Group travel (10+) Loughborough [LBO] - Newcastle [NCL] (EMT/CC)

[brianthegiant]

Hi, anyone on here know about group discounts when booking 10+ people?

we're going Lboro - newcastle, changing derby,
do you better discount buying tickets for a TOCs on route, ie is it likely to be any cheaper booking the LBO-DBY portion through EMT and the DBY-NCL portion through CrossCountry?

What sort of level discount should I expect to get on a journey which is at off-peak times? (individually we'd be paying about £80 for an off-peak return)
{There are no 'groupsave' tickets on this route }

(its quite an opaque system, you phone the TOC with journey details, then they email with price 'within 48hours'..) doesn't exactly encourage people to try & book groups compared with say just getting a minibus quote online...

 

[yorkie]

If you are asking what discount TOCs give for Group Bookings, I do not know, but it may vary by TOC. You will need to ask them.

And yes you could try getting separate quotes, EMT to Derby or Sheffield and XC from there.

As we don't know if it's a day return or not it is difficult to advise, but in a previous thread for Durham to Loughborough splitting at Chesterfield was mentioned as a good place to split, and Sheffield was also mentioned.

As for GroupSave, that should be available between Loughborough & Sheffield on EMT.

You could also try asking EC if they will do a deal between Sheffield and Newcastle on EMT plus TPE/NT connecting services between Sheffield and Doncaster, this would give the added bonus of avoiding the awful and overcrowded XC trains.

 

[Yew]

East coast do a 1/3 saving for small groups. You could get a train from loughborgh, to Newark castle, then walk to northgate, and get a train to Newcastle from there.

Do you need flexibility that much? As advance tickets are cheaper, but are only valid on one train?

 

[brianthegiant]

thanks for the tips folks, hmm I hadn't thought about CC overcrowding,

EC Newark-Newcastle is tempting, but the 2 Newark stations are a mile apart & my group will have suitcases, etc. Wouldn't bother me but I want my group to have positive experience of rail travel so I'm in 2 minds which is worse CC or traipsing across Newark..
Will try to book table seats on CC I think

An anomaly I've noticed is that www.NationalRail only allows up to 8 passengers, but TOC group booking people only deal with groups of 10+.
Does this mean you aren't allowed to travel in groups of 9...

the other anomaly is that NatRail doens't show any direct Lboro-Newark on the sunday 2nd April, but they're in the EMT timetable. might be eng works maybe.

cheers, Brian