Bikes on Virgin trains

[ColinJ]

I have booked my bike on a Virgin train. I was just looking at their website and saw this ...

You’ll need to board your bike at least 10 minutes before departure allowing enough time to walk to coach A to load your bike in the dedicated space. If you need a hand with this, just ask a member of staff and they’ll be happy to help.

Remember to pick up a bike tag from the station ticket office, it lets our onboard team know how far your bike is riding with us.

What is the 'bike tag'? I probably won't have time to mess about going to the ticket office because my connection is fairly tight. I have a bike reservation and was going to attach the reservation ticket to the top tube of the bike. Surely that would suffice?

 

[mark st1]

It's a ticket for your bike just stick it in somewhere on the front between cables etc. They don't even check them. If you already have the reservation ticket that's plenty good enough.

 

[Bazzer]

Not personally had a problem with my bike on Virgin, although others may have had a different experience.
Pretty certain the bike section is at coach A, (or at least on West Coast). IIRC the bike section is the very end of the train, but if station staff see a bike they will tell you where to stand.
IME the guard is very good. They will ask you where you are getting off, make sure your bike is stowed and make sure you get off safely.

Edit. Not used a bike tag. The guards have known about my bike reservation, got out at coach A and just welcomed me on to the train.

 

[Flying Dodo]

Whenever I've used Virgin, the platform staff have always checked I've got the reservation for the bike, and they've made it clear I wouldn't be allowed on without one.

 

[ianrauk]

Whenever I've used Virgin, the platform staff have always checked I've got the reservation for the bike, and they've made it clear I wouldn't be allowed on without one.

Yet, the one time I didn't have a reservation due to a cock up. They let me on even though the bike allocation was full. Must be my happy go lucky demeanour.

 

[ColinJ]

Thanks ...

I have my reservation tickets for both journeys and will fix them to the bike before travelling.

I'm just feeling slightly nervous because of an incident a few years ago at Coventry station. I had boarded a Virgin train at Manchester and my bike was in the locked goods carriage. The guard told me that there was going to be a staff change before Coventry so to make sure to tell the new guard that I would need the door to the goods carriage unlocking at Coventry so that I could take my bike off.

The replacement guard had not come through the train by the time we left Birmingham so I decided to walk the length of the train to find her/him. What I hadn't noticed until that moment was how packed the train was ... I couldn't even get out of my seat!

I started to get in a panic, with visions of my bike ending up in London.

There was no way to find a staff member on the train, so I resolved to get off the train ASAP at Coventry and find someone on the platform. It turned out that there was chaos on the platform too! The crush of passengers embarking and disembarking prevented me moving along the platform until the train was due to leave. In the end, I managed to find the very grumpy guard just before departure. (I think that he was already stressed out by the crush of passengers and having me in a panic about my bike wasn't helping.)

Most trains that I have been on have bike compartments in the main part of the train so there isn't the problem of the bike being locked out of reach. I make sure that I am sitting not far from my bike and make my way to it before the destination.


As for people being allowed to bring bikes on without reservations ...

 

[User33236]

As above just stick the ticket issued for the bike on it somewhere. Just be aware though that a reversation doesn't guarantee you a spot on the train.

Mrs SG was travelling back up from London a 10am today with her bike but was told she could not get her pre-booked bike on the train as a fault with one of the doors meant that she may not get in back off if the train was on the 'wrong side at the platform. This was despite her pointing out the staff entrance where they could have offloaded her bike. According to the Mrs staff were extremely impolite and unsympathetic to her situation.

She was redirected to the ticket office who told her they had checked up to 3pm and there was no bike spots and weren't prepared to check any further ahead and she was bounced onto the platform manager. By this time she was getting irate and tearful. Thankfully said platform manager was able to apply some common sense and she got on the 11am train. I doubt, however, that a bloke in the same spot would have been accommodated in the same way.

 

[gaijintendo]

I managed to get a bike in a Virgin train without a booking midweek in darkest winter. Which was lucky, as I just impulse bought the thing off gumtree whilst I was away on business.

The side of front car (engine?) was the bike bit in that case. It didn't seem brilliantly set up for bikes. A long corridor, bikes along the wall, and a single strap to hold them up.

 

[ColinJ]

I managed to get a bike in a Virgin train without a booking midweek in darkest winter. Which was lucky, as I just impulse bought the thing off gumtree whilst I was away on business.

The side of front car (engine?) was the bike bit in that case. It didn't seem brilliantly set up for bikes. A long corridor, bikes along the wall, and a single strap to hold them up.

I always take a bungee cord. I have been on trains and ferries where the straps were damaged or even missing!

 

[Pale Rider]

Seems to me flexibility depends on the equipment.

On some older Virgin trains the bike compartment is the fairly large space behind the engine.

Staff are usually happy to shovel on as many bikes as will fit.

Handy in some ways, although not if you are very precious about your bike.

In more modern Virgin trains, the bike space is a hanging rack which has, I think, three spaces.

Three bikes, no more.

The other thing I've noticed is having loaded the bike, you need to hop off the train swiftly to get back on before the doors close.

It wouldn't be impossible to be left stranded on the station, as the train pulls away with your bike.

With that in mind, I always try to find out in advance which end of the train the staff want the bike loaded, so I can be opposite the correct door when the train stops.

 

[subaqua]

Yet, the one time I didn't have a reservation due to a cock up. They let me on even though the bike allocation was full. Must be my happy go lucky demeanour.

Or you scared them so much they didn't want to be hurt.

ianrauk is chuck Norris and ICMFP

 

[Bazzer]

@ColinJ have you a seat reservation in the carriage which takes the bikes?
The last time I booked (by telephone), which was a couple of weeks ago I did ask for a seat in the bike carriage, but when I collected the tickets I was seated 5 coaches away. The station ticket staff then had to move my seat reservation.

 

[Bazzer]

The bikes go in the guard's van (why is it called that?). There aren't any seats.

I didn't say to get a seat in guard's van. As I said earlier, my experience is with Virgin West Coast. The trains on which I have travelled have the bike section in part of the carriage and seating in the rest of it.

 

[ColinJ]

I am travelling Cross Country trains one way. I think they have a small compartment at the end of a carriage and I am just under halfway up that carriage.

From what I can make out, the Virgin train will use the locked compartment in the guard's van. I am supposed to be 3 carriages away from that.

I think that my tickets are only valid if I sit in my reserved seats but if the trains are not busy then I will probably choose to sit as close as possible to my bike.

I beg your pardon. I was under the impression that you only needed bike reservations when the bikes go in the guard's van, which is what I thought this thread was about.

Some companies do not require reservations for the other type of storage but some do. I am travelling from Preston to Lancaster later in the month and some of the operators do and some don't and it isn't all down to the type of train.

What's more, some seem to be tolerant of non-reserved bikes, some don't, and some offer a couple of reserved spaces and some non-reserved on a turn-up-and-see basis!

As I mentioned above, I reserved a space on one train only to find all spaces taken when I boarded the train, one of the spaces turning out to be taken by a fellow CycleChatter who did not have a reservation!

 

[Blue Hills]

Relax colin. You've done the difficult bit -getting the bike booked with virgin - it can be a total pig's ear nightmare. Once that's done i find it a joy - the staff are very good. As others have said, just attach one of the two copies of the reservation ticket to the bike. I like to sit next to the bike compartment, check that it is in a good position to get the bike off, depending on where other cyclists are unloading theirs. Make sure the train captain (i think that's the bizarre name they use (or is it just "manager"?) knows where you are getting off.

Have a good trip.

Loaded touring?