Would you let your 10 and 13 year old on London to Leeds train alone?

[Secondtonaan]

Dds 10 (nearly 11!) and 13 are staying with family in London for a couple of days in the summer hols.

We live in Leeds and an option is them getting the train from Kings X together if my mum sees them on the train at the station and I meet them off the train at Leeds.

They're both v sensible and have phones with trackers on. Would you do this?! I think so but seems a long way.

Not the 10 year old. It's just too young. If you really want to then I'd put them in first class anger the train staff know. Not a chance I'd put them in the back. How would they handle drunks? The train breaking down? The 10 year old getting in a strop?

It's funny how different people's perception of risk is. There's no changes and they would both have fully charged phones with trackers, travelling in middle of weekday.

Dd13 is v streetwise but dd10 less so. I'm not going to do it as will worry too much! Interested in people's responses.

I do that journey say 4x a month?

Trains on that route seem to break down more than you’d expect. I’ve been turfed off at a station more than once, and it’s not as simple as “just get on the next train that comes in on that platform”- it’s not how it works.

All of which they may be very capable of navigating- but you’re also not factoring in that if they misbehave (and whilst they may be angelic kids, all kids misbehave sometimes), there’s no adult with them to sort it out- making it someone else’s problem one way or another.

Yes if they were escorted to their seats and collected at Leeds.

Yes, direct train, reserved seats. No problem. If the train breaks down or change of plan I'm sure they'll know to ask someone who works at the station which train to catch next etc.
They'll be fine. You could stress yourself out with the what ifs but why bother when more than likely there will be no issue whatsoever.

It’s the direct train right? Yes I’d do it but in 1st Class so the staff will be forced to look after them. They’ll also get some food there too if they get hungry.

Not in a Million years

@Secondtonaan
I travel on that LNER route, regularly and the staff are great. I think if you inform the guard(s) when they board, they will be more than happy to be extra vigilant - they were with my solo DS when he was 14, in fact, they upgraded him to First Class

No. A 13 year old can’t be responsible for a 10 year old, that’s really unfair.

A couple of weeks ago my 3hr journey (Yorkshire to Scotland) took 7hrs, including being chucked off at Newcastle as the train terminated. I wasn't impressed with the little information that LNER provided (which, while waiting putside Newcastle for 30 mins, was "just find the next train North"... except several train loads got told that!!!). So honestly, my faith in LNER is low. I didn't see any staff on the train in that time, not even checking tickets. To add to the fun... an increasingly drunk stag party.

No

It's what 2 hours?

My friends sister puts her children on a flight from Johannesburg to Glasgow (via Dubai) at the age of 11 and 13 alone. Met in Scotland by granny.

I’ve also travelled on trains a lot and have have been turfed off more than once and with very sketchy information about the onward journey. As for notifying a guard, it is often impossible to find one.

It's too much responsibility to put on a 13 year old. Ultimately they are responsible for them both

Yes. My 2 (11 and 13) have done London ro Newcastle and back, Newcastle to Perth, Perth to London. You make them.known to the train staff and make sure their phones are charged. If a breakdown occurs you'd be on the phone navigating them through it. If it was a disastrous breakdown with no further trains, the train company would bus them and like I say the train guard is aware of them on the train and where they are due to get off. Both mine have done solo journeys too. We are all frequent train users so it's not like they don't know what to expect. And neither did.it before they felt ready

I'd ask your kids how they felt about it, OP. Ime they won't just glibly sign up for something they couldn't manage

Yes I would and have done this on a similar route with my kids at that age. It was a bit daunting for them and me the first time but they relished the independence and the older one had a phone in case of any emergency. He's been travelling by tube and train to school since he was 11 and a confident traveller. I think it's great to get kids to do things like this, if they are up for it. The eldest (now 14) flew alone for the first time recently which he loved.

Absolutely not. I'd be concerned if a parent was to do this.

It really depends on the children, their relationship to each other (are they inclined to fight?l and their experience of public transport, so a parent needs to make a judgement call, rather than ask social media. I'm on trains everyday (commuter on intercity) and the events described above like fights, vomiting etc I have never seen happen during the day. Theft is a potential problem, but there is no higher proportion of weirdos on trains than anywhere else. If the service is non-stop, I cant see a particular risk - most people are helpful rather than a threat.

To give you independent context, airlines regard children over age 12 competent to travel alone. Yes, there are crew on board the aircraft but the young person is expected to navigate security, passport control, find gate etc unaccompanied.

I'd gauge how they would be best placed to handle an emergency. I travel on the trains all the time, for those posters who haven't had anything happen you are very lucky. The usual delays, cancellations and extra stops aside here's a few of the more exciting things to happen to me on a train:
Snow froze the tracks and got stopped going over the Pennines for 2 hours in a freezing carriage, got turfed off at different stop and had to work out which crammed train to get back home.
Landslip closed the eastcoast line to London, train got rerouted to west coast and had to get on packed trains from there.
Got locked on a train at the last station as my luggage broke, as I was gathering my belongings up they locked the train doors.
Whilst on the train they announced they were no longer stopping at my stop due to an 'incident' on the platform, had to get an Uber back to my destination

Of course the staff will help, however they are also trying to help hundreds of other people in similar situations and it can get very crowded and overwhelming.

@Bakersdozens

Thank you!

I feel like I've turned into a negative worry wort in recent years.

your post has made me feel like I'm actually still quite positive & cheerful!!

How do you leave your house??

@Secondtonaan I would if they can be trusted to behave, they're not having to even negotiate a change of train. Go through what to do if worried about anything (maybe put the rail companies number in their phones)

tell them to stick together & look after each other, don't put the 13 year old in charge.

just the usual stuff like asking rail staff for help and not going off with anyone (even staff away from the other passengers)

they're more capable than they're given credit for! Don't suck all the excitement out of it!

Yes, if its a direct train. My dc have done that before, met at the other end with me putting them on the train.

Can you book some sort of passenger assistance so that the guard keeps an eye on them?

I would as long as it was direct and they had reserved seats.

Other than the train breaking down in which case staff would help direct them anyway, I don't see what harm they could come to?

Tbh, it really depends on your DC. If they are being escorted onto the train by GP and youre meeting then at the other end, it's unlikely that much else would go wrong.

Do they both get along well? Have they ever been left alone together before? Do they both have phones? Are they BOTH quite sensible?

Do you have time to practice catching a few trains one or 2 stops away with them taking the lead If needed?

Would they know not to listen to 'well-meaning' advice from strangers? They know to seek help from a member of staff and how to identify them? Would they know how to find the toilet on the train?

However, if they've not been independent at all, than it's a bit extreme expecting them to do that journey by themselves.

Surely they'd be smart enough to move carriage? Have they travelled on trains before?