Advice required: Advance ticket, but with no reservation...

[whole diary]

[Btline]

I have bought a Birmingham New Street to Brighton Advance Single ticket. It is route VWC + CNNCTNS.

I was given a reservation for the New Street - Euston stretch, but not for the London - Brighton stretch.

My "itinerary" shows I should catch a train from Victoria to Brighton. However, a thought has occurred to me. Southern issue Advanced tickets on that route, so won't they want to see a reservation card when they see my advance ticket?

Can I catch any train by any route from London to Brighton on this ticket? What about the evening peak? Why haven't they given me a reservation for the whole journey?

Many thanks in advance for those of you "in the know".

[Ollie]

Southern don't have reserved seats

But in theory you should have a ticket shows the train you should be on.

[inspector_blakey]

Not necessarily: the "+ connections" seems to cover a multitude of sins. For example, if I book advance from Oxford to Bristol or South Wales, a coupon for the "non-reservable" leg from Oxford to Didcot is never provided. I think the coupons showing a service time but no seat reservation are only issued when the entire journey is on a non-reservable service (e.g. an OXF^» (Oxford - next trains)-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) advance ticket on a Turbo-operated fast train I bought a while ago just had a timed coupon with *** in the reservation field).

Your actual travel ticket will say "issued as x coupons", where presumably in your case btline x will be 2; the reservation coupon BHM - EUS will say "Mandatory reservation coupon 1 of 1" on it. It will therefore be clear to anyone checking tickets between London and Brighton that your ticket is legitimate and you should not have a problem.

BUT: remember Advance tickets do not permit break of journey. You can't technically catch any train from Victoria to Brighton as you are not allowed to break your journey during the cross-London transfer. I would stick to the service that the journey planner tells you to use as part of your itinerary (and if you want to be absolutely safe, print out a copy of that itinerary and take it with you so you can show it to any staff examining tickets if queried).

[Btline]

Thanks both for your quick replies.

BUT: remember Advance tickets do not permit break of journey. You can't technically catch any train from Victoria to Brighton as you are not allowed to break your journey during the cross-London transfer. I would stick to the service that the journey planner tells you to use as part of your itinerary (and if you want to be absolutely safe, print out a copy of that itinerary and take it with you so you can show it to any staff examining tickets if queried).

But how long in London is a break of journey?

[Ollie]

It will go by the recommended journey plan, so it's best to stick to it to avoid any confrontation.