Advance tickets during strike days

[mildertduck]

I have been planning some rail journeys this month, all of which used advance tickets. Do we know yet what my best course of action is for:

(a) advance journeys on strike a day,
(b) a return ticket with the outbound portion on a strike day and the return portion not on a strike day, and
(c) two advances "behaving" as a return, where one half is on a strike day, and the other isn't (meaning if I can't travel "out", there's no way of travelling back)?

I know there's lots of political issues surrounding strikes, which are covered in other threads, but advice / updates relating to ticketing would be quite helpful to be kept separate, I think!

 

[Haywain]

I have been planning some rail journeys this month, all of which used advance tickets. Do we know yet what my best course of action is for:

(a) advance journeys on strike a day,
(b) a return ticket with the outbound portion on a strike day and the return portion not on a strike day, and
(c) two advances "behaving" as a return, where one half is on a strike day, and the other isn't (meaning if I can't travel "out", there's no way of travelling back)?

I know there's lots of political issues surrounding strikes, which are covered in other threads, but advice / updates relating to ticketing would be quite helpful to be kept separate, I think!

I would advise against planning to travel on strike days.

 

[mildertduck]

I would advise against planning to travel on strike days.

I should probably have said that I've already bought the tickets (about a month ago) for all of these journeys!

 

[AlterEgo]

I honestly would not make any discretionary journeys that week if you can help it. It will be a complete nightmare.

My advice would be to seek a refund on all the tickets. You may need to wait for a strike timetable to come into force to do this, but I would certainly be cancelling all of my rail related plans that week. Only about a fifth of services are expected to run, and it will be a rubbish experience.

 

[Watershed]

I have been planning some rail journeys this month, all of which used advance tickets. Do we know yet what my best course of action is for:

(a) advance journeys on strike a day,
(b) a return ticket with the outbound portion on a strike day and the return portion not on a strike day, and
(c) two advances "behaving" as a return, where one half is on a strike day, and the other isn't (meaning if I can't travel "out", there's no way of travelling back)?

I know there's lots of political issues surrounding strikes, which are covered in other threads, but advice / updates relating to ticketing would be quite helpful to be kept separate, I think!

I would obtain a refund and avoid travel if that's at all feasible. There will only be a very limited service in operation, between 7am-7pm. Many routes will have no service at all and I don't imagine there will be any attempt to provide rail replacement buses.

I don't think you will have too much difficulty getting a refund if either of the dates in your booking involves a strike date, or indeed a date between the strikes (where significant disruption is also anticipated, due to signallers and other staff not having signed on for duty, if their shift starts before midnight).

 

[westv]

Presumably AP refunds will be back to the original payment card rather than as evouchrrs.

 

[Starmill]

Presumably AP refunds will be back to the original payment card rather than as evouchrrs.

Yes if they're for strike days, but wait to apply until this is put on the website.

 

[pemma]

I don't imagine there will be any attempt to provide rail replacement buses.

One interesting scenario is on some Northern routes there are already bus replacements scheduled, so will Northern:
1. Cancel those and redeploy the resources to where they are most needed?
2. Keep them as they are?
3. Cancel them and blame industrial action for no service?

 

[Starmill]

One interesting scenario is on some Northern routes there are already bus replacements scheduled, so will Northern:
1. Cancel those and redeploy the resources to where they are most needed?
2. Keep them as they are?
3. Cancel them and blame industrial action for no service?

During the conductor strikes, Northern generally reduced the bus schedule down so that they didn't run when trains weren't running.

 

[td97]

Did Northern provide ticket acceptance with Metrolink during the last RMT strikes?

 

[Snow1964]

It is also not clear how quickly any refunds would be processed.

There appears to be a scenario where person wishes to cancel travel on a proposed strike day, they apply, strike is subsequently called off before refund is processed, refund is then cancelled as reason no longer applies.

All rather messy, especially if someone has rebooked for following week, and now needs to cancel that instead

 

[fraser158]

It is also not clear how quickly any refunds would be processed.

There appears to be a scenario where person wishes to cancel travel on a proposed strike day, they apply, strike is subsequently called off before refund is processed, refund is then cancelled as reason no longer applies.

All rather messy, especially if someone has rebooked for following week, and now needs to cancel that instead

In the case in the 3rd paragraph would a TOC dare to charge an “admin” fee?

 

[westv]

In the case in the 3rd paragraph would a TOC dare to charge an “admin” fee?

No, because the "travel with confidence" scheme will still apply.

 

[fraser158]

Ah, sorry, I'm a bit out of the loop with these things.

 

[Starmill]

Did Northern provide ticket acceptance with Metrolink during the last RMT strikes?

No. Metrolink are unlikely to agree to carry such a large number of people.

 

[blakey1152]

Unfortunately, I have to go to Birmingham on 23rd June and had already bought and picked up advance tickets a couple of weeks back for the journey.

My return journey is also on an advance ticket but on a non strike day being the 27th June.

I had both tickets on the same booking along with plus bus tickets for both days, Avanti seem to be being very sensible and said I can get a total refund even though the 27th is a non strike day.

I've however booked a National Express coach to go up there now so have asked them to refund just the outward bound journey from the booking. Fingers crossed that they do this correctly.

