School trip to London - fare advice

[Bayum]

I’m hoping to be able to use the £1000 claim back the government are offering for schools to go down to parliament. Would likely be LNER we’d travel with. What sort of fares and discounts are available for groups of children? Would be under 12y/o. Is there an optimum number to receive these discounted/group fares?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Travelling from Leeds / West Yorkshire presumably?

 

[Brissle Girl]

You might be better off contacting the Group Travel team at LNER directly.

Group Travel Enquiries

www.lner.co.uk

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've never come across a situation for long distance journeys where a TOC group bookings line could undercut the use of Family and Friends Railcards even if you had to buy them as part of the cost. The group discount is typically a miserly 10% or so.

 

[Wallsendmag]

You might be better off contacting the Group Travel team at LNER directly.

Group Travel Enquiries

www.lner.co.uk

Best advice by far. If the Family Railcard is cheaper they'll book it that way.

 

[Snow1964]

I am not sure what LNER does, but GWR has GroupSave tickets for 3-9 people which get third off.

For more than 9 there is dedicated group travel, but that says upto 26% off. Although clearly splitting into two groups would get more off.

Group Train Tickets and Rail Travel | Great Western Railway

Travelling as a group of 3 or more? Book group train tickets in advance to save money, sit together and organise tickets easily with Great Western Railway.

www.gwr.com

Seems you can also book whole carriage (which I had forgotten about), but if travelling around London too, consider tickets including travelcards (although if buying them combined or separate is best value, I don't know)

 

[Haywain]

I am not sure what LNER does, but GWR has GroupSave tickets for 3-9 people which get third off.

But that's a third off the adult price, which is going to be more than the full child fare, so not much help for a school trip.

For more than 9 there is dedicated group travel, but that says upto 26% off. Although clearly splitting into two groups would get more off.

I'm not sure how that logic works - splitting into two groups doesn't double the discount.

 

[Snow1964]

I'm not sure how that logic works - splitting into two groups doesn't double the discount.

Sorry my bad wording, I meant if 9 of you, then get third off, if split into two groups each gets third off, but it says if 10 or more travelling get upto 26% off.

Doing one booking with 26% off is worst than two batches each getting 33% off

 

[Wallsendmag]

Sorry my bad wording, I meant if 9 of you, then get third off, if split into two groups each gets third off, but it says if 10 or more travelling get upto 26% off.

Doing one booking with 26% off is worst than two batches each getting 33% off

Groupsave isn't valid on LNER there is an alternative Small Group discount but it's less than the group discount.

 

[RAPC]

I've never come across a situation for long distance journeys where a TOC group bookings line could undercut the use of Family and Friends Railcards even if you had to buy them as part of the cost. The group discount is typically a miserly 10% or so.

Avanti for their many faults, are very helpful for such bookings. Booked a school trip to London from Preston a few months ago, at a cost quite a bit below any F&F railcard could manage via group bookings.

 

[Brissle Girl]

Avanti for their many faults, are very helpful for such bookings. Booked a school trip to London from Preston a few months ago, at a cost quite a bit below any F&F railcard could manage via group bookings.

Though presumably not of any assistance to the OP who is looking at Leeds to London with LNER.

 

[Snow1964]

Though presumably not of any assistance to the OP who is looking at Leeds to London with LNER.

Although if Northern and EMR via Sheffield was a significant cost saving (even if slower) might be worth considering.

Just a thought, if going to St Pancras / Kings Cross, would an extension to Blackfriars (Thameslink) be viable. There are Possibly easier changes to Thameslink at other stations north of London.

At Blackfriars use South entrance and riverside stroll past London Eye to Westminster Bridge. (Get a much better view of Parliament from across the river, than up close with all the security fences). Bit more walking than tube, but might avoid expensive tube fares (cant expect children to have contactless, or if living in Yorkshire, Oyster cards)

 

[MrJeeves]

At Blackfriars use South entrance and riverside stroll past London Eye to Westminster Bridge. (Get a much better view of Parliament from across the river, than up close with all the security fences).

Plus a really nice view over the Thames of London generally from inside the station!

 

[RAPC]

Though presumably not of any assistance to the OP who is looking at Leeds to London with LNER.

Well as I was directly addressing a general point about group travel booking pricing in my previously quoted post, it is relevant to where the conversation in the thread has gone.

 

[Brissle Girl]

Well as I was directly addressing a general point about group travel booking pricing in my previously quoted post, it is relevant to where the conversation in the thread has gone.

Much better to keep the thread focused on advice that the OP might find useful though, rather than widen into a general conversation of no use to them.

 

[kieron]

Though presumably not of any assistance to the OP who is looking at Leeds to London with LNER.

