If you can't find something, enter keywords in the search facility to find articles.
Scroll down to see how a train from Rugby could cut the cost of travelling to London
May 2017
The Spotlight articles on how to save money on rail fares by travelling from Rugby rather than Leicester were very well received. The station is easily accessed in 30 minutes and there is plenty of station parking. After the articles were published parking charges were increased but are still only £4 a day at weekends, and £5 cheaper than Leicester station on weekdays.
One reader reports advance online booking problems at Rugby if a stay extends from a weekday into the weekend. The charge rate is for a 24 hour period, but if you want to park on a Friday(£9) and collect your car more than 24 hours later on Saturday(£4), the system will tell you there are no spaces. Don't believe it, just make a booking for each day.
Virgin trains and NCP (who manage the bookings for them) are aware of the issue so hopefully it will be fixed in the near future. “We’re working with NCP to resolve this and we’re sorry for any inconvenience caused,” a spokesperson explained.
“We have been experiencing a few reports of customers being unable to make a booking longer than a day each time,” a booking assistant added. “I would recommend making a booking for each day, then press for assistance at the exit barrier to speak to the advisor over the intercom when you are leaving. If you give them all of your reference numbers and explain that you have made multiple bookings for one stay, they will be able to raise the barrier for you once these have been confirmed.”
If you find yourself in this position check you card statements after the event to ensure they do not charge for an 'excess' stay. If all this puts you off there is alternative parking on the opposite side of the road at £7 for 24 hours (http://millroadparking.co.uk tel : 07855 751787.) There is no online booking facility.
If you missed the article when it was published just scroll down the page.The savings are still there – a day return trip to London in mid July, leaving around 10am and London around 9pm, was available at the time of writing at £38 from Leicester and £12 from Rugby. That's a saving of £52 for a couple.
June 2016
More rail fare madness?
Readers seemed to like the Spotlight article on how to save money on train fares on a trip to London. The main saving is achieved by travelling from Rugby station instead of Leicester. The lowest return fare from Rugby to Euston is £12 per person, or £8 with a railcard, and savings of up to £123 per couple were found depending on the time of day and how long in advance the ticket was booked.
Moneysavingexpert.com has for a long time suggested that travellers check all the legal ways of reducing the cost of rail travel, though departing from an alternative station doesn't seem to be be one of them. The site advocates checking out whether there are split ticketing savings for the journey you want to take. Split ticketing doesn't seem to yield significant savings on the route to London but the picture changes when travelling north.
Split ticketing explained
Split ticketing means that instead of buying a through ticket from, for example, Leicester to Durham with a change of train at Derby, you check to see what the cost would be by buying separate tickets for each part of the journey. In this example tickets could be bought from Leicester to Derby, and Derby to Durham.
Advance booking for early August gave a through fare with a change at Derby of £48.50. Buying separate tickets reduced this cost to £38.40, £4.50 to Derby then £33.90 to Durham. That's a saving of £20.20 per couple using exactly the same trains.
But there's more!
The train passes through York on it's journey from Derby to Durham. By splitting the ticketing at York instead of Derby the savings are even greater, as the fare to York is £16.70 and the fare from York £7.10, a total of £23.80. That's a saving per couple of a whopping £49.40, though as you have separate tickets you might have to change seats. However, there's another advantage of splitting at York – as you have a separate ticket you can alight from the train and spend some time in York to see the sights, if you wish. Train enthusiasts can access the National Rail Museum direct from York station.
It's a crazy pricing system that makes customers jump through hoops to get the lowest prices and some travellers may think that even an extra £50 in their pocket doesn't make the work involved worthwhile.
Is this England's most expensive bus fare?
Here's more food for thought. Have you booked a through ticket to travel by train to Luton Airport from Leicester? If you have take a check how much you have paid. Here's an example based on travel at the end of July, but remember that prices change as more tickets are sold. When checked the through ticket on the 6.32 from Leicester cost £41 single, and that includes the short £2 bus journey from Parkway station to the airport. The fare can be paid on the bus if you only buy a train ticket to Luton Airport Parkway. A single train ticket from Leicester to Parkway on the same train was priced at just £14.50, so the when the bus fare is included the total is £16.50, not £41. By buying a through ticket a £2 bus fare is costing £24.50.
