Travel Christmas Day At Worst Boxing Day

[lulu_bucket]

From London centre to Stafford on Christmas Day or worst Boxing Day for my son after work in the afternoon. Doesn't drive. Please help. Thanks.

[Milvus]

Check here

[Milvus]

Or here might be better!
http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk

[VHG]

This page gives details of who is running trains on over Xmas.

But if you look at Virgin for example they are running no trains Xmas day or Boxing Day.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/seasonal/Christmas_2012/index_custom.html

[dzug2]

Megabus will get him to Birmingham - not sure how much help that would be though

[Buenchico]

With the exception of a few airport services, no trains ever run in this country on either Christmas Day or Boxing Day. (The Network Rail signallers are on holiday so train operating companies have no choice other than to withdraw all services).

Megabus don't operate any services on he London-Stafford route between 23rd December and 3rd January.

As Methyl has already checked National Express (and no airlines operate between any London airport and Birmingham International) there seems to be no way of doing the journey by public transport.

Sorry :(

[boxtops]

I'm not surprised, lulu, there is rarely any public transport on the days you're asking about.

[Buenchico]

On looking further (after being prompted by Dzug2's post above) it seems that Megabus might be able to get him to Birmingham on Boxing Day, on any of the following services:
0700 (arrives 1005, £7)
0830 (arrives 1130, £11)
1100 (arrives 1405, £7)
1330 (arrives 1635, £7)
1830 (arrives 2135, £7)
2000 (arrives 2300, £7)
2130 (arrives 0015, £7)
2345 (arrives 0245, £7)
http://uk.megabus.com/

The Traveline website suggests that National Express are operating from Birmingham to Stafford on that date but the National Express website yields no results. (Perhaps all tickets are sold?)

Megabus could also get him to Birmingham International Airport but there are no trains, or appropriate bus services, from there over the Christmas period.

[Buenchico]

Possibly worth a look:
http://www.nationalcarshare.co.uk/ncs/how_it_works

[Eve]

Might be worth asking National Express direct too as I was looking at travelling on Boxing Day and they had nothing up for ages (despite other Boxing Day routes being up) but when someone asked at a bus station for me they said they would be running and a few weeks later then appeared on the site! Getting a bit close to Christmas now though.

I'm trying to think if the Birmingham coach stops there on the way to Manchester (I've got that one quite a few Boxing Days) - they do get very full very quickly though with the lack of trains.

[Eve]

Nothing National Express Birmingham to Stafford on Boxing Day but there is Birmingham to Stoke (note that, from memory, Mega Bus use different stops in the city to National Express which stops in the coach station). Could he get from Stoke to Stafford somehow? Maybe a friend to pick him up - taxis are likely to be extortionate.

If he has a wait then the coach station in Birmingham has a nice Starbucks to sit and wait in and a cafe outside too if he has a wait - I had big problems a couple of years ago in the snow with a broken down coach and long wait for a coach on from Birmingham to Manchester and it was great having somewhere nice to sit - big different from the shed it used to be!