To think you check you can get home?

It is strange, the boxing day thing, it's a sop to the unions that's persisted. If you've not been caught by it before it can take you by surprise especially as most other countries with any public transport provision do still have some service, albeit limited. But the UK just stops altogether!

Why did you invite them if they aren't good friends ?

I do find it odd that they were unaware of the lack of trains. Maybe I’m a bit too organised, but every return journey I do, I’ll triple check the return/book a seat, must be forward facing or I get travel sick.

Sounds like a bloody good result to me. The guest has been generous, helpful and amenable and is now looking after your dog for 12 hours. No doubt you’ll return to a lovely clean house and all of that is worth forgoing a night of 1:1 with your DH ( whom you presumably have to yourself most nights of the year?).

I feel your pain OP. I'm drained by guests after 2 nights. I'm hesitant to have guests at Christmas as it's quite thankless.

Presuming as they’re a colleague and didn’t have to book a specific train that they live within taxi distance? I would suggest that (if they haven’t already). Or on your way to your plans can you drop them within walking distance of a train or bus towards their home?

Maybe you'll come home to a sparkling clean house? I'd be mortified if I was in their shoes, I'd be stress cleaning and stocking the fridge with apology wine.

It’s not mean spirited to take this person to a hotel or public transport stop. If I’d have made such a mistake I wouldn’t have even let on to my hosts that I was going to a hotel. I’d have thanked them and left as agreed and either found a way home or gone to hotel

I think given they have been an excellent guest I would forgive them for not checking the trains, they probably just presumed it was a Sunday service. As annoying as it is that you can’t relax it doesn’t sound like they will make a mess of your house and at least they will be leaving in the morning.

Maybe they won't ever leave. You've all watched Saltburn, right? It's a slippery slope now which will culminate in murder and naked disco dancing. 😂

It was a nice gesture OP to invite someone who sounds like they would be alone at Xmas to join you. A bit annoying that it's run over a day but I'm sure your guest will remember your hospitality fondly at a time they otherwise might have been lonely.

No, not usually.

https://www.thetrainline.com/trains/great-britain/christmas-and-new-year#boxing-day-trains

We haven't had a normal train service on Boxing Day since 1975.

Given that @Ayechinnyreckon's colleague booked a ticket to travel on Christmas Eve I think it is very odd that she didn't book it as a return ticket. The Trainline app would have told her that there were no trains today, so I don't buy that she didn't know there weren't any trains.

As for people suggesting that the OP just dumps the guest at a hotel or coach station - I can't think of anything more mean spirited.

I also think it is odd that the OP and her guest didn't discuss what time the guest was departing. I would have thought that a conversation along the lines of "we are visiting family at xx oclock, so you will need to be on your way before that" would have happened.

"A lot of people seem to think it's weird you had this person there at all. I don't. I think it's kind and normal. I might be mistaken about the second of those, which is a shame.
A few people seem to think that this person is a cross between Bill Sikes and Feathers McGrew, and the whole thing is devilish scheme to engineer being alone in your house in order to snoop on your Googlesearch history and plunder your silverware. These people need some sort of professional help.
Quite a few people seem to think that you're a people-pleasing sucker and frankly you have no one to blame but yourself. Which doesn't really give us much insight into your personality, but tells us quite a lot about theirs.
Assuming you don't come home to find the sofa gone, I think you're right to be a bit disappointed you're not going to get an evening on your own with the other half, but you're handling this very well, and you're not getting it at all out of proportion.
"Drop them at a taxi rank. It's not your problem"?? For fuck's sake...."
Excellent post @PointsSouth

Met in person 3 times but op speaks to them at work pretty much every day - and outside of work too. Hardly a stranger.

I have work colleagues that I rarely meet in person but feel I know really well because we chat regularly on Teams/zoom etc.

Why? What do you think they might do?

Can they go to a hotel? Your invite has finished.

That must have cost a lot
It's loads cheaper to book a specific train for that distance

No way would I leave them alone in my house all day! Easy enough to book a hotel,which is what this person should have done,end of story.

I really wouldn't be leaving them in my home alone if I only met them 3 previous times. Not a chance. I hope you've managed to sort something out. Why couldn't one of the other guests take them part of the way home if they are driving?

YANBU to be slightly annoyed. On the balance of probabilities it is a genuine mistake and you solved it the best you could.

Moreover, it's really funny to see how many people in this thread can't grasp people having different arrangements than they do around Christmas.

There may be no direct trains but surely there are ways for them to get home?

Not your job to put them up either. I'd be VERY clear that unfortunately as you had previously advised them you have plans for Boxing day and they are not part of those plans, so they can use this time to find somewhere to stay overnight until the direct train to their town is running again.

I’m on a packed train coming home from the rellies right now (Central 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿). 😀

Having read the thread everyone involved sounds lovely so I'm sure this will all be fine.

I would never describe myself as sociable or gregarious as I'm really not, but bloody hell, some of the replies here about leaving them in hotel lobbies, expecting them to take 10 hour journeys or just cutting them off for the future are just awful, really.

Blimey - some of the responses on this thread are so extreme! Guest is a work colleague not a stranger and there's no reason to think this is anything other than an honest mistake. Guest also sounds great - bringing nice gifts, playing with kids etc and is probably embarrassed by the situation. OP isn't outraged, just a bit miffed. She's done a kind thing in the true spirit of Christmas. I hope those posters demanding the guest be turned out to a hotel/airbnb/coach station aren't quite so mean-spirited in real life!