Ongoing UK rail strike action thread

[MJW]

That’s a bug***. I can get to the Nutcracker but may have to cancel the RB class 🤬

[LinMM]

Well I guess it was unlucky 13 🙄
I’ve just checked the website and there’s only one other performance where seats are available to change to before Christmas but it’s a bit of a huge price mark up to what I paid for 13th 😳. I will just have to see if I can stay in London on the 12th as well! Luckily I don’t have to pay anything but can’t always necessarily stay extra nights etc. I would originally have just stayed the one night on 13th but as the strike is now 48 hours I would have to stay three nights!!!
 Looks like some bargaining to be done! Luckily it’s close to my birthday so may get lucky one way or the other! 

[Dawnstar]

I wonder whether the trains will be running normally on 15th or whether they'll be completely messed up, with strikes either side. We're supposed to be visting York 12th-15th & I'm supposed to be coming home via the ROH to see Tosca. I don't want to get stuck in York until 18th!

[Rob S]

21 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

I wonder whether the trains will be running normally on 15th or whether they'll be completely messed up, with strikes either side. We're supposed to be visting York 12th-15th & I'm supposed to be coming home via the ROH to see Tosca. I don't want to get stuck in York until 18th!

 

Early/late trains on the 15th Dec and 5th Jan will likely be affected....that's why they space it like that

[Dawnstar]

Early trains not a problem, as we're not booked to leave York until 4pm, but if late trains are affected then I may have post-Tosca problems.

 

The overtime ban also sounds ominous. I wonder if that will cause a lot of last minute train cancellations.

[Mary]

There is a lot of engineering work on many lines as well from mid December, which is worth checking for in advance.....

[Rob S]

7 minutes ago, Mary said:

There is a lot of engineering work on many lines as well from mid December, which is worth checking for in advance.....

 

They generally have replacement buses for that, so although travel is slower it tends to be do-able.

 

I have been able to catch late night trains the night before a strike so all is not yet lost

[LinMM]

When I got to the Opera house just an hour and a half after my post there were no tickets left for the other performance so now ALL Nutcrackers are sold out before Christmas! 
If I can’t stay three nights that week then will have to return the ticket. I may try for any spares here on the Forum first though for a non strike day I can attend. Or have to forego Nutcracker this year 😥 

[MJW]

1 hour ago, Rob S said:

 

They generally have replacement buses for that, so although travel is slower it tends to be do-able.

 

I have been able to catch late night trains the night before a strike so all is not yet lost

 

I suppose the problem in this instance is that the strikes are for 48 hrs so if you  travelled the day before, you may be stuck for three nights before being able to travel back.

[JohnS]

It’s worth keeping an eye on the web. I’ve seen a number of Nutcracker tickets returned but they are very quickly snapped up when they appear for resale. I’ve been keeping an eye out for an extra ticket for one of the performances I’m going to and am still thinking I might well get a ticket. And there’s always Friday rush.

[MJW]

17 minutes ago, LinMM said:

When I got to the Opera house just an hour and a half after my post there were no tickets left for the other performance so now ALL Nutcrackers are sold out before Christmas! 
If I can’t stay three nights that week then will have to return the ticket. I may try for any spares here on the Forum first though for a non strike day I can attend. Or have to forego Nutcracker this year 😥 

 

There are some now showing on the website.

[Rob S]

9 minutes ago, MJW said:

 

I suppose the problem in this instance is that the strikes are for 48 hrs so if you  travelled the day before, you may be stuck for three nights before being able to travel back.

 

There will be trains on the strike days but fewer during the day and they finish far earlier...about 1730 depending on the location

[MJW]

20 minutes ago, Rob S said:

 

There will be trains on the strike days but fewer during the day and they finish far earlier...about 1730 depending on the location

 

My problem is that my local station (Guildford) is on the main Portsmouth Line, but during strike days SWT only serve on the South West Main Line (Waterloo to Weymouth) and my nearest stop would be Woking. Public transport connections between Woking and Guildford (other the train) aren't great and I then have to travel from Guildford southwards. All a bit painful and (potentially) hit-and-miss!

