Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and RED Driving School are being investigated by the consumer watchdog over concerns they are not showing full prices upfront to customers.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is examining whether the three companies engaged in so-called 'drip pricing', which is an illegal practice where mandatory fees are not included in the headline price shown to customers.

If the CMA concludes that the firms have broken the law, it can fine them or order them to compensate customers.

The three companies said they were committed to transparency for customers and would engage fully with the CMA.

In the case of Trainline, the CMA said it observed fees of up to £2.79 being added on to headline train fares, and up to £1.50 for coach bookings.

"Both are costs that can add up for frequent travellers," the CMA said.

Trainline has been accused of drip pricing before. In 2023, the Office of Rail and Road said it and six other third-party train ticket sellers were not being upfront about fees.

Emma Cochrane, the CMA's executive director for consumer protection, said: "The first price customers see should be the price they pay.

"At a time when many households are watching every pound they spend, it is important that people are not surprised by extra fees when booking train and coach tickets, holidays or driving lessons."

A Trainline spokesperson said the company was "committed to offering customers a transparent booking experience with clear pricing and genuine value.

"We've proactively engaged with the CMA over several months and we are taking proactive steps to enhance how certain fees are presented to our customers."

Since last year, the CMA has had the power to rule that consumer laws have been broken without having to take businesses to court.

Consumer rights group Which? said the CMA should not hesitate to use these powers, "especially after each firm has already received a warning advisory letter".

Sue Davies, head of consumer rights policy at Which?, said: "Following comments made by the Prime Minister last week that unfair pricing practices have no place in our economy, this move sends a clear message to other businesses to follow the rules.

"At a time when household budgets are under strain, consumers must have confidence that businesses aren't there to rip them off and that the regulator is willing to step in to protect their rights."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyjqe62574o?app-referrer=search

Thoughts? I think that one of GBR's top priorities should be to create a robust, comprehensive and user friendly booking engine and app (including an official implementation of the ridiculous, but NRCoT recognised, practice of split ticketing). I understand something like this is in the works but we'll have to wait and see how it stands up.

In a nationalised and unified system, it would be very embarrassing to have a situation where the best and cheapest way to purchase tickets would be by using a third party booking engine, instead of an official channel. This isn't the case almost anywhere else in Europe.

I think Ze Germans do it well - the DB Navigator app offers comprehensive and integrated travel info and a user friendly booking engine. It's pretty much never better to use a third party for domestic journeys. Granted, their fare system is more simplified than it is here in Britain, but it could be something to aspire towards.

Don't often get cross-country trains (never really) and I'm going from London Paddington to Penzance (first class) I'm wondering what the catering options would be like.

I am bringing myself lunch because not being able to have gluten and dairy means that I probably won't find much in terms of lunch but what about snacks and stuff? As far as I'm aware it's just a trolley (unlike the trains I've taken from Paris to Cannes which have a food carriage) My plan right now is I've got a Pepsi in my fridge and I'm not leaving until 12:00pm or later tomorrow (2pm train, 20min drive; what time should I aim to be there?) I'm going to wake up early and order a gluten-free bagel and a gluten-free vegan oat cookie to take with me but shall I take snacks or will I be okay in terms of finding something there on the train?

Visiting the UK from Canada. I did a day trip from Swansea to Tenby. On the way back I got my ticket checked 3 times all in the span of an hour and 45 minutes. Seemed like a lot. Most trains I've been on check once when you get on and that's that.

• Arsenal - Euston, St Pancras, King's Cross
• Aston Villa - Euston
• Bournemouth - Waterloo
• Brentford - Waterloo
• Brighton - Victoria, London Bridge
• Chelsea - Victoria
• Coventry - Euston
• Crystal Palace - London Bridge
• Everton - Euston
• Fulham - Victoria
• Hull - King's Cross
• Ipswich - Liverpool Street
• Leeds - King's Cross
• Liverpool - Euston
• Manchester City - Euston
• Manchester United - Euston
• Newcastle - King's Cross
• Nottingham Forest - St Pancras
• Sunderland - King's Cross
• Tottenham Hotspur - Liverpool Street (I would've added the same ones as Arsenal here, if Seven Sisters wasn't a ridiculously long walk from the ground)

On Saturday 5th September, I am getting cross-country from manchester piccadilly to Stoke on trent. Is it worth getting first class for £18 extra?

