Do people really believe thousands of people ran to the station without a pre-booked ticket yesterday as soon as they heard about the new restrictions?

[Tellmetruth4]

Just that really. I keep seeing pictures on the news of busy London train stations yesterday. Does anyone truly believe that after hearing the news at 4pm, people managed to pack all of their stuff, turn up to the station without a ticket and find accommodation on the last Saturday before Christmas? Or do they think the people at the train station booked it some time ago to leave and stay with family after finishing work on Friday?

YABU - Yes they ‘fled’ when they heard the news
YANBU- No they’d booked trains when they thought households were allowed to mix and the news and government are trying to make it look like these people on trains yesterday were trying to get around the new rules.

I know a lot of people who were planning to travel on the Sunday (today) or Monday (tomorrow), so just hastily threw some things in a bag and fled. It bought their plans forward, so they were all travelling at the same time as everyone else, rather than spaced over three days...

Well done, Boris. Well bloody done.

In previous years, the train stations have always been jam packed just like that on the Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday before Christmas. We've done it for years (well, except when there was strike action called for just as I finish work - which was most years, frankly).

We've had prebooked tickets every time, but have still been crammed on like sheep to France, unable to even get near a seat - the last time there wasn't a strike called, I spent 4.5 hours sat on the floor in front of the luggage rack where DP has perched whilst people stepped over me (and my crutches) to get to the toilet.

I'm sure some of the people had been day trippers who still had to get home, but anybody who regularly travels back for Christmas knows this - and will prebook as it's only an arm and a leg to travel compared to a kidney if you turn up on the day. Pretty sure that the majority of those who did turn up on the day would be people who had booked a ticket for Monday/Tuesday in the hope that it would be less awful as well.

So it's not "Londoners" being selfish and spreading it, it's northerners returning home

It is people based in London, leaving London when they shouldn't have.

Tickets can be bought on your mobile in about 3 minutes...

@Glamflimfloogety Ah yes, so not "real" Londoners Just more stupid Northerners. No wonder there's a north-south divide when people think (and post) shit like that.

Of course, the trains heading towards the South Coast were empty. As were the motorways to Cornwall...

@Glamflimfloogety

I'm also getting sick of them being referred to as "Londoners" on SM and in the media. If they are able to flee to elsewhere, they aren't Londoners, as by definition they are returning to what they consider home.

Actual Londoners, the ones that grew up here, and their whole families still live in London are still here as we have nowhere else to go. So it's not "Londoners" being selfish and spreading it, it's northerners returning home - and a very few rich wankers escaping to second homes. Either way, not true Londoners!

How is that true? My parents live in Yorkshire and I'm from there but I certainly don't think of it as 'home'.

I live and work in London, with my Londoner partner. This is home. I'm a Londoner.

Yes, there were people posting on Twitter saying that is exactly what they'd done. 🤷‍♀️

The travel window wasn’t due to start til Wednesday, so whether they booked in advance or just turned up they were massively BU

@SoupDragon

Or do they think the people at the train station booked it some time ago to leave and stay with family after finishing work on Friday?

Do most people usually finish work a week before Christmas then?

Due to entering T4, many will be furloughed hospitality workers, hairdressers and other non essential workers.

But I also think (given the age of most of the travellers in the Daily Fail photos), a lot would've been Uni students who were always allowed to return home.

Kind of puts into perspective the Northerners are ‘thick’ memo put around by Londoners during Brexit. There’s nothing ‘thicker’ in my opinion than thousands of people thinking that if they left the capital yesterday afternoon, that they were less contagious than after midnight tonight. Madness.

I know many people who started going on Trainline at about 2pm as news of what was abou to happen began to leak. Some of course were always travelling but it’s not a big travel day in and of itself

[quote Lazypuppy]**@ABitOdd most office workers take 2 weeks annual leave and finished last week[/quote]
They really don’t. I don’t know anyone working in an office who could possibly do that. In my line of work, leave over Christmas is highly restricted. We don’t even get the public holidays automatically.

Why do all these northerners that have left last night have to be on leave? How many office workers are now working from home. I think the northerners packed their mobile and laptop and raced home...
of course the people from others areas of the UK all stayed put in London, as they didn’t have two weeks holiday and they aren’t anywhere near as badly behaved as the northerners.

