Rob Adcock and business partner Tyler Odell needed to travel from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, for a meeting at The Shard, Central London.
They were stunned to find ‘anytime’ return train tickets to London Euston were an eye-watering £311.50 