Missed train in England

If it is an 'advance' ticket then it has no validity on any other train. If it is any other ticket you just take the next available service appropriate to the type of ticket you have (off-peak or anytime). I don't think advance type tickets are sold for London-Worcester though.

Thanks, Marco. Since I am buying ticket in advance over internet, I assume it is an advance ticket. Any guess as to how long it would take me to deplane at Heathrow at 0730 and get to Paddington by Heathrow Connect? Have to go from terminal 4 to wherever I get Heathrow Connect. I have roughly three hours to get Worcester train at Paddington. Keith

Since I am buying ticket in advance over internet, I assume it is an advance ticket. No, not in this case. There are 3 types of train ticket in the UK - 'Advance' - must be purchased before the date of travel; can offer a substantial saving over other kinds of ticket, but is only valid on the specific train it's booked for, and isn't available at all for London to Worcester. 'Off-peak' - same price whether you buy it in advance or on the day of travel. Offers a saving over the 'Anytime' price, but is only valid outside peak hours. 'Anytime' - the most expensive option, but valid on any train for a particular route. As you can't get an 'Advance' ticket for your route, you may as well wait until you get to the station and buy one there. Trains from London Paddington run direct to Worcester in about 2 hours 15 minutes and an Off-peak single is £29.80. On a weekday morning the earliest departure at that price would be the 10.22. Use the journey planner at www.nationalrail.co.uk and on the search results page you can click to see for which other trains such a ticket would be valid.

You need to allow up to one hour to clear immigration/passport control. Take the Heathrow Express from Terminal 4 to Heathrow Central (Terminal 1 & 3). Trains run every 15 minutes. This service is free. If you just miss one Heathrow Connect train at Heathrow Central, you'll have to wait 30 minutes for the next one. If you miss the 10:22 train at Paddington, the next one departs at 11:20.

Actually looking things up there are advance tickets to Worcester - they are however routed from Euston via Birmingham, a very circuitous route. Terminal 4 is unfortunately for you not very well connected for this journey as much area transport bypasses this somewhat out of the way terminal. From the central area or T5 you have buses to Slough or Reading to directly pick up the train to WOS/WOF. If you take the Connect it is a bit quicker to change at Hayes and Harlington for a train to Reading rather than go all the way into PAD and back, although you might prefer to be on the train from the start of the journey.

Interesting. If you use the journey planner, the fare is 49.80 GBP if you take it all the way to Paddington. If you buy a ticket to Hayes & Harlington, then a separate ticket from H & H to Worcester (with a change at Slough) its only 40.50 GBP (5.60 + 34.90). You depart Heathrow T 1-3 on the same train, and arrive Worcester on the same train, but there is a 9.30 GBP saving by making 2 extra changes.

This is an added 'feature' on this route that came up on another board - in that it is cheaper in this case to buy the super off peak ticket from Paddington for £29.80 but use it from Hayes, from which it is valid.