To let my 15 ds get a train from Birmingham uni to Birmingham New Street then Euston Station on the train on his own?

[Owlbabie5]

Dp and Ds insisting he’ll be fine. I’m feeling twitchy. He has never been to Birmingham. We’d pick him up at Euston.

What is Birmingham New Street like?

Like any other big station - it has signs, train times, directions and staff to ask if you have a question. Honestly its no more difficult than any other station.

Dp will meet him on the platform at Euston

You mentioned you live in Devon - does your DP just happen to be in London? If not its a few stops on the tube (signposted from Euston) around to Paddington for the GWR back to Devon.

Honestly teens have been doing these journeys for a long time and without movile phones and all the online information - he will be fine!

Please don’t tell me his father is coming up to London specially to meet him......

I bet he is ...

@avamiah

I live in London and travel on trains and the underground on a daily basis. I personally would not let a 15 year old travel by themselves on the train and into London.

you didn't grow up in London, did you?

has it occurred to you that tens of thousands of school children in London travel to school themselves each day from the age of 11?

I was getting the tube into town from the age of 10.

To suggest that a 15 year-old can't get the tube without an adult is really really bizarre

New Street is easy peasy. It's big but there is loads and loads of staff. The station from the hospita/uni station is easy too.

I have let my daughter travel from London to Birmingham since she was 12. Never been a problem.

I remember Muirhead Tower swaying in the wind.

At what age do you stop “letting” a child do things like travel on a train alone? I think when mine were 15 I would have just assumed they were going alone unless they said something about wanting someone to go with them.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk is a site where he can track where his train is, if it's going to be delayed and which platform it will arrive into. The information there is faster and more accurate than that on the station board. It might help if yes nervous about getting on the right train.

National rail enquiries also gives information on whether trains are running on time and platforms www.nationalrail.co.uk/

Interesting to see that everyone thinks Birmingham New Street is easy to navigate. I think it is far harder than other stations now that it is divided into "lounges". There are plenty of people to ask but that is because it isn't that easy. Still if he knows what platform he needs in advance it won't take long to find the train to Euston.

Muirhead definitely used to sway in the wind, hence the scaffolding and the “beware falling masonry and glass” signs. I remember seeing scaffolding when I went to look round in 1999, and it remained up til I graduated in 2003 😄

Fear not OP, apparently it’s been fixed now!

@SinkGirl I remember the signs in Muirhead, "For your own safety, do not linger on the stairs"

It would never happen nowadays. I understand the main library has gone. The stacks were the only quiet places I found to get work done. I loved it in there.

The big main campus library? Really? That’s such a shame if so! Different time then though, barely anything online and 15 people scrabbling over one or two library copies of the same textbook.

I think at 15 he should be able to navigate his way through Birmingham New Street Station as well as an adult. Personally I do find it quite confusing but as long as he leaves plenty of time and is prepared to ask someone if he is unsure. There will be loads of local (Birmingham) kids have to do this to visit friends / get to school and once he's on the London train he'll be fine.

At the age of 14 I went from Bristol to Scotland and back without issue. I'd never been to Birmingham or Glasgow before.

Tell him that when he changes trains at New Street, he should use the stairs at the 'B' end of the station (the platforms all have 'A' and 'B' ends. The 'B' end is much easier to navigate.

Alternatively, if he's feeling adventurous, he could walk from New Street to Moor Street and catch a train to Marylebone. It's often cheaper.

If your DS is happy and confident about doing it, I'd be happy too. It's good for him to be independent.

For those people saying it will be fine. It probably will be fine and as long as Euston is the final destination on the train it should be easy to find the platform at Birmingham New Street. However, it can be quite difficult to find the correct platform from the overhead screens if you are getting off at a station before the final destination as it is hard to find the correct train. That is why a train app is really useful

Has the OP answered the question about why his father will be meeting him in London? Please tell me he's not doing the entire journey from Devon just to meet him - at 15 years old.

@SinkGirl, I am sure it's fabulous, and the new library is great, but I did feel a pang -

www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/building/green-heart/index.aspx

bumblingbovine49 Of course Euston is the final destination, trains can't go past there. Have you ever been to London?

bumblingbovine49 Of course Euston is the final destination, trains can't go past there. Have you ever been to London?

Well if Bumbling has to ask if Euston is the last stop, she probably hasn’t been to Euston, but that’s not the same as never having been to London. She might have travelled into St Pancras, Waterloo, Paddington; she might have driven or travelled by coach. It’s a weird assumption. There’s no ‘of course’ about Euston being the final stop if you haven’t been there!

Has the OP answered the question about why his father will be meeting him in London? Please tell me he's not doing the entire journey from Devon just to meet him - at 15 years old.

Why would he be doing that though? You wouldn't go through London to get to Devon from Birmingham.

We are flying out of Heathrow the next day so dp will be meeting him at Euston and travel with him to the hotel we are staying in at Heathrow. Ds is doing a camp type thing at Birmingham Uni just before.Can live with the changes to Euston but not keen on him getting the underground to Heathrow alone although he has travelled on it a lot with us over the years.

I flew to sweden to visit a friend (on my own) when I was 17. I crossed the whole country by train a bunch of time when I was 15 because my boarding school was there and my parents lived here. Including a change of station in the capital city with lots of luggage.

Your son is gonna be fine. I assume he has a cellphone anyway, so worst case scenario, he'll call you.

It probably will be fine and as long as Euston is the final destination on the train it should be easy to find the platform at Birmingham New Street. However, it can be quite difficult to find the correct platform from the overhead screens if you are getting off at a station before the final destination as it is hard to find the correct train. That is why a train app is really useful.

Omg. I do not believe what I am reading on this thread. I just.. It doesn't matter if it is the final station or not. Kids have been travelling alone on trains from as young as 10, only 20 years ago. I don't understand why society is regressing. Soon people will be shocked that someone at 19 can find their way just to the local train station, or even boil an egg. The station will have timetables that show what platform and time. As well as overhead screens. To think, only 25 years ago there were no mobile 'apps', in fact, barely even any mobile phones at all; just paper train timetables, and the station desk. How the hell did any of us survive? ffs. If a 15 year old teen of average ability cannot even figure out which platform to get off/on without an 'app', the next generation is well and truly effed. Beyond all recognition. This is so depressing.