The Mark Ellis Blog

Now a mate of mine had mentioned before about his day's out on the NorthernRail network for a tenner, so when I noticed that the offer was going to be in the Sunderland Echo, I thought I'll give this a go.  Being a tight wad, I got the tokens from the Echo's that we get at work and I registered on the Northern Rail website and got a form to download to get the tickets.  The form said to take it & two tokens to any staffed station on the Northern Rail network - sounds simple eh.... So, off I go to Newcastle to buy my tickets - after all, its a staffed station and its on the Northern Rail network, but lo, I can't buy my tickets at this specific staffed station on the Northern Rail network as the ticket office is staffed by East Coast.  The East Coast staff told me that I could only buy the tickets at either Hexham or Sunderland stations.  A touch miffed, the following day I head to Sunderland and eventually get my tickets and the lady on the desk was extremely h...