. The outward journey was fine,boarded a Virgin train back to Crewe at Piccadilly and,having been made aware of the disruption,approached the train manager,explained what tickets I held and asked to stay on with my LM ticket all the way back to Euston,but was refused.