It's an 'anomaly'
Such a huge difference couldn't go unchallenged, so East Midland Trains were asked for an explanation. “We have looked into it and can confirm this is an anomaly in the national system,” explained Andrew Commons PR & Communications Manager. “It is absolutely not a price or issue created by East Midlands Trains. We have now raised it with our colleagues and it will be fixed shortly." He was asked whether he had a contact at the 'national system' who might be able to provide an explanation but added “I am afraid I do not unfortunately. However, it really was just a bizarre anomaly in the system - I doubt they would have an explanation either.” It took nearly 2 weeks for the anomaly to be corrected and the price reduced.
So here's something else to consider when booking train tickets – there may be 'bizarre anomalies' in the system which mean you can pay way in excess of the true fare for your journey if you don't query it. Some readers may prefer to use the words mistake or error rather than anomaly, and in the case of Luton Airport, thanks to the Spotlight, anyone who has overpaid will get redress and a refund if they contact East Midlands Trains. If you have problems email contact @grobyonline.tk for help.
Different routes to the same destination?
If you are flexible when you travel there's another way to save on fares. An example is the journey from Leicester to Leeds. At the end of July, for example, trains are every half hour but Leeds is served by several train operators. Prices quoted between 10am and noon ranged from £20.10 via Derby, £43.60 via Sheffield, to £63.60 via Peterborough. The fastest journey is also the cheapest and the longest journey the most expensive. If they don't have a Railcard discount a couple can save up to £86.20 one way by choosing carefully which train they travel on. That's money in your pocket and not the train companies.
Do you have a tale to tell about rail fare madness? Send it to contact@grobyonline.tk and share it with other readers.
February 2016
Ways to cut the cost of a trip to the capital city
A word of reassurance to begin with. This strategy to save money on your rail fares doesn't require you to run around on a rugby pitch getting covered in mud, crouching down in the middle of a bunch of burly men in the scrum, or joining them in the showers. Sorry if for some readers this reassurance comes as a disappointment but read on anyway to find out how to cut the cost of travelling to London.
Ask travellers what they think of the fare to London and the responses are likely to range from 'Do the train companies want blood?' to the rather more restrained 'it's a rip off.' It will come as no surprise, therefore, to learn that there is a campaigning group called Bring Back British Rail which would like British Rail to be re-nationalised. Putting aside whether or not that would be a good idea, with the current financial situation there is not much chance of that happening. Bring Back British Rail is now supporting a re-nationalisation petition which is very close to achieving the 55,000 signature target it has set. If this is a cause close to your heart and you want to add your name then go to www.thepetitionsite.com, enter 302/005/061 into the search box and follow the link on the search results page.
How can you save money?
You need to have a car and you need to drive to Rugby station instead of Leicester station. Don't dismiss the idea out of hand. Rugby station is easy to reach from the M1 and Google says that it takes 30 minutes compared to 18 minutes to Leicester station. Parking at weekends costs just £3 a day. The bad news is that not everyone can benefit from this, but other ways to save will be explained later.
But what about the fares?
If you are thinking this way of saving money is not worth the effort then look closely at these fare comparisons for travelling at fixed times (the short day visit)– around 10am to London and leaving London at 6pm – and comparing an early train out and a late train back between the two routes.
The short day visit fares
Booking online at the last minute for Saturday 30 January the return ticket from Rugby was £32, compared to £78.50 from Leicester. That's a saving of £93 for a couple. Booking a month in advance travelling from Rugby a couple could save £101. Booking nearly 3 months in advance travelling from Rugby a couple could save £123.
Travelling early and late
Booking online at the last minute for Saturday 30 January the saving was smaller at just £25 per couple. Booking a month in advance travelling from Rugby a couple could save £49. Booking nearly 3 months in advance travelling from Rugby a couple could save £44.
So if you want to travel out very early and come back late the savings may not tempt you to use a gallon of petrol driving to Rugby. But if you like to travel down after breakfast and back in the early evening a saving of £123 could buy you bed and breakfast and a longer visit instead of a day trip. The lowest fare found from Rugby was £12 return. That's not a misprint - £12 return.
Other ways to save on rail fares
Railcards are worth considering, though there is an upfront cost to set against the savings to be made. For example the £30 Two Together Railcard gives two named adults 1/3 off rail fares when they travel together by train. You can get 1/3 off Standard and First Class Anytime, Off-Peak and Advance fares when you travel after 9:30am Monday to Friday, and any time at weekends and on Public Holidays.
