If you didn’t book your train tickets for over the Christmas period in advance, you could pay up to 400% more when you turn up at the station to travel.
On average, there is a £50 markup for passengers who purchase tickets on the day of travel, in comparison to the price of limited availability tickets purchased in advance. However, around the Christmas period, these tickets rapidly sell out due to the amount of people travelling to see family. From Friday 18th, it is estimated that around 4 million people will travel on the country’s railways, with many of them having been unable to purchase advance tickets.
The ten busiest routes will include Bristol to Newcastle, London to Sheffield and Bristol to Edinburgh and an analysis of them showed an average of an £80 markup when buying tickets on the day, in comparison to buying them a month in advance. Some campaigners have criticised rail companies for ‘exploiting’ the demand for tickets over the Christmas period, stating that British people already have to pay some of the most expensive rail fares in Europe.
One representative for a pressure group said that travellers should not be punished for wanting to have the flexibility of buying tickets on the day. According to sales figures from the Train Line, Saturday the 19th of December will be the busiest travel day of the Christmas period, with London Euston being the busiest station.
