Ticket from Liverpool Lime Street to Clacton-On-Sea

sansyy · 24 Feb 2024

Hello,

I am going to be booking an off-peak return ticket from Liverpool Lime Street to Clacton-on-Sea and it will cost a total of 140 pounds.

Because of the ticket requiring a change on the underground from Euston to Liverpool Street station it can only be printed as a paper ticket.

I much prefer e-tickets for reservations and general use and would like to know if there is anyway I can get the tickets split into Liverpool Lime Street-London Euston and London Liverpool Street-Clacton-on-Sea.

I tried to book separately but the price is much higher.

Thank you

RailUK Forums

Djgr · 24 Feb 2024

sansyy said:
Hello, I am going to be booking an off-peak return ticket from Liverpool Lime Street to Clacton-on-Sea and it will cost a total of 140 pounds. Because of the ticket requiring a change on the underground from Euston to Liverpool Street station it can only be printed as a paper ticket. I much prefer e-tickets for reservations and general use and would like to know if there is anyway I can get the tickets split into Liverpool Lime Street-London Euston and London Liverpool Street-Clacton-on-Sea as I tried to book separately but the price is much higher. Thank you

I think the answer is no and so it depends how much your paper aversion is worth to you.

Babybirdrobin · 24 Feb 2024

I’m not an expert but I’d say personally to book:

Lime st-Euston - £57 from Forum’s retailer (Single, Off-peak, today)
Travelcard (this has to be printed) - Not checked
Liv. St - Clacton. - £35, today, Off-Peak Single (Weekend Engineering on the GEML, beware until end of feb

If you want you could also split this further with a split ticket app like The Forum’s ticket sales Website, obviously the forum’s isn’t the only one.
That's my recommendation, feel free to criticise me.

Djgr · 24 Feb 2024

Babybirdrobin said:
I’m not an expert but I’d say personally to book:

Lime st-Euston - £57 from Forum’s retailer (Single, Off-peak, today)
Travelcard (this has to be printed) - Not checked
Liv. St - Clacton. - £35, today, Off-Peak Single (Weekend Engineering on the GEML, beware until end of feb

If you want you could also split this further with a split ticket app like The Forum’s ticket sales Website, obviously the forum’s isn’t the only one.
That's my recommendation, feel free to criticise me.

As these are both singles this is a lot more expensive than the £140 return fare quoted, which is the point that sansyy was making!

greaterangrier · 24 Feb 2024

If you prefer you may find it competitive on journey time to go via Peterborough - cheaper fares are sometimes found along that way.

10 minute connections with the EMR Liverpool - Norwich service are available on the GA Peterborough to Ipswich. Two more changes are required at Ipswich and Colchester, both around 15 minutes each

Mcr Warrior · 24 Feb 2024

There's a Liverpool Stns to Clacton-on-Sea (route NOT via London) Off Peak Return fare at £127.70. Travel via Ely, Ipswich and Colchester, presumably, as @greaterangrier has just suggested. Wouldn't that potentially work?

Look up fares for any train journey in Britain

Full details of all British rail Single, Return & Season tickets and Travelcards. Built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

JBuchananGB · 24 Feb 2024

The journey time via East Midlands route is much longer. Via London takes 5 hours. The best I can find Liverpool to Clacton via East Midlands is 6h53m, but for the return, the best fastjp.com can come up with is nearly 7h30m via Norwich. A big time penalty for an aversion to a piece of cardboard.

Mcr Warrior · 24 Feb 2024

JBuchananGB said:
A big time penalty for an aversion to a piece of cardboard.

£11.70 cheaper though, for the Off Peak Return.

peterblue · 24 Feb 2024

Not really possible unless you buy separate tickets or take a fairly sizeable detour not via London. I'd just take the paper ticket personally.

Alternatively, have a look to see if there are any cheaper advance tickets.

It's also cheaper to go to London with LNR, a bit slower but not as slow as via the East Mids.

mangyiscute · 24 Feb 2024

I would recommend looking on the forums website as it will look at all of the potential splits and advances available and offer you lots of different options that should be cheaper - or if you let us know dates and rough times of when you wish to travel, we could look it up too.
You can also restrict the search to not include advance tickets by selecting flexible fares only if you wish to have flexibility, although you have to travel on trains stopping at any stations where your tickets are split at.

peterblue · 24 Feb 2024

Have a look at:

Look up fares for any train journey in Britain

Full details of all British rail Single, Return & Season tickets and Travelcards. Built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

Look up fares for any train journey in Britain

Full details of all British rail Single, Return & Season tickets and Travelcards. Built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

Return fares via LNR and London for around £80-100, but with some time and BoJ restrictions. You will also have to pay separately for Euston-Liverpool street - just use your contactless bank card.

