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Is there a minimum age for a child travelling alone on a train?

28 replies

PuppyMonkey · 05/07/2011 08:41

DD1 (who is 14) may have to get via train from Derby to Berwick on Tweed later this month (thinks it's East Coast line, have to check it all out etc). It's all for complicated if quite boring reasons, we're just thinking about it at the moment.

Grandma is going to put her on the right train at Derby.
She will have to change once at York.
Me and DP will meet her at Berwick on Tweed.

She is very bright and quite sensible, not particularly streetwise, but she gets bus and stuff on her own at home. She is confident she'd be able to find the right platform when she has to do the change at York.

I just had a thought last night when I had insomnia that this is a really terrible thing for her to do on her own and now I'm not so sure about letting her do it!!!!????

And anyway, is there a minimum age for kids travelling alone on a train?

WWYD?

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bruxeur · 05/07/2011 08:44

Good god. She'll be fine. Unclench and unwrap.

PuppyMonkey · 05/07/2011 08:57

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mummytime · 05/07/2011 08:57

No mimimium age. I travelled at 14 from east London to Richmond, N. Yorks on my own. A group of us travelled from London to Bath and back (nearly let the train go with our luggage but not us, but thats giggly girls for you).
Is she going in the middle of the day? No problem! Tell her if she feels worried to find the guard, or a friendly old lady/man. She will be fine!

MayorNaze · 05/07/2011 09:12

she will be absolutely fine

and it will be a good learning experience for both of you :)

PuppyMonkey · 05/07/2011 09:13

She'll have her phone with her, so we'll be ringing and texting all day. Thanks for assurances...

you know when you start worrying about something in the middle of the night and you think it's all going to end in disaster? That.

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ShatnersBassoon · 05/07/2011 09:23

She'll be absolutely fine, as long as she's confident enough to approach station staff if she's unsure of anything. Stock her up with plenty of drinks, snacks and reading material and she'll have a great day.

PuppyMonkey · 05/07/2011 10:12

I think she's rather looking forward to the adventure.

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Ephiny · 05/07/2011 10:19

I'm sure she'll be absolutely fine. Don't know about a minimum age but would think secondary school age would be OK - lots of children get the train to school after all (though admittedly not quite that distance!).

Sounds like it would be Cross-country trains not East Coast (or maybe a combination of both?)

seeker · 05/07/2011 10:23

DON"T ring and text all day - let her do the ringing and texting, or you'll spoil the adventure.

My dd regularly goes on the train from deepest Kent to London to meet her dad at work - she did it first when she was 11.

She'll be fine.

malinois · 05/07/2011 10:28

14?????? Children here travel unaccompanied on the train to school from 6-7 onwards! She'll be fine.

PuppyMonkey · 05/07/2011 10:28

Well, no I didn't actually mean all day - just regularly texting etc. That would be annoying

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seeker · 05/07/2011 10:30

Not even that puppymonkey - let her do the contacting!

PuppyMonkey · 05/07/2011 13:16

What not even a teensy weensy call on the hour every hour seeker??/ Ok, I promise not to ring....

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Ephiny · 05/07/2011 13:27

Maybe you could ask her to text/ring you when she's on the second train - ostensibly so you know for sure which train to meet, but also so you're reassured by a bit of contact and you're not worrying whether she made it onto the train or not :)

Otherwise let her get on with it, she knows she can contact you if she needs/wants to!

MollysChamber · 05/07/2011 13:31

I have no idea if there is a minimum age but I'm pretty sure it would be much younger than 14.

exoticfruits · 05/07/2011 13:36

Fine-if there is it has to be much younger than 14. DCs definitely do it alone for school at 11yrs.

ragged · 05/07/2011 13:37

Put the cotton wool away, PuppyMonkey .
Surprised PM's teen hasn't devoured all the cotton wool with big fangs showing, and the apron strings, too

LawrieMarlow · 05/07/2011 13:51

York is a lovely station . Has quite a few platforms but nice and easy to change. Would you like me to go and spy keep an eye on her for you?

Will probably be platform 5 she needs to get the train from and might even be that platform her train comes into.

umf · 05/07/2011 14:05

Red-taped though this country is, happily no-one has yet decided they know better than parents on this particular point.

(She's 14! Of course she can do it! But does she have a mobile? I'd feel better about it if she did.)

PuppyMonkey · 05/07/2011 15:13

Very kind offer Lawrie , but I'm now 150% sure she'll be fine on her own. I knew MN would see me right today.

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TrillianAstra · 05/07/2011 15:15

14?! I thought it would be an 8 year old.

Of course a 14 year old can travel by public transport.

TrillianAstra · 05/07/2011 15:16

That said my mum is quite a lot older than 14 and wouldn't use the tube on her own.

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LaWeasel · 05/07/2011 15:27

Where are used to live hundreds of kids still commute to school on the train alone from 11, or with older sibs from 7 or so...

Hope she enjoys!

(I used to love getting the train to school)

PuppyMonkey · 05/07/2011 15:29

It's the train thing you see, it might sound odd but we don't use trains much where I live at all. It's not like that there London. But dont worry, i have been convinced by MN that social services will not come to call if I let her do this.

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LaWeasel · 05/07/2011 15:42

It's fine - I know exactly what you mean! I was so used to trains, I was completely flummoxed by buses until I was about 18 (how do you know where to get off?! )

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