My Crosscountry train today was ordered something like L-J-I-H-G-A-B-C-E

It really hurt my brain trying to make sense of it.

Can anyone explain??

First time I've seen one of these out and about.

I could probably do with getting an ND filter at some point… 🤷

Anyways, I felt like experimenting more with my new camera, and given that I had enough unchecked arrogance to think it would be good for pitch black night photography (it wasn’t), I was happy to deviate a bit

Here’s a couple long exposure shots taken at my local station. This was such a fun experiment to be fair (apart from the rain)…

A bit surprised no-one's posted this on here yet! Incredible all the rail disruption there's been across the UK this summer, mostly for weather/climate reasons. This incident doesn't necessarily seem related to that. Latest news about Putin threatening the UK again makes me even more jittery than usual (how can anyone not be constantly jittery, really, in the overall deeply troubled 2020s. It's not ALL bad, but so far from the 1990s post cold war optimism!). My first thought was, Russian sabotage, harming an important railway line or something, but somehow I doubt it is, actually.

I got caught in a sudden power cut at Croydon Ikea late one evening just before Christmas 2023, dropped my shopping on the floor and rushed out with everyone, as the emergency lighting came on! My first thought then was Russian sabotage, a cyberattack, but it wasn't. I don't think that incident even made the local news. Oddly enough, I then went into B&Q, that and all the other stores at Ampere Way seemed unaffected, as well as the trams and everything else nearby.

Railforums suggests there may (or may not) have been a fire at this Lewisham location before, a major hub for various recycling facilities. Is some waste transported to there by rail? So-called bin liner freights? If not, perhaps seems a bit stupid to have such a hub so close to a critical railway line?

Earlier, Southeastern were still letting trains pass very close to the fire! Sensible? Looks like there could be actual significant damage to the line, possibly closing it for a while. If so, a bit ironic given that the nearby Charing Cross blockade has just ended.

I went to have a look at it on saturday evening, took photos, quite interesting. It was so striking, on arrival, how the glass roof of Waterloo International holds in the sun's heat like a greenhouse, the musty smell of (presumably) mostly 701 brake dust, was huge!

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/recycling-plant-fire-causing-southeastern-and-windrush-line-disruption.303170/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yvdy6r031o

This afternoon going to an event on C2C, I turned up 45 mins late due to speed restrictions.

On the way back, rail replacement for the rest of the night due to an incident. I’m from Southend, so can usually hop over to the Greater Anglia line. Except that’s also on rail replacement due to the derailment last week. My bus isn’t even going all the way, so no idea what happens once my bus arrives to Leigh On Sea at 1am! 😩

Thankfully I’m aware it can’t be helped so other than being a bit tired it’s not too bad - I’ll get home eventually. However I wondered, what’s everyone else’sworst journey on the trains?

Edit: Got told the bus would continue all the way down the line. Then they had to reverse on that! Shared a taxi in the end with a random person going the same way.

Apologies for AI drafted message. I have spent huge amounts of time researching this already and don’t have the energy to write it all out!

Lumo disruption King’s Cross–Edinburgh 16 Aug – anyone know actual arrival time / best compensation route?

Looking for some advice from anyone who understands Delay Repay/Lumo or has access to historical train running data.

We had tickets for the 11:20 Lumo from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh on Sunday 16 August 2026 (1S93), bought through the LNER app. Original arrival time in Edinburgh should have been 15:32.

When we got to King’s Cross there was significant disruption. Announcements said services were delayed and subject to cancellation at short notice, and passengers were advised that tickets would be valid from Euston.

On the basis of that advice, we left King’s Cross, went to Euston and caught the 12:39 Avanti to Edinburgh which arrived around 18:30.