Mcr Warrior · 24 Feb 2024

Can't see any period returns available from London Liverpool Street (to/from Clacton-on-Sea) so it would have to be 2 x singles (one each way) which potentially makes things more expensive / possibly less flexible.

peterblue · 24 Feb 2024

Mcr Warrior said:
Can't see any period returns available from London Liverpool Street (to/from Clacton-on-Sea) so it would have to be 2 x singles (one each way) which potentially makes things more expensive / possibly less flexible.

There is for £49.30

sansyy · 24 Feb 2024

Thank you for all the suggestions

I am probably going to end up going with the normal paper ticket and accept the hassle and still use my contactless card for the underground as I prefer it much to paper tickets on the underground.

The small fare difference with using the ticket and a contactless card isn’t much of a bother and my only concern is that I will most likely break my journey in London and not catch the first available connection to Clacton-on-Sea and was hoping for flexibility, hence avoiding an advance ticket.

Travel date is not selected yet and my stay isn’t conclusive so the flexible one month return is very much what I’d prefer even if it’s more expensive than advances.

I’m happy to get this ticket, as long as I can break my journey in London when arriving and can catch any GA train to Clacton-on-Sea on the same day without breaking my ticket restrictions.

Thanks

Merseysider · 24 Feb 2024

sansyy said:
Thank you for all the suggestions, I am probably going to end up going with the normal paper ticket and accept the hassle and still use my contactless card for the underground as I prefer it much to paper tickets on the underground, the small fare difference with using the ticket and a contactless card isn’t much of a bother and my only concern is that I will most likely break my journey in London and not catch the first available connection to Clacton-on-Sea and was hoping for flexibility hence avoiding an advance ticket. Travel date is not selected yet and my stay isn’t conclusive so the flexible one month return is very much what I’d prefer even if it’s more expensive than advances. I’m happy to get this ticket as long as I can break my journey in London when arriving and can catch any GA train to Clacton-on-Sea on the same day without breaking my ticket restrictions. Thanks

The Underground transfer is included in a through ticket via London so there is no point in using contactless. Surely it isn’t that much hassle to put a ticket into the barrier? You’ll still be taking something out of your wallet and placing it into or against the barrier. And yes, you’ll have no issues breaking your journey.

sansyy · 24 Feb 2024

Merseysider said:
The Underground transfer is included in a through ticket via London so there is no point in using contactless. Surely it isn’t that much hassle to put a ticket into the barrier? And yes, you’ll have no issues breaking your journey.

It’s because the transfer time is over an hour so I don’t intend to go from Euston to Liverpool Street directly and most likely will be boarding at another station to Liverpool Street.

Merseysider · 24 Feb 2024

Worth remembering then that you can still use your paper ticket to enter the Underground network and leave it en route, but not re-enter again.

sansyy · 24 Feb 2024

Merseysider said:
Worth remembering then that you can still use your paper ticket to enter the Underground network and leave it en route, but not re-enter again.

If I hear correctly, I don't inherently need to enter at Euston rather any station as long as I exit at Liverpool Street?

JBuchananGB · 24 Feb 2024

No. It’s the other way round. You can use your through ticket to enter Underground at Euston or Euston Square, and exit at any other underground station. From there you need to use contactless onward to Liverpool Street.

Merseysider · 24 Feb 2024

You could use your paper ticket to enter at Euston and exit at eg Angel, or enter at Euston Square and exit at eg Barbican, but your ticket wouldn’t let you re-enter the Underground network.

sansyy · 24 Feb 2024

JBuchananGB said:
No. It’s the other way round. You can use your through ticket to enter Underground at Euston or Euston Square, and exit at any other underground station. From there you need to use contactless onward to Liverpool Street.

Merseysider said:
You could use your paper ticket to enter at Euston and exit at eg Angel, or enter at Euston Square and exit at eg Barbican, but your ticket wouldn’t let you re-enter the Underground network.

Thank you, is there a specific zone I can get off at or is it valid all 1-6?

Does anyone know the routeing guide for this ticket (The VIA London one) and where I can change

JonathanH · 24 Feb 2024

sansyy said:
Thank you, is there a specific zone I can get off at or is it valid all 1-6?

On a reasonable route between Euston (or Euston Square) and Liverpool Street.

