kids train tickets

[wayward bob]

this is the wrong forum, right?

do under fives travel free still on england/wales trains?

 

[killer b]

aye

 

[Belushi]

Top tip bob, you can post small children to your holiday destination a couple of days beforehand. Makes the whole journey there a whole lot easier.

 

[wayward bob]

Top tip bob, you can post small children to your holiday destination a couple of days beforehand. Makes the whole journey there a whole lot easier.

i thought i'd fucking done this already

turns out i drunkenly offered to take them on the train with me, seeing as they were both so keen

 

[BlueSquareThing]

National rail enquiries says...

Children under five years of age

Up to two children under five years of age may accompany each fare-paying passenger free of charge, unless the Train Company you want to use specifies otherwise in their notices and other publications. However, children under five years of age who are travelling free may only occupy a seat which is not required by a fare-paying passenger.

So, yes, so long as the train company haven't said otherwise in some small print and so long as you don't need them to be able to sit down (although at under five the chances of sitting on any single seat for a train journey of any length is limited I suppose
You might want to look at a Family Railcard btw. That'll get you a third (or something) off your own ticket as well and if you book in advance can get some ridiculous discounts which might, depending on how far you want to travel, actually make it cheaper to fork out the 30 odd quid for the railcard. And it'll get them a seat too. We got silly price tickets on the Cally Sleeper this year (<£100 for 2 adults and 2 kids) and London-Edinburgh day trains (<£40 for the same) using one. Depends how far you're going and how far in advance you can book of course.

 

[trashpony]

I take my kid on the train all the time and he's never been turfed out of a seat - by another passenger or by a ticket inspector.

afaik you're not allowed to use a family railcard with under 5s

 

[wayward bob]

we usually have a family card but i have a student one atm so we didn't bother renewing it. the ticket for kid1's only a tenner so no problem for this trip

 

[wayward bob]

re family cards we always bought tickets for kid1 when she was under 5 and we were told that was fine, cos adult+kid on a family railcard is cheaper than the adult fare alone.

 

[wayward bob]

it turns out that the threat of not bringing them on the train can sort out all kinds of physical violence