So if you don't want to travel from Rugby a couple with the Two Together Railcard could still reduce the £78.50 'next day' per person fare mentioned above to £105 per couple. Such a saving would cover the cost of the Railcard even if you paid full price for it, and give you 12 months of discounted rail travel. But you can save even more by using Tesco Clubcard tokens to buy railcards at half price.
And if you still have some Clubcard points left over you can use them to buy Redspottedhanky.com tokens. For every £5 of Clubcard points you can get £10 in tokens towards your fare if you buy the tickets on redspottedhanky.com. This would effectively bring the cost per couple down further from £105 to around £55, or £70 when taking account of the Railcard outlay. On the same day, and using the same discount methods, the return fares from Rugby would reduce to around £23 per couple.
Using Clubcard points to buy a railcard and pay for train fares the cheapest return fare from Rugby found in this sample to London for the 10am/6pm journey would be just £6.50 per person return plus the one off Railcard cost, or £8.50 per person using Tesco points without buying a Railcard.
Things to remember
If you are arranging to meet someone remember that trains from Rugby terminate at Euston, just up the road from St Pancras. These are online prices and rail ticket pricing is dynamic, just like airline tickets so prices are constantly changing. Generally the further you can book in advance the less you will pay. Beware of booking more than 3 months in advance as the bargain fares are only made available around 12 weeks before the journey. All prices quoted don't include any mandatory booking fees. Advance tickets which commit you to travelling on the train you have booked are generally cheaper than the more flexible open tickets. You can avoid postage charges by printing your tickets at the station on the self service machines. Keep your car park ticket safe and try and have the right amount in coins for the machine before you leave the station.
If you have a limited number of Clubcard points and intend making more than one trip by train within the 12 month period of validity it may be better to use the points to buy the Railcard which will give you 30% discount every time you travel at weekends and after 9am on weekdays. If you use the points towards the ticket cost instead you only get a one off discount of 50%,
When using Clubcard vouchers on Redspottedhanky.com you need to follow the instructions on theTesco website. Redspottedhanky Customer Services have confirmed that clubcard vouchers can be used in conjunction with Railcards. As Clubcard tokens come in fixed denominations you may have to pay a small balance in cash or if you prefer 'overpay' in vouchers, effectively losing some of your points in the process.
More savings when you get to London
When you get to London paying for tube travel has become easier, and you can take advantage of 2FOR1 offers on lots of attractions.
The pay as you go Oyster card is useful when travelling around London as it has a daily cap on the cost of travel, though a refundable deposit has to be paid for the card. You can avoid this by using your contactless credit or debit card instead and still benefit from the daily price cap as long as you ensure that you use the same card for all the journeys you make on the same day. Make sure you pay the right fare by touching in and out on the yellow card readers at the start and end of your journey on the tube. Read more about this on the www./tfl.gov.uk website. You only need to touch in on buses and trams, and if you have a concessionary pass it's valid for free travel on London buses subject to the at the usual time restrictions.
Because you've travelled by train you will qualify for lots of discounts on visitor attractions in the city, but make sure you check on www.daysoutguide.co.uk which offers are valid for the date you intend to travel when you download the vouchers. Currently the 2FOR1 list includes the London Eye(saving £23.50), St Paul's Cathedral(saving £23.50), Westminster Abbey(saving £18.00), Madame Tussauds(saving £34.00), the Tower of London(saving £24.50), the SEA LIFE London Aquarium(saving £24.50), Thames Clippers(saving £17.25), the Churchill War Rooms(saving £18.00), the Cutty Sark(saving £13.50) and lots more.
And you needn't go hungry as you can also get discounts on food. These include 2FOR1 on Pizza & Pasta when a drink is purchased at Azzurro Italian Bar + Kitchens and 2FOR1 on any main course from a set menu at Planet Hollywood as well as other restaurants.
To summarise
There are already travellers choosing to save money by using alternative stations such as Coventry, or Nuneaton as in the case of a recent caller to Radio Leicester, but Rugby is easily accessible from the MI so is probably a good choice if you compare fares and decide that the money you can save makes it worthwhile. There are also additional savings to be made on travel using a Railcard and Tesco Clubcard points and these are available for travel from Leicester station as well. And with a little planning and the use of 2for1 vouchers the savings needn't stop when you get to London.