[Guest]

I live between Bedford and Milton Keynes. On three rail strike days with evening performances to attend I've been able to park very easily (and free) near Stanmore Tube station and take the tube from there. Just come off the M1 at Junction 4 and it's an easy and short journey from there. Parkopedia was useful to establish spaces for free parking. The large tube station car park (459 spaces) is £6 if you are not as tight as I am.

[Lizbie1]

It won't work for everyone but it's worth checking National Express. I've had mostly very good experiences with using them, to my initial surprise.

[LinMM]

Thanks for the ticket info MJW but on the day I was looking at instead of 13th the tickets are in boxes and it comes up if you buy this ticket all four tickets will come up at something like £476!!!

Also I had a horrible experience in a box at ROH so said never again!  
But Thankyou anyway. 
There’s now a couple of tickets for the 6th ….if only they had been showing when I was in Box Office earlier I could have done a straight swap!!! 
I won’t know until tomorrow if I can stay longer in London so will see how things look then as I do really like the cast on the 13th. 

[MJW]

57 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Thanks for the ticket info MJW but on the day I was looking at instead of 13th the tickets are in boxes and it comes up if you buy this ticket all four tickets will come up at something like £476!!!

Also I had a horrible experience in a box at ROH so said never again!  
But Thankyou anyway. 
There’s now a couple of tickets for the 6th ….if only they had been showing when I was in Box Office earlier I could have done a straight swap!!! 
I won’t know until tomorrow if I can stay longer in London so will see how things look then as I do really like the cast on the 13th. 

 

That's a shame. Hope you find find something.

 

It would be great if you could be notified of seats becoming available for a particular day/performance rather than having to keep checking the website! 

Edited November 22, 2022 by MJW

[alison]

3 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

It won't work for everyone but it's worth checking National Express. I've had mostly very good experiences with using them, to my initial surprise.

 

I had been intending to use them this coming Thursday .

 

Trouble is, the service frequently isn't anything like as regular as trains.  And some of them go some pretty roundabout routes: I think London-Southampton goes via Heathrow, or something.  Last time I checked, it took about 3 hours, maybe more.

[LinMM]

Some good news on the 13th!
After narrowly missing three times in the last 24 hours good chances  to exchange tickets from the 13th to either the 6th or 20th…. after some discussions with a bit of a “well it is my birthday”  slant tonight I’m going to go with the 13th performance of Nutcracker and stay 3 nights in London (because of the strikes!!) 

I already have a full list of “to do”

things on one of the strike days (though one thing will hopefully be a joyful return to a ballet class I’ve not attended for two and a half years as not been fit enough) And a few things to hunt out in John Lewes for other half ….it’s about a year now since been to Oxford St area for one reason and another so with the Nutcracker on the Tuesday time will positively fly by I think. Might even give the Christmassy bit of Covent Garden a look over and check whether the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Sq is up to scratch this year!! 
 

If people are looking for Nutcracker tickets though it’s worth checking a couple of times a day on the website even if a performance says sold out as suddenly 3-4 tickets will appear but not there for long …a couple of hours and that’s it …though there’s still one ticket for sale for the 6th …which mostly has sold out by it ..but it’s rather an expensive one. Also the ones which say “from£119 “ are usually box seats and you will be asked to pay for FOUR seats at £476!! 

 

[The red shoes]

On 22/11/2022 at 20:42, Robin Smith said:

I live between Bedford and Milton Keynes. On three rail strike days with evening performances to attend I've been able to park very easily (and free) near Stanmore Tube station and take the tube from there. Just come off the M1 at Junction 4 and it's an easy and short journey from there. Parkopedia was useful to establish spaces for free parking. The large tube station car park (459 spaces) is £6 if you are not as tight as I am.

How long is it from Stanmore to Covent garden?

I have tickets on 14th December for nutcracker 7:30. I’m in Wellingborough so trains will be few and far between . 
Would I still be able to get a train back from Covent Garden to Stanmore? 

[LinMM]

Stanmore is on the jubilee line so yes you should be able to get there from Covent Garden: picadilly line to Green Park and Jubilee line from Green Park to Stanmore ….as far as I know there’s no main tube strike action on the 14th but it’s the RMT union striking so best to double check certain stations aren’t affected with lack of staff etc ( not that staff are that bountiful these days but it can close stations if nobody st all is turning up) as it’s not a drivers strike as such. Hope you get to see it. 