I don't think Bayum has committed to using them, so going via Manchester could be an option if the price was right and the service was reliable. Changing trains with a group of school children doesn't sound straightforward, though.

 

[RAPC]

Much better to keep the thread focused on advice that the OP might find useful though, rather than widen into a general conversation of no use to them.

The original post said LNER was likely, but not the only option. Avanti may be suitable, but that is up to the OP and their needs.

As for keeping a thread focused, you best get policing most of the threads on here in that case

 

[Haywain]

Much better to keep the thread focused on advice that the OP might find useful though, rather than widen into a general conversation of no use to them.

If you are going to criticise, I think thise suggesting Groupsave were somewhat further from relevance than the poster regerring to their own experience.

 

[neilmc]

This was a long time ago now, maybe twenty years, but my kids were going from Manchester to somewhere like Southampton for a church event. There were 16 kids and four adults travelling, so each adult bought a family railcard and took four kids at the discount price (which I think used to be £1). They got each railcard with a second named adult as a parent so after the event four families effectively had a free railcard for the rest of the year.

Not sure this is how railcards are intended to be used but it saved a fortune for us all and quite legal.

 

[Bayum]

Brilliant.

Thank you all. The more children I can take, the better but when travel is so expensive and we have to claim back the expenses it makes it a little more challenging.

 

[Deerfold]

I used to commute regularly between (a little further than) Leeds and London. One morning about 8 years ago I was surprised to find an entire carriage on the 0700 from Leeds - probably the busiest Southbound train of the day - had been reserved for a school party. I hope they got a good rate as that's not usually a cheap train to travel on.

 

[35B]

I concur with the advice to use the Group Travel for whichever InterCity operator you want to book with. I've done this for a couple of choir trips, and they've been really good at managing the best value between Group Fares and various permutations of Railcards.

However, be careful if your journey involves multiple TOCs. One booking I did was Grantham to Cambridge with a return break of journey at Ely (so LNER/EMR/XC/Anglian/GTR all potentially involved depending on which train(s) were used), and that got quite fraught until I found someone really clued up to talk to. My experience was that the team at LNER were really good, and had the experience to make something a bit out of the ordinary work, but that I had to talk to them, not just email.

 

[pdq]

As much as rail travel is an adventure, won't a coach be easier from an organisational point of view, especially the risk assessment?

 

[Bayum]

As much as rail travel is an adventure, won't a coach be easier from an organisational point of view, especially the risk assessment?

Have you ever been on a coach with a group of children longer than 45mins? At least on a train I can get up and walk away for ten!

 

[pdq]

Have you ever been on a coach with a group of children longer than 45mins? At least on a train I can get up and walk away for ten!

Yes - I'm a chaperone for a youth band and have done 4 hr coach journeys and trips abroad. The coach journey is a doddle as they're all in a controlled environment. Anywhere where road crossings are involved, or where the group could become separated (like ticket barriers) is a potential nightmare.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@Bayum might just now be considering an alternative option...



("Matt" cartoon as appeared in the 'Daily Telegraph' on Thursday 22nd February 2024)

Caption says... 'The school trip to Parliament has been cancelled. We're taking the children to watch bare-knuckle fighting instead.'

 

[30907]

Yes - I'm a chaperone for a youth band and have done 4 hr coach journeys and trips abroad. The coach journey is a doddle as they're all in a controlled environment. Anywhere where road crossings are involved, or where the group could become separated (like ticket barriers) is a potential nightmare.

At least two of the (primary) schools where I have been a governor have used rail for straightforward London day trips with none of those problems - apart from the coach taking one group to or from Preston not showing IIRC.

 

[Bayum]

Yes - I'm a chaperone for a youth band and have done 4 hr coach journeys and trips abroad. The coach journey is a doddle as they're all in a controlled environment. Anywhere where road crossings are involved, or where the group could become separated (like ticket barriers) is a potential nightmare.

Hmmm. Small group of primary school children will be fine. What would we do in central London? I can’t park a coach in the centre, go round parliament and jump straight back. At least on the train, we can get into the centre of London and easily move around the city.

 

[antharro]

There's coach parking around the area, see https://www.westminster.gov.uk/parking/coach-parking. Tho, I'm still more in favour of taking the train. But then I would be, this is primarily a rail forum.

 

[ComUtoR]

Hmmm. Small group of primary school children will be fine. What would we do in central London? I can’t park a coach in the centre, go round parliament and jump straight back. At least on the train, we can get into the centre of London and easily move around the city.

Just up the road from Parliament is Traf Square. You have the Women of World War II monument just outside Parliament; as is the Cenotaph. You also have Pall Mall and Buck Palace. The National Gallery and the Portrait Gallery (both free) within a stones throw.