Therefore, basically a choice of
* Euston Square direct to Liverpool Street
* Euston to Moorgate (Northern) then Circle to Liverpool Street
* Euston to Bank, then Central to Liverpool Street
* Euston to Tottenham Court Road, then Central or Elizabeth to Liverpool Street
* Euston to Oxford Circus, then Central to Liverpool Street

Walking to King's Cross St Pancras or St Pancras Thameslink would also be fine, the latter changing at Farringdon.

You can also interchange at Stratford instead of Liverpool Street.

Those are the obvious valid routes, although it may be possible to argue other combinations.

JBuchananGB · 24 Feb 2024

Before Elizabeth Line I would always go Euston Square to Liverpool Street. Nowadays I would give serious consideration to going via TCR and Stratford. All trains to Clacton call at Stratford.

sansyy · 26 Feb 2024

Hello again, regarding the open return portion of the ticket, am I allowed to return from Clacton and then stay the night in London catching the train the next day from Euston to Liverpool Lime Street or is that breaking the open return ticket since I have used it at a gateline the day before and then trying to use it again.

peterblue · 27 Feb 2024

sansyy said:
Hello again, regarding the open return portion of the ticket, am I allowed to return from Clacton and then stay the night in London catching the train the next day from Euston to Liverpool Lime Street or is that breaking the open return ticket since I have used it at a gateline the day before and then trying to use it again.

It's allowed if you can not complete your journey on the same day, so for example if you are departing in the evening from Clacton.

However, expect a lot of hassle the following morning when breaking your journey overnight as ticket staff will usually be very awkward about this.

jfollows · 27 Feb 2024

sansyy said:
Hello again, regarding the open return portion of the ticket, am I allowed to return from Clacton and then stay the night in London catching the train the next day from Euston to Liverpool Lime Street or is that breaking the open return ticket since I have used it at a gateline the day before and then trying to use it again.

An off-peak return ticket is valid for a month in the return direction, and you can use the ticket to break your journey as many times as you want, including overnight or with a gap of several days between each leg of your journey.

In particular, you can definitely break your journey in London on the way back, using it for the London-Liverpool leg on a later day than the day you used it from Clacton to London.

You have to be aware of the 2C restriction which limits your departure time from London Euston on weekdays - "Not valid on trains timed to depart London Euston after 04:29 and before 09:26 or after 15:00 and before 18:45 (Restrictions do not apply on Fridays)". Otherwise you're fine.

This has nothing to do with the "cannot complete your journey in one day" rule, which is a special exception which isn't what you're asking about.

Break of journey is allowed with many tickets, especially the return half of an off-peak return, and if any one queries you it's usually sufficient to explain your journey by saying that you broke your journey.

It is true that some railway staff incorrectly state that the return ticket is only valid for one day's travel, but you're unlucky if you encounter them and they're wrong. The outbound half of an off-peak return is only valid for one day, but that's not what you're trying to use.

[EDIT Thank you to the moderators for making this post easier to read; it reminds me to think more about this for my future posts also.]

tspaul26 · 27 Feb 2024

sansyy said:
Hello again, regarding the open return portion of the ticket, am I allowed to return from Clacton and then stay the night in London catching the train the next day from Euston to Liverpool Lime Street or is that breaking the open return ticket since I have used it at a gateline the day before and then trying to use it again.

Yes, there are no break of journey restrictions on this fare in either direction.

peterblue said:
It's allowed if you can not complete your journey on the same day, so for example if you are departing in the evening from Clacton.

However, expect a lot of hassle the following morning when breaking your journey overnight as ticket staff will usually be very awkward about this.

The OP is asking about the return leg so this is not relevant.

sansyy · 27 Feb 2024

Thank you all, I plan to depart on the Friday so I have freedom on my tickets restrictions and knowing I can break my journey overnight is very helpful. If I get challenged what should I do? I’m not interested in rolling over and buying another ticket on board as I presume they’ll try make me and do worse case a penalty fare.

Snow1964 · 27 Feb 2024

In theory can avoid the London termini by alighting at Watford Junction, changing to a train calling at Willesden Junction then taking Overground train to Stratford.

The Clacton trains generally call at Stratford

Not sure if that qualifies as not London, or gets around no e-tickets

tspaul26 · 27 Feb 2024

sansyy said:
If I get challenged what should I do?

Explain that you stayed overnight in London on the way back.

Probably best to avoid the phrase ‘break of journey’.

sansyy said:
I’m not interested in rolling over and buying another ticket on board as I presume they’ll try make me and do worse case a penalty fare.

I don’t know why you are so sure you will have difficulties, but since you appear to be less than certain on how to establish ticket validity then the lower risk approach would be to pay up, then complain and obtain a refund.

Ticket from Liverpool Lime Street to Clacton-On-Sea

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