[bridiem]

7 hours ago, The red shoes said:

How long is it from Stanmore to Covent garden?

I have tickets on 14th December for nutcracker 7:30. I’m in Wellingborough so trains will be few and far between . 
Would I still be able to get a train back from Covent Garden to Stanmore? 

 

There's been no indication that the tubes will be striking, so it should be fine to get to Stanmore. Depending on how lucky you are/how crowded the tubes are, I'd allow 45 mins to 1 hour to get to Stanmore from the ROH.

[The red shoes]

8 hours ago, LinMM said:

Stanmore is on the jubilee line so yes you should be able to get there from Covent Garden: picadilly line to Green Park and Jubilee line from Green Park to Stanmore ….as far as I know there’s no main tube strike action on the 14th but it’s the RMT union striking so best to double check certain stations aren’t affected with lack of staff etc ( not that staff are that bountiful these days but it can close stations if nobody st all is turning up) as it’s not a drivers strike as such. Hope you get to see it. 

So do I .. my son is performing in it ! 🤞🏻

[LinMM]

How lovely! I’m sure you will be fine! 

[zxDaveM]

10 hours ago, The red shoes said:

How long is it from Stanmore to Covent garden?

I have tickets on 14th December for nutcracker 7:30. I’m in Wellingborough so trains will be few and far between . 
Would I still be able to get a train back from Covent Garden to Stanmore? 

 

Be about 45-50mins from Embankment to Stanmore (change Westminster). Last trains are well after midnight, so I wouldn't worry about times

[LinMM]

It’s much nearer to walk to Covent Garden tube station conveniently on the Picadilly line than it is to walk to the Embankment though. 
Even Leicester Sq station is nearer also on Picadilly Line. 

Edited November 25, 2022 by LinMM

[Emeralds]

Covent Garden Tube is one minute from any exit of the ROH. Quickest is to use the revolving doors near the ROH shop after the show, walk down the shops towards your right away from the brightly lit piazza cafes and shops. When you get to the end, the Tube station is facing you, near the Swatch shop. If you prefer to exit via the front main entrance on Bow St, walk to your left up Bow St, take the first left down Floral St, at the end of Floral St, the Tube station will also be facing you.

 

The changeover to Jubilee Line at Green Park is a fairly long walk (there are lifts for the disabled/those using wheelchairs and strollers), but this route is still the quickest way to get to Stanmore as the trains are plentiful and fast. NB I don’t advise using the stairs at Covent Garden unless you love going down curved small musty staircases and are very fit and extremely  fast-the lifts generally get down faster, no matter how crowded they appear to be (you can if you want to, but you may find that the lifts beat you to it so you may as well wait). 

[LinMM]

Many years ago now must have been when in my late 30’s the lifts at Covent Garden were out of order for months and I used to challenge myself to run up the stairs back then on the way to a ballet class at the time  (of course) They do wind and bend a bit though and quite narrow.  
Id probably need an ambulance waiting at the top ( some hope)  if tried that stunt today but was quite fit back then! Though I suppose going down wouldn’t be quite so bad!! 

[Pas de Quatre]

It is actually quicker to walk to Leicester Square than get down to the platform at Covent Garden.

[art_enthusiast]

Just now, Pas de Quatre said:

It is actually quicker to walk to Leicester Square than get down to the platform at Covent Garden.

 

Very true. I often do that instead.

[alison]

3 hours ago, Emeralds said:

The changeover to Jubilee Line at Green Park is a fairly long walk (there are lifts for the disabled/those using wheelchairs and strollers),

 

The lifts have been out of action recently: I don't know whether they still are?

[Mary]

Recently I have been in them again after a long break...and they are working fine- much better now since they increased the number of them and made sure they are all working. I would say it was quicker now to use the lift than to walk to Leicester Square.

[Guest]

Just to add my bit to the Stanmore to Covent Garden tube station and return conversation;

 

I used this to plan my journeys;

 

https://tfl.gov.uk/

 

If any of your party are over 60 they can add the 1/3 discount they get on their Senior Railcard to their Oyster Card. Just ask a member of TFL staff to do this for you (preferably before you start your journey).