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Original poster

Is 10 & 13 too young to travel unaccompanied on a 2.5 hour train journey?

164 replies

mymadworld · 27/06/2019 11:23

My parents want to have our children to stay in the summer holidays and we are trying to work out logistics of getting them there & back. By far the easiest & cheapest option is putting them on a train at London and my parents meeting them the other end (& vice versa for the return) but I'm not sure if they're a bit young to do a big journey on their own. Eldest regularly travels by bus on his own and youngest has walks himself to school/local shops but it's obviously a big jump dispatching them off 200 miles!
Any thoughts?

OP posts:
cavalier · 27/06/2019 14:44

I wouldn’t be comfortable with it
I was with DH on train 2 days ago and a person got on ... it unnerved me that he was talking to himself and started talking to me but luckily I was with hubby . Nobody else on train .. h was harmless I think but ... two children alone ... no .. it
Made me aware how vulnerable you can be when the carriage empties out ...

Ormally · 27/06/2019 14:52

Cavalier, indeed, like a chap who got on to one of my services a week or 2 ago, looked as if he'd been hiking but then had one side of a phone conversation about how he needed to wee and proceeded to do so in the gap between carriages where the automatic doors let you through to walk into other carriages...
Have also seen coke taken on a table (in normal and busy commuting hours, journey of about half an hour).

MargoLovebutter · 27/06/2019 14:57

The routes in question are busy and popular routes - and daytime travel during the school holidays will be busier than usual with families. The likelihood of children being all by themselves in a carriage with a nutter is small.

Statistically speaking our children will be more at risk of harm every single time we drive them anywhere in the car.

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floribunda18 · 27/06/2019 14:57

Well, that's life. DD1 travels ten miles a day to school on a bus and there are always the odd random nutters lurking about knowing there are 1000 teenage girls up the road, and takes trains regularly when she has to stay at school later or go in early as well. DD2 walks to and from school on her own or with her cousin or friend. It's not the Wild West. I tend to think a train journey from London - Manchester is somewhat less of a risk than going to and from school. I've done that journey hundreds of times and have felt irritated, hot and bothered at times but never in a million years unsafe.

caringcarer · 27/06/2019 15:06

I think 13 is too young to take full responsibility for a 10 year old. I would take them myself. I know it is not cheap but would grandparents pay towards their fares or meet them halfway? They mature a lot between 13 and 14. I would wait another couple of years until 15 and 12 but I am probably over cautious.

Booboo66 · 27/06/2019 15:23

My main concern is that more half the time we travel from London the seat booking system has failed and we end up crushed in a hallway on the floor

BertrandRussell · 27/06/2019 15:38

“My main concern is that more half the time we travel from London the seat booking system has failed and we end up crushed in a hallway on the floor”
Well, at least that way they

BertrandRussell · 27/06/2019 15:39

aren’t going to be alone with the precious posters’ potential child molwaters........

floribunda18 · 27/06/2019 15:43

Also as the OP will be seeing them onto the train at the terminal, she'll be able to check they can sit in their reserved seats and are generally comfortable before the train leaves.

SonEtLumiere · 27/06/2019 15:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

needsomesleepy · 27/06/2019 15:56

Also as the OP will be seeing them onto the train at the terminal, she'll be able to check they can sit in their reserved seats and are generally comfortable before the train leaves.

Possibly. It depends whether the person checking tickets at Euston lets OP through to do this. Most people, 'yes of course, that's fine', jobsworth 'no you can't go to the platform you don't have a valid ticket'. It really does depend.

Pannalash · 27/06/2019 15:57

Not in a million years.

AuntieMarys · 27/06/2019 16:00

I would expect my dcs to be able to do this.

TragicallyUnbeyachted · 27/06/2019 16:04

I've done it with mine (on separate occasions) -- 13yo actually had to get himself across London and then onto the right train, while 10yo I put onto the train that was going directly to her final destination. They were fine. I gave them money for emergencies and (separate) money for snacks on train, and they had a mobile phone.

Oldest is a worrier so we spent some time going over "What will you do if X happens?" scenarios until he felt confident.

KnifeAngel · 27/06/2019 16:07

No way would I be happy doing that.

Toohardtofindaproperusername · 27/06/2019 16:09

No way would i be putting a 13 and 10 year old on a train to London. Way too young. Way too many variables. Way too risky (and I mean this in Its widest including emotionally for them) - There may be someone the other end but getting off a train in London is disorientating and confusing for many adults let alone a 13 and 10 year old. I think u would be mad to consider it imho. Sorry. I know lots are saying yes. I think you posted because you are unsure and uneasy about it. Take them half way if your parents can meet you at suitable Maybe at that point they could travel with grandparents by train. Don’t do it. Travelling in own to school is not comparable .

Ohyesiam · 27/06/2019 16:11

Depends on the kids. I think my two would have been fine, dd naturally so, ds with lots of talking to and listening to his reservations.
I don’t think much can go wrong in the company of lots of other adults, especially if the eldest ( at least) has their head screwed on.

happytoday73 · 27/06/2019 16:18

Will they have a mobile phone? My main concern is them finding grandparents in a busy piccadilly.
I wonder if them getting off at Stockport would be better... All trains stop there and much quieter station with parking for your parents. However Manchester being end of lined might guarantee they get off.

stayathomer · 27/06/2019 16:19

Out of interest if you google youngest a child can travel unaccompanied it does come up with what an above poster said, that anyone under 12 needs a 16 yo with them. I’d ring the train station before you figure out whether you would or not

FfionFlorist · 27/06/2019 16:21

They'll be just fine, it isn't a complicated journey so no real risk they'll cock it up, dd2 I'm looking at you, but it's long enough that they'll be a little bit challenged, they'll have to work together and they'll feel like it's an adventure. All of that is good for kids.

BertrandRussell · 27/06/2019 16:25

Tell them to go with the crowd to the ticket barrier, then wait. Not hard for the meeting person to find out where the train is coming in.

needsomesleepy · 27/06/2019 16:27

Out of interest if you google youngest a child can travel unaccompanied it does come up with what an above poster said, that anyone under 12 needs a 16 yo with them

Out of interest, when you googled did you take this from the virgin trains actual site? Or just a random, possibly irrelevant site?

BertrandRussell · 27/06/2019 16:30

How do all the under 12am’s who go to the school on the train manage it?

IdblowJonSnow · 27/06/2019 16:34

No. I wouldn't. Just a little bit too young to manage if something out the ordinary happens or they are exposed to any dodgy behaviour/characters.
Can't you just meet them halfway to pass the kids over?

Igmum · 27/06/2019 16:48

London-Manchester is very reliable. If they have to travel first class to get support (it is very well staffed by lovely staff) as some posters have said they will get free food (fabulous on weekdays, dire at weekends) and the journey is fractionally over 2 hours. Trains come in to Manchester Piccadilly. Even if the DGPs can't come onto the platform they can wait right by the barriers which are close. Are they sensible? Do they have a phone? Go for it and I hope they have a lovely time