What would be the worst that could happen?

[bananasinpjamas]

Right. Here is my scenario.

I have booked my train ticket from uni (on london midland on the crewe- london euston line). Its a off peak return, that means I can return at any time within one month.

I booked it online for the 19th of april. However, a change of circumstances means that it would be a LOT more convenient if I could make the journey at the same time on the 17th.

I have already collected the tickets at the ticket machine and unable to amend them online. I have a disabled railcard.

My two questions are:

1. Whats the worst that they can do to me if I decide to travel on the Sunday at the same time?

2. When do I need to depart on a Sunday to ensure my off peak is valid?

Thanks x :D

You could always ring up railway enquiries, they are very helpful, check out www.saynoto0870.com for phone numbers.

Thanks alot, will try them in the morning :)

they can make you pay for a full price single on the train. Sorry - outward saver tickets not usually alterable.

:S

Most likely they would make you pay the full single fare - I was on a Leeds-London train last year and saw this happen to 2 people who had tickets for the right date but wrong time, iirc they had to pay about £100 as the full price of a single ticket (my advance return was about £30, so a lot more). And they don't take off any railcard discount either when you have to buy the right ticket on the train. I would definitely call and check beforehand as it could work out v expensive otherwise....

Thanks again :)

You can change this ticket. You need to go to the ticket desk at the station BEFORE the day of travel and change the ticket to the new date of travel. You will be charged an admin fee (currently £10 I think) and also the difference in price between the existing ticket and the new one. So, you could end up paying a higher price but it's better than cancelling and losing all that money. Alternatively you can pay for a full price ticket on board on the day of travel.

If you travel on a Sunday you're also more likely to be disrupted for engineering works etc., so you'll probably end up doing at least part of the journey by bus. Not sure if you'd want to take that into account before changing your trip.

What about monday?

You could always try bursting into tears and pretending you had no idea your ticket was for the 'wrong' day.

I once got a free train ride from Newbury to Somerset with this tactic.

Whats the likelyhood of them being nice if I said it was a typo?

What's the worst that can happen?

A big fat fine and a red face on the train.