I bought the CHEAPEST rail ticket in the UK!

I discovered that the ever quirky UK rail ticketing system had a train ticket that only cost 10 pence. This is my investigation!

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[atsb]

The easiest one to get is London Blackfriars. Tell them you want to get to the other side of the river and they'll happily sell you one

[neilpickup]

It is a shame that access to platforms for non-travellers is so restricted.

I remember how, many years ago we would take my gran to the station and get her seated and her luggage stowed. At the other end, my cousin would assist.

Agreed, free assistance is now supplied, but that is at a cost to the operator, and not always as timely as an unpaid friend or relative resulting in a potential delay to the service.

[AndrewWalker-zi]

When I were a lad in the 70's/80's the station had platform ticket machines. You put a 2p piece in to get the ticket and you were allowed to access the station platforms. This was when you had actual people controlling access to the platforms rather than electronic gate lines which don't recognise my Swift Card half the time...

[xavierputh]

In Germany, we don't have "Platform Ticket", because we can access the train station without any ticket control before entering the platform. In other ways, it means everybody has the right of accessing into the train station area, no matter for bigger or smaller stations, so it's brandnew for me to know that it exist in UK! Gut gemacht!

[ibrahimhimself]

0:50 'Absolutely Brilliant negotiating skills! I don't even know what I was trying to say there.' got me choking 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Soj_]

That may be the cheapest ticket ever, but its the worst VALUE ticket ever. You don't get any metres traveled for the ticket, which means you have just one-upped Nick Badley's most expensive ticket ever.

[owainsutton]

This needs pushing further.

Platform tickets are a really useful piece of accessibility, where somebody might otherwise depend on staff for a simple matter such as lifting baggage.

[DavidShepheard]

I've bought platform tickets, when I was younger.

They should be available at all stations (and via the computerised system). If someone disabled wants to get onto a train, someone who is not going with them should be entitled to go onto the platform and help them get onto their train.

[RMBVlogs]

They would make insane money off of this at Stockport. They have to let people through to access the town centre from Edgeley, they do this for free

[ReeseofEastAnglia]

Also worth mentioning Heathrow Terminal 5 - Hatton Cross can be done for free.

[richardfisher]

This is the best entertainment watch. A ten-pence non-legit (ish) ticket. Presented in context and with skill. I love these posts. Do please carry on (not to the detriment of educational time constraints, of course.)

[nixcails]

I remember they were abolished with the open stations policy of br in 1980's then privatisation brought the gates and profit, profit, profit over service.

[paultidd]

I have purchased platform tickets at Leeds on quite a few occasions, but I’m pretty sure they were not 10p - I think more than that. However, Northern used to have flash sales, either before or just after the pandemic, where there were 10p tickets for journeys, like Leeds to Chester or the Settle to Carlisle Line from Leeds. But they slowly increased the price over the years and now they don’t seem to do these flash sales under public ownership!

[GlobeSyncUK]

Great video. I usually negotiate to get past the barriers but sometimes the staff still tell me to get a platform ticket! Seems like they don't work anywhere considering I've tried them several times on the GWML without success.

[MattijsVandebroek]

Nice video.
But it's quite intresting you had to pay for platform access (not taking up any space in the train) while a bike reservation is free (and bikes DO take up space in the train).

All trains here have a speciall compartiment for weelchairs and bikes.

[AlteranAnciote]

Best way to get a Platform Ticket is to say you're going to be meeting someone at the platform, or helping an elderly friend/relative off the train or something. They don't like giving them out because they're worried people will use them for fare evasion. If you're very clear and up-front about your intentions, it's usually a lot easier to get one.

[speedcubingdotorg]

When I did work experience with GTR back in 2018, I got to play around with the ticket machines, I discovered that theoretically you could get a ticket from lichfield to lichfield Trent Valley for 10p provided you were a child and you qualified for the 75% staff discount

[paulharvey]

They've gone up! Used to be 2p from a machine, when they were widely available. I guess they permit use of platform facilities - waiting rooms, toilets, etc., as well as just being there!

[mthetrainspotter]

During a series I do on YouTube, two of those episodes has me buying platform tickets at the majority of the stations. It's always a fun collectible to receive. Still do this today. I have encountered where they don't know what a platform ticket is and was accused of using it to board a train, which was simply false, but managed to sort out before they escalated the situation further. I think it's something staff should be aware more of, because hardly many know what they are and may have never even served one their whole career working with the TOC.

[RedJubilee]

Wow, I wonder why they don't keep these in action specifically for trainspotters. This was a really interesting video!