Just checked East Coast Train website for tickets to London ………. F**k me gently with a bargepole …. 4 first class return seats £1452.50p Love to know how they get to that price  ====================================

"Open Mike Night " sounded like a lot of fun until i found out i was going to an Autopsy

off topic - New car Mick? 
Gone - Range Rover Supercharged 2006

Mick,

The prices are quite frankly disgusting.

The only way I've found to get a cheaper fare is to pre-book a specific time, train and book it at least 4 days in advance.

Also, if you can, avoid peak times.

If it is going to become a regular thing, get yourself a rail card.

HTH. -Michael

Cheaper to hire car and chauffeur....

Mick, I'll drive up there, pick you and your passengers up and ferry you to your destination in greater luxury than any train. Wait around for you, help you load your bags on the way back and then take you home - all for a nice tidy £1000! 

Feel your pain Fella. I use the west coast main line to get to London from the Midlands, usually about once a week but not a regular day. Season ticket not worth it, Standard open return costs £162.50 and even pre booking costs £131 due to me needing peak time trains. Cheapest I ever got was £53 for a ticket booked 2 weeks in advance and using off peak trains both ways.

Glad I'm not paying for it but even when I was doing it 5 days a week, the season ticket was close on 11 grand a year. As a 40% tax payer I have to earn almost 20 grand just to cover the train ticket. Totally agree with you, DISGRACEFUL !!!

National Express coaches do the same journey for £14. Go figure. Yet their same trip on the Midland Mainline which they run is just as outrageous as Virgin etc. I reckon it's more about what they can get away with rather than what it costs them.

JustinP wrote:

off topic - New car Mick?

Fraid not Justin , this was the 5.0Litre i was thinking of going for , so thought i would use it as a Sig for the time being …. to see if it will lure me in ….

Next rant , checking prices for Hotels in London 3 night stay £1342 for 4 …… and thats just Bed and Breakfast …


Meant to add if anyone knows of a good Hotel near to Oxford Street , would be appreciated usually stay at the Guoman Charing Cross but looking for somewhere nearer the shops ( wifey buys too many things and donkey here has to carry them ) ..  ====================================

"Open Mike Night " sounded like a lot of fun until i found out i was going to an Autopsy

Drive down and sleep in your car  2006 Mercedes CLS
1991 Retro-style Mini
But really finding it hard to fight the urge for a S/C...

The government go on about trying to get us off the roads and on to public transport.
We have priced up many trips for the 4 of us, from local to long distance, and it is always cheaper to take the FFRR.
How can a train be more expensive than taking a range rover !!? Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

MICK - have a look at Renaissance St Pancras - new hotel, have been and is really nice. Right next to King's Cross St Pancras underground and 3 stops on the tube away from Oxford Circus.

East Coast and Midland Mainline are my only options and both are a total ripoff. Economy (sorry - Standard) class is £140 ish.

They know that business travellers generally cannot travel out of peak times (which are cunningly devised) so we have to stump up or drive.

Then parking is £10 a day!

I once paid for a first class ticket with breakfast, parking, Zone 1-6 etc. When I got on the train the on-train harridan came round with the free disgusting brown stuff (how they call it coffee is anyone's guess), I ordered a full english only to be told they don't do breakfasts on this train...

WHAT? It's the first train into London on a weekday, when would you NOT do a breakfast other than this? F****ng crazy W***** Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

Went to Scotland last year, over 800 miles, and still cheaper in Range Rover than either train or flying!

From the wife's point of view …

Driving too long a journey for her .. ( sorry dan )

Flying , baggage allowance restrictions on way home after shopping for her and two daughters no use ( not even going down that road )

Last option the Train …..

At least i managed to get a good deal on a 5* hotel -------- To think what you pay for a Hotel in London , you could have a 10 day break in the other side of the world

Oh how to be single and have a few FFRR's …...  ====================================

"Open Mike Night " sounded like a lot of fun until i found out i was going to an Autopsy

Mick, check out the Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch. Nice enough, doesn't cost a fortune and is right at the west end of Oxford St.

Already booked and paid for the Grange Saint.Paul ,so that will do them , Thanks  ====================================

"Open Mike Night " sounded like a lot of fun until i found out i was going to an Autopsy