Barton on Humber to Scunthorpe

[Pat Figg]

A single from Hull to Scunthorpe is £27.10. A single from Barton-on-Humber to Scunthorpe via Hull (including a bus across the Humber Bridge) is £15.70. Is there anything to stop me using the latter ticket from Hull without catching the bus from Barton-on-Humber?

I am actually travelling from Barton-on-Humber to Scunthorpe but want to walk across the Humber Bridge rather than catch a bus. Will my ticket need to be validated on the bus to allow me to use it on the train? Or is this just a loophole that means anyone going from Hull to Scunthorpe should just buy this ticket to save themselves 12 quid?

 

[A Challenge]

Unfortunately I think that it not allowed, due to the easements (which exist to overwrite the routing instructions to make some things valid when they aren't [positive easements] and others not valid when they otherwise would be [negative easements]), in this case Negative Circuitous route easement 700241:

Customers travelling from or via Barton On Humber to Hessle, Ferriby, Brough and beyond may not travel via Hull. This easement applies in both directions.

You are travelling from Barton-on-Humber to Scunthorpe, a station beyond Hessle, Ferriby and Brough, so this means you can't travel via Hull.

 

[Pat Figg]

I've already bought the ticket on the Transport for Wales website (though I haven't collected it from the ticket machine yet). The ticket I chose quite clearly states via Hull. There's even a warning icon highlighting that the journey includes at least one leg by bus.

 

[A Challenge]

Can you reproduce the itinery on the TFW planner for the journey you are going to take? If so, screenshot it and take it with you, and show if challenged, as that shows evidence of a contract to take those trains.

 

[Pat Figg]

Thanks. I have printed the itinerary for the 10.00 service which is the one I'm hoping to catch. It's bus from Barton to Hull bus station, walk to Paragon, train to Hatfield, train to Scunthorpe. My main concern is if I don't use the bus. Does the driver stamp it with a time and date so they know you've come from Barton?

 

[clagmonster]

The bus drivers have no stamping equipment, indeed it is unlikely that the ticket would even be accepted on the bus, even with an itinerary provided.

 

[Romilly]

I can also reproduce the itinerary on Northern Trains' own website. As the ticket is an offpeak day single, there are no restrictions on breaking your journey unless expressly mentioned in the restriction code for the ticket. The code is I2 and does not impose any break of journey restrictions. You are therefore free not only to break your journey (as many times as you want) but also to start and/or finish at an intermediate station.

NB There is another active thread about tickets routed Humbrlink via bus, where the consensus is that those tickets do not include the bus fare:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/cross-humber-fares.169245/

 

[Pat Figg]

Thanks for that. Sounds like getting the bus will be more hassle than walking! I assume I shouldn't have any problem then just catching the train from Hull. I'll have my itinerary with me should I fail to get through the gates at Hull. I imagine Hull has ticket gates. I was amazed earlier that Doncaster doesn't seem to have any but that's a separate issue!

 

[clagmonster]

There are no ticket gates at Hull.

 

[Mojo]

Why would a ticket from Barton to Scunthorpe be valid via Hull? They are both on the south side of the river. The bus from Scunthorpe to Hull goes via Barton station anyway so why would you get a bus north over the bridge and then back south again?

 

[sheff1]

Why would a ticket from Barton to Scunthorpe be valid via Hull?

No idea, but plenty of ticket retailers clearly believe it is ... and who I am I to argue with them !

 

[Tetchytyke]

Why would a ticket from Barton to Scunthorpe be valid via Hull?

Bizarre but it shows it as valid. See the attached screenshot. From Hull it routes you via Goole.

 

[Pat Figg]

A possible reason that it's valid is that after 1755 you aren't able to get from Barton to Scunthorpe by train only, as I found out. After spending the afternoon in Hull I decided not to risk the route via Goole, Hatfield etc. as on the National Rail Enquiries site it showed the price as £67.20, even though Northern and Transport for Wales both have it as £15.70. The possibility of being charged an extra 50 quid just didn't seem worth it even though I had an itinerary with me suggesting it was valid and had already bought the ticket. Instead I paid about a fiver to take the bus back across the Humber where the 1755 train to Cleethorpes (change at Habrough then Barnetby for Scunthorpe) was being held for the slightly late bus. Foolishly I opted to sample a couple of Barton's pubs and catch a later train forgetting that it only has a service every 2 hours. When I eventually got on the 2003 train I was told by the guard that I could go as far as Habrough but there wouldn't be a connecting service to Scunthorpe until the following morning. So I had to pay another fiver to catch the bus to Scunthorpe anyway. So I still have an unused train ticket from Barton to Scunthorpe and still have no idea if it is actually possible to do the journey via Hull/Goole/Hatfield for £15.70.

The reason for going north to Hull and then back south again was to spend the afternoon in Hull rather than Scunthorpe. I'd spent the previous night in Cleethorpes, then gone to Barton, was going to Scunthorpe for the night but fancied an afternoon in Hull as I'd never been there.

 

[175mph]

There are no ticket gates at Hull.

I've seen revenue blocks there quite a few times recently.......