Can I get on an earlier train?

I'm heading home in a few weeks and bought and advanced ticket which leaves pretty late in the day.

My friend and I were thinking of going to London for the day and seeing as my train stops there anyway I would but it says I can't change it without paying the difference and admin fee and trains are really expensive.

So I'm thinking of just getting on an early one anyway so I can hang out in London but obviously don't want to get caught. Wondering if anyone as done this before and what happened. Did you get a fine or did the conductor not care?

Travelling with East Midlands from Sheffield to London if that makes a difference.

You book the journey, not the time of the train. As long as you don't plan on getting on the first train before 09:30 (peak time) the it doesn't matter. When you book the ticket online it just assumes the journey time you selected is the one you'll embark on, but it doesn't matter as long as it's still in off-peak time.

see that makes sense but the T's&C's say otherwise. I'll just do it and try to win the conductor over if he says anything

I'm heading home in a few weeks and bought and advanced ticket which leaves pretty late in the day.

My friend and I were thinking of going to London for the day and seeing as my train stops there anyway I would but it says I can't change it without paying the difference and admin fee and trains are really expensive.

So I'm thinking of just getting on an early one anyway so I can hang out in London but obviously don't want to get caught. Wondering if anyone as done this before and what happened. Did you get a fine or did the conductor not care?

Travelling with East Midlands from Sheffield to London if that makes a difference.

see if you can get a megabus from sheffield to London, most likely you can get it for £8 or less if they run megabus from sheffield [im not sure]

tbh it's risky if you try get even the earliest train because by time it reaches london inspectors may be up and about.

it might be worth risking if it is like a saturday or sunday early 5:30am train, as lets face it, few commuters will be around, so less incentive to deploy inspectors, plus it's a weekend.

but you're chancing it a bit if you try this during to week.

Also if you haven't got the right ticket you won't be able to get past the barriers in London. You will need local knowledge of which train stations do not have barriers, and you will need to plan your route to them.

imo, just fork out the extra 8 quid for a megabus and try get a refund on your train ticket...

The time of the journey you booked isn't actually printed anywhere on the the ticket, so the conductor won't know anything at all.

see if you can get a megabus from sheffield to London, most likely you can get it for £8 or less if they run megabus from sheffield [im not sure]

tbh it's risky if you try get even the earliest train because by time it reaches london inspectors may be up and about.

it might be worth risking if it is like a saturday or sunday early 5:30am train, as lets face it, few commuters will be around, so less incentive to deploy inspectors, plus it's a weekend.

but you're chancing it a bit if you try this during to week.

Also if you haven't got the right ticket you won't be able to get past the barriers in London. You will need local knowledge of which train stations do not have barriers, and you will need to plan your route to them.

imo, just fork out the extra 8 quid for a megabus and try get a refund on your train ticket...

If it's an Advance ticket, there will be a time specified. If caught, you'll be made to buy another ticket and at worst, pay a penalty fine.

If it's an Advance ticket, there will be a time specified. If caught, you'll be made to buy another ticket and at worst, pay a penalty fine.

Then they should change the time of the journey, as stated here: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46583.aspx

I very much doubt any conductor will actually care anyway, they're still travelling on the same day.

yeah but it takes 2 hours longer on a megabus