The Great Escape is back!

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The Great Escape is back! 29/01/2013 at 14:54 #40952
JohnMiller
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Between Saturday 9 - Sunday 24 February 2013 you can take off for the day for just £15 (£5 for children) with our Great Escape ticket - or go first class for just £10 more. Railcard holders get an even better deal at just £9.90.

You can visit as many or as few places as you like - the ticket gives you a day's unlimited travel on London Midland trains across our network after the morning peak period.
Go to
http://www.londonmidland.com/greatescape/great-escape/
For more info
Cheers
John

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The Great Escape is back! 29/01/2013 at 16:55 #40953
postal
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Scotrail are also running their Club 55 promotion from 14th. January to 28th. March 2013. Return between any two points in Scotland for £19 for those aged 55 and over.

In previous years Carlisle and Berwick have been treated as Scottish stations for the purposes of this promotion. This year Berwick is excluded. I have queried this with Scotrail and the exclusion is due to Directly Operated Railways wanting to put so many restriction on the use of the tickets that it was not practical to include Berwick. There are 18 weekday Cross-Country services in total which also serve Berwick and Edinburgh but I understand that Scotrail have taken the view that it would cause more problems than it would solve if the tickets were valid only on Cross-Country services and have had to take the nuclear option of crossing Berwick off the map.

The MP for Berwick (Sir Alan Beith MP) is concerned that a government operated service should be seeking to discourage rather then encourage rail travel at the expense of his constituents and has taken the matter up with Karen Boswell, MD of East Coast.

“In life, there is always someone out there, who won’t like you, for whatever reason, don’t let the insecurities in their lives affect yours.” – Rashida Rowe
Last edited: 29/01/2013 at 16:57 by postal
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The Great Escape is back! 08/03/2013 at 14:35 #42165
postal
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Update to the Club 55 situation. Karen Boswell wrote back to Sir Alan Beith on 25 February and claimed that East Coast only stipulated that they would not allow Club 55 travel on their trains during school half-term week (Friday 8 February to Monday 18 February) as "this is a very busy time on our Anglo-Scottish trains". After that it was nothing to do with East Coast; it was Scotrail's decision not to include Berwick for any train. It seems to me that Scotrail could do little else; there would certainly be a possibility of bad publicity for what should be a simple promotion if someone who doesn't read small print was excessed from Edinburgh to Berwick for travelling on the wrong colour train.

However, it is encouraging (not) to read the final words of Ms Boswell's letter: "We hope to work with Scotrail on future Club 55 promotions which would also include Berwick-upon-Tweed, provided Scotrail is able to offer them at times when East Coast has sufficient capacity to carry passengers holding such promotional tickets". As the Club 55 promotion has run from January to March over the past few years and there is a school half-term in that period every year we all know what the East Coast response will be next year, don't we?

Edit: I have now asked Scotrail about the situation at Dunbar. Can Club 55 tickets be used between Edinburgh and Dunbar on any train, only on Cross-Country trains or is Dunbar also excluded from the Club 55 map?

“In life, there is always someone out there, who won’t like you, for whatever reason, don’t let the insecurities in their lives affect yours.” – Rashida Rowe
Last edited: 08/03/2013 at 14:44 by postal
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The Great Escape is back! 13/03/2013 at 12:49 #42305
postal
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" said:
I have now asked Scotrail about the situation at Dunbar. Can Club 55 tickets be used between Edinburgh and Dunbar on any train, only on Cross-Country trains or is Dunbar also excluded from the Club 55 map?
Scotrail have confirmed that the tickets are available from Dunbar, but only on Cross Country or Scotrail services. Is the implication that Scotrail believe that passengers boarding at Dunbar can be trusted to get on the right colour of train, but that the people who subsidise the Scottish economy through the Barnett formula and wish to board at Berwick are too stupid to do that?

“In life, there is always someone out there, who won’t like you, for whatever reason, don’t let the insecurities in their lives affect yours.” – Rashida Rowe
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