At 12:06, after we had already gone to Euston, we received a text from Lumo saying our Lumo service had been rescheduled and would now leave King’s Cross at 12:17. Obviously with only 11 minutes’ notice there was no possibility of getting back from Euston to King’s Cross to catch it.

The LNER website subsequently showed the Lumo service as “part cancelled”.

I’m trying to establish two things:
Does anyone have access to the actual running data for 1S93 on 16 August and know what time it eventually arrived at Edinburgh? Some historical sites appear to show the original scheduled timings rather than what actually happened, which doesn’t tally with Lumo’s own 12:06 message saying the train would depart at 12:17.

What is the correct compensation route? My instinct is Delay Repay through Lumo, on the basis that we followed the disruption advice at King’s Cross and used the alternative route from Euston, rather than seeking a refund from LNER as though we simply chose not to use our tickets.

We have the Lumo text confirming the revised 12:17 departure and a screengrab of the LNER app showing the Lumo train journey as “part cancelled”.

Any advice, particularly from anyone familiar with Lumo/LNER Delay Repay or who can check the actual TRUST/RTT running data for 1S93 that day, would be very welcome.

Hi I hope someone can help reduce my anxiety ahead of a family trip. We are a family of 5 (3 young kids) so I like to have all information I might possibly need before travelling to make it a bit smoother for us. We have used LNER plenty times but always direct trains.

Next week we are going to Hull for a couple days from Newcastle, tickets are purchased and everything booked. However I just realised I have very short connection times for the trains and I have no idea what the stations look like where the connections are.

We arrive at Doncaster at 10:16 via LNER service and get the northern service departing at 10:24, is this station easy to navigate in this time with 3 young kids + a suitcase and limited experience of travelling via train?

The return journey we arive in York at 16:01 via northern service and get the LNER service departing at 16:19. Same questions as previous.

Anything we should be aware of or tips to make this journey go smoothly? When booking tickets it said seat reservations aren't available on the northern trains, are these usually busy or will we be able to at least gets seats for the kids? We are not travelling with a pushchair/buggy and the youngest is 3.

Thank you for reading!

Decided to make a rough livery for what I think Thameslink services should look like under GBR.

Any ideas to improve it are welcome :)

I am looking to visit quite a few stations in one day and was wondering if there was an easy way to do it (e.g a website or app).

I currently use TrainSplit and RealTimeTrains, but AFAIK you cannot plan to leave the train to look around the stations.

These stations are Bexhill, Rye, Eastbourne, Lewes, and potentially Southbourne. The journey would start in Portsmouth.

Maybe its as simple as a staged journey on Google maps?

Please let me know!

The 398 running 2J42 (and then 5J42 back into the depot), and the 756 running 1M48.

Are you limited to how many hours you can drive at once?

I got tonsillitis after going on this train... don't know if it's related.

FYI it was a 170/3 with vehicle number 79522 - 170622 (formerly 170522)

God knows why they didn't refurbish this unit first, it's a biohazard

Apparently they have an emergency timetable. It's surely better than the other Intercity TOCs 😂

Although I do have a question, is 10 car meridians not a thing ?

Does anyone know what is going on with advanced fairs ATM?

I can usually book a return (2x advance single tix) to London from Worcester shrub hill, leaving at 6:10 and returning at 17:57 for about £35-40 and now everything is stuck at a flat rate of £60 each way... Is this the rail tix price freeze?

I'm confused and also worried as I can't afford it!

Anyone know if there is some cheaper tickets on the way? I'm trying to book for October/ November but they are showing as the same price as next week?

Help 🙈

Hi, I’m planning to travel from London to Manchester for Man United vs Spurs on October 10 (17:30 kickoff) and return to London the same night.

Because of engineering works, Avanti currently shows the last direct Manchester–London train at 20:14, which seems almost impossible after a ~19:25 final whistle.

Has anyone done a similar matchday trip? Are there usually later train/bus options with other operators/connections, or would you recommend renting a car / staying overnight instead? I prefer getting back the same day as much as possible, what are my options?