Travel Exeter - London in May in connection with overseas tour by Eurostar

I've booked a Railtrail tour in Switzerland in mid-May, my first overseas trip since Brexit. We go via Eurostar to Brussels and through Germany.

Some advice needed please on tickets between Exeter and London as there are industrial disputes going on in the UK and possibly Germany. I know that German railways aren't performing well at the moment and there could be delays. I believe the Hitachi dispute is not affecting GWR but the ASLEF dispute could well rumble on until the General Election, so it's an unknown factor when planning trains to and from London in May. When we will know if there are going to be strikes then?

I'll have a night in London and early Eurostar the next morning so I've got all day to travel up. Coming home our Eurostar is due back at around 16.00 but I should probably allow for a late arrival back in London as we are starting from Koblenz that day. When I returned from Brussels in 2012 we had a long queue for immigration at St. Pancras, which no-one was expecting. I was told that these checks had been introduced for trains which had called at Lille to detect anyone with a ticket from Brussels to Lille who stayed on to London. I assume these checks are still happening.

I want to be prepared for all eventualities without buying the most expensive tickets. I'm thinking I should buy a super-off peak return to “London terminals” but have it valid from Digby & Sowton rather than Polsloe Bridge, as I did when I went to Maidstone in 2022, so I can use either the GW or LSW to London route if necessary. All being well I’ll use the GW route both ways.

Any advice welcome!

geoffk said:

Some advice needed please on tickets between Exeter and London as there are industrial disputes going on in the UK and possibly Germany. I know that German railways aren't performing well at the moment and there could be delays.

Click to expand...

In all honesty there are occasional strikes in all of the countries you'll be passing through. The only positive thing that can be said about the UK side is that you get 14 days' notice of strikes.

In other countries it can be much less, if indeed any notice is given at all - there were some wildcat strikes affecting the Eurotunnel towards the end of last year. Scuppered Eurostar services with next to no warning.

geoffk said:

I believe the Hitachi dispute is not affecting GWR but the ASLEF dispute could well rumble on until the General Election, so it's an unknown factor when planning trains to and from London in May. When we will know if there are going to be strikes then?

Click to expand...

In the UK you'll know 14 days ahead as that's the legally required notice period for strikes affecting public transport.

Outside of the UK it can be unpredictable as above.

geoffk said:

I'll have a night in London and early Eurostar the next morning so I've got all day to travel up. Coming home our Eurostar is due back at around 16.00 but I should probably allow for a late arrival back in London as we are starting from Koblenz that day. When I returned from Brussels in 2012 we had a long queue for immigration at St. Pancras, which no-one was expecting. I was told that these checks had been introduced for trains which had called at Lille to detect anyone with a ticket from Brussels to Lille who stayed on to London. I assume these checks are still happening.

Click to expand...

These checks are by no means routine. I've never encountered them despite using the Eurostar on numerous occasions. What you do sometimes get is targeted checks, i.e. Border Force standing near the exits and checking either known "persons of interest" or those who arouse their suspicions. Occasionally you also get customs inspections.

Sadly I have little doubt that there is a high degree of racial etc. profiling that goes on with these checks.

geoffk said:

I want to be prepared for all eventualities without buying the most expensive tickets. I'm thinking I should buy a super-off peak return to “London terminals” but have it valid from Digby & Sowton rather than Polsloe Bridge, as I did when I went to Maidstone in 2022, so I can use either the GW or LSW to London route if necessary. All being well I’ll use the GW route both ways.

Click to expand...

There's no need to buy a ticket from Digby & Sowton or Polsloe Bridge for it to be valid on both routes to London; a ticket from Exeter, routed "via Taunton", is also valid via Honiton under the Routeing Guide (and through common sense) by virtue of being more expensive.

There are also tickets to "London International CIV" tha you can buy (both route "via Honiton" as well as route "via Taunton"). These include the cost of a cross-London transfer to St Pancras. However, whilst they have less onerous time restrictions than the equivalent Super Off-Peak tickets, they are quite a bit more expensive - so really they are more comparable to the Off-Peak tickets.

Whilst Watershed is technically right. Each time I use a route Taunton ticket on SWR it gets questioned and only accepted after argument, so I don't bother any more and buy the all route tickets.

embers25 said:

Whilst Watershed is technically right. Each time I use a route Taunton ticket on SWR it gets questioned and only accepted after argument, so I don't bother any more and buy the all route tickets.

Click to expand...

There aren't any such tickets from Exeter to London Terminals, that's the issue. So you have to buy your ticket from a station different to where you'll actually be travelling to/from (possibly paying more or restricting your choice of available routes), or you have to stand up for your rights.

You have in fact overpaid if you use a "via Taunton" ticket via Honiton so it's absurd for anyone to try and take umbrage at this.

Watershed said:

These checks are by no means routine. I've never encountered them despite using the Eurostar on numerous occasions. What you do sometimes get is targeted checks, i.e. Border Force standing near the exits and checking either known "persons of interest" or those who arouse their suspicions. Occasionally you also get customs inspections.

Click to expand...

As I understand it they have a variety of roles, including the one you mentioned. When it happened to me in the summer I was told there was basically someone they wanted to speak to on the train, so they check everyone's passports until they find the specific person, then everyone else is let through. I guess with a train it is a lot harder than when they do this on planes.

The Hitachi dispute has been settled.

Thanks for comments. I should probably delay buying a ticket for a while, perhaps until 14 days before departure. I'll have a play with the GWR website in the meantime to see what it comes up with.

embers25 said:

Each time I use a route Taunton ticket on SWR it gets questioned and only accepted after argument,

Click to expand...

This was not my experience when I travelled on the SWR route with a 'via Taunton' ticket a few months ago. The ticket was checked and accepted without question.

I think the problem with travellers between Brussels and Lille has been solved, although there could be other reasons for delays either in Europe or at St Pancras

fandroid said:

I think the problem with travellers between Brussels and Lille has been solved, although there could be other reasons for delays either in Europe or at St Pancras

Click to expand...

I think it has been solved, by no longer carrying passengers between Brussels and Lille.

(And before that by herding them into one coach with no access to the rest of the train).