The Anonymous Widower

East Midlands Trains Just Lost A Sale

I’m going to Barnsley tomorrow to see Ipswich play!

Although, I’m going up using East Midlands Trains, I’m certainly not coming back on their trains.

As I’m going to a football match, I can’t guarantee what time, I will be finished in Barnsley.  I might meet any of a number of friends and have coffee and a supper before returning, so I can’t be sure which train, I would need to take from Sheffield. The trip is further complicated by the fact that the only place I can get a gluten-free meal I’d trust is at Carluccio’s in Meadowhall, which is surprisingly convenient as all trains from Barnsley to the South go through the station there. But if you eat in Meadowhall on a Saturday, you can’t be sure how long the meal will take, as the place gets extremely busy.

So as I always do, I buy an Off Peak Standard Ticket for my return journey, as this gives me complete flexibility.  But East Midlands Trains expect passengers to buy one of their keenly priced Advance Single tickets, which for me are not acceptable, as one five minute conversation and a missed train, would mean I had to buy another ticket.

I have therefore booked a ticket from Barnsley to Domcaster, changing at Meadowhall and then East Coast from Doncaster to London.

Going up to Barnsley, I did buy an Advance Ticket and that cost me £36.00.  I’ve also noticed that because of their different way of buying tickets, I didn’t enter my railcard, so I overpaid! We need one standard interface, when buying tickets over the internet!

Coming back, the best price on East Midlands Trains is £47.20. Going via Doncaster has cost me £45.70, which may not be much of a saving, but there a greater number of trains from Doncaster and I’ll definitely avoid travelling in one of those awful Class 222 trains of East Midland Trains.

East Midland Trains have tweeted me, that a Return ticket is only a pound more than a Single. That’s the first I’ve heard of that, but it wasn’t pointed out to me on their web site. I usually travel to football on a First Off-Peak Return, which is the obvious good-value ticket on Greater Anglia and some other companies.

February 7, 2014 - Posted by AnonW | Sport, Transport/Travel | Barnsley, Football, Trains