I am assuming that seeing as they've said they'd refund advanced tickets that they will still honour this if the strike is cancelled.

 

[scragend]

I'm returning from the Netherlands by ferry to Newcastle on Tuesday 21st, with my bike.

I've had Advance tickets booked (& collected) for weeks for Newcastle-Manchester (splitting at York) with TPE for that day, together with a bike reservation. I've read on the TPE web site that even in the unlikely event that the train runs, they don't take bikes on strike days.

Am I screwed? I contacted TPE on Twitter to ask them whether I'd be able to use the tickets the following day (I think they allowed this with a previous strike), and what the chances were of a bike reservation. Their response was "I'm afraid we are awaiting further information".

 

[Starmill]

I doubt you'd be turned away from the bike spaces on the train in practice. Nobody is going to stand in the bike space on an 802! Seems like a totally ridiculous policy. In any case the fact that you hold a bike reservation means they're contracted to carry your bike as part of what you have paid.

 

[Haywain]

I doubt you'd be turned away from the bike spaces on the train in practice. Nobody is going to stand in the bike space on an 802! Seems like a totally ridiculous policy. In any case the fact that you hold a bike reservation means they're contracted to carry your bike as part of what you have paid.

I think that will be more about maximising luggage space at a time of reduced services.

 

[Watershed]

I'm returning from the Netherlands by ferry to Newcastle on Tuesday 21st, with my bike.

I've had Advance tickets booked (& collected) for weeks for Newcastle-Manchester (splitting at York) with TPE for that day, together with a bike reservation. I've read on the TPE web site that even in the unlikely event that the train runs, they don't take bikes on strike days.

Am I screwed? I contacted TPE on Twitter to ask them whether I'd be able to use the tickets the following day (I think they allowed this with a previous strike), and what the chances were of a bike reservation. Their response was "I'm afraid we are awaiting further information".

There will almost certainly be an 'easement' allowing travel before or after the strikes. Bear in mind that the day following each strike day will still be heavily disrupted, as many of those on night shifts will not have booked on for duty. Some TOCs may decide to run the same timetable (or very similar) for the entire 6 day duration.

 

[westv]

Based on their websites, it looks like LNER and Hull Trains think they may be running some sort of service on the strike days.

 

[Haywain]

Based on their websites, it looks like LNER and Hull Trains think they may be running some sort of service on the strike days.

There will be 'some sort' of service but timetables have not been sorted yet. With Network Rail signallers and maintenance staff also on strike it will be somewhat restricted though. On the bright side, there shouldn't be a shortage of drivers!

 

[Horizon22]

Based on their websites, it looks like LNER and Hull Trains think they may be running some sort of service on the strike days.

Yes but it is likely to be something like 0700-1900 only with a significantly reduced frequency and capacity - something like 2tph for LNER from King's Cross as an example - and may require additional changes.

It's honestly going to be an absoloute nightmare for those that have no real option, let alone those trying to take discretionary journeys. I - along with others - would highly recommend getting any refunds (on scenarios A, B & C as per the OP) you can unless absoutely neccessary to travel. Yes the strikes could be cancelled, but that's an awfully large gamble you're taking. It's not like people haven't been warned.

 

[scragend]

Unfortunately I do need to travel. I'm meant to be back in work on the Wednesday; I can probably swing it to make that Thursday instead but it would cause me problems with knock-on effects workwise.

Is there any realistic prospect of a settlement being reached before then and the strikes being called off? Or is it too early/impossible to say?

 

[Horizon22]

Unfortunately I do need to travel. I'm meant to be back in work on the Wednesday; I can probably swing it to make that Thursday instead but it would cause me problems with knock-on effects workwise.

Is there any realistic prospect of a settlement being reached before then and the strikes being called off? Or is it too early/impossible to say?

Impossible to say unless you're a fly on the wall in the RMT/TOC/NR/DfT meeting room. The industry is very much making plans that it is going ahead, and it's only 12 days out.

 

[Starmill]

There comes a point where even if the industrial action is cancelled the strike schedules will be run anyway.

 

[Haywain]

Is there any realistic prospect of a settlement being reached before then and the strikes being called off?

I'd say there is absolutely no prospect of that happening.

 

[westv]

I'll wait until later next week before cancelling my tickets if needed.

 

[Watershed]

Unfortunately I do need to travel. I'm meant to be back in work on the Wednesday; I can probably swing it to make that Thursday instead but it would cause me problems with knock-on effects workwise.

Is there any realistic prospect of a settlement being reached before then and the strikes being called off? Or is it too early/impossible to say?

If you are travelling on along a major route, there will probably be a service. But it will likely be very busy. You may not be able to get on the first train that runs.

Obviously none of us are privy to the negotiations that are going on at the moment, but it seems exceptionally unlikely that there will be any agreement reached anytime soon. Even if an agreement is reached, if this happens only a few days away from the strike date, it will be too late to revert to the normal timetable and the strike timetable will likely be all that runs.

 

[Haywain]

You may not be able to get on the first train that runs.

And the interval to the second train is likely to be rather longer than might normally be expected, and the train may well have more stops than usual on its journey.

Obviously none of us are privy to the negotiations that are going on at the moment

If any negotiations are taking place.