I've read reports of Londonders fleeing to their second homes outside the tier 4 areas. Most likely Cornwall.

I guess a fair number of people who planned to travel later, chose to get a train out before the deadline. It was hardly a surprise.

Either way, London is a city of 7 million people. This was a tiny minority in the grand scheme of things. The media is whipping up a North / South divide narrative and its not helpful.

@StCharlotte

Well considering people in London shouldn't have been travelling until the "window" started on 23rd, I'd say yes.

Very true. OP, you say "No they’d booked trains when they thought households were allowed to mix...." but yesterday the only people allowed to mix with other households indoors were people in tier 1, so anyone leaving London to go and stay with their Christmas bubble was breaking the rules anyway.

That said, the photos I've seen of Euston make it look pretty quiet. I have regularly travelled out of there at Christmas, and other times of year, and it looked massively less crowded that it usually would just before Christmas, and not really even as busy as a normal evening. I'm not convinced that hordes of people were travelling out of London.

Saturday night would be an unusual time to head “home” for Xmas in a normal year. Friday evening or Saturday morning would be much more usual if you weren’t going to be working in Xmas week IME.

Given that the biggest crowds were at Kings Cross and Euston, it's easy to conclude that they were heading north (as that's we're most trains out of those stations go). But of course there will be rich wankers heading to second homes - news flash though, not everyone in London is a millionaire, and this group won't be a large number of people!

I doubt the people heading north have booked themselves into a Travelodge for the next week? They've gone to their families.

My point being, when the cases up north inevitably start to spike in the next few weeks, and the new strain is found there too, don't blame the scummy southerners. It was Northern family members that raced home and infected you all.

@waydownwego

I know a lot of people who were planning to travel on the Sunday (today) or Monday (tomorrow), so just hastily threw some things in a bag and fled. It bought their plans forward, so they were all travelling at the same time as everyone else, rather than spaced over three days...

Well done, Boris. Well bloody done.

As neither today nor tomorrow are within the original travel window they were already going to be breaking the rules by travelling and the mixing households, so not sure why they were suddenly so worried about breaking the rules and felt a need to move their travel.

Not that moving travel to Saturday means they are within the rules, as the ban on mixing households remains in place.

My DD went back to the Midlands last night on a sparsely populated train after being stuck in a bedsit for nine months. Euston was slightly busier than expected around 9 pm, but not ridiculously so. She's been following all recommendations religiously up to this point.

There is a risk, but I think she did the right thing. She can easily isolate now for a few weeks as her job's gone down the toilet.

@Glamflimfloogety

Given that the biggest crowds were at Kings Cross and Euston, it's easy to conclude that they were heading north (as that's we're most trains out of those stations go). But of course there will be rich wankers heading to second homes - news flash though, not everyone in London is a millionaire, and this group won't be a large number of people!

I doubt the people heading north have booked themselves into a Travelodge for the next week? They've gone to their families.

My point being, when the cases up north inevitably start to spike in the next few weeks, and the new strain is found there too, don't blame the scummy southerners. It was Northern family members that raced home and infected you all.

The crowds I saw were St Pancras, not KX. LNER have been good about only selling tickets with seat reservations relatively spaced out, and they go from KX.

EMR, on the other , seem to have sold loads of last minute tickets without reservations, and they are StP.

Had they responsibly only sold tickets with spaced reservations, this would not have happened.

“So it's not "Londoners" being selfish and spreading it, it's northerners returning home - and a very few rich wankers escaping to second homes. Either way, not true Londoners!“

North of the Watford Gap type Northerners?
Also, if you think it’s no fun getting blamed for the spread of a pandemic as a demographic, welcome to the world of the northerner!

I’m sure some were pre booked and I’m sure some weren’t.

Friend of mine her dad drove down to London in an emergency dash to pick her brother up who lives in London. He left as soon as he heard the announcement to make a 6 hour round trip. I’m sure he wasn’t the only one.

Just the media whipping up anti-southern sentiment as usual.

I was at King's Cross around half 6 and it
wasn't at all busy. As busy as early Sunday morning in normal times. Train was not packed either (probably about 1/3 full, plenty of room to distance).

I'm a Londoner, but am bubbled with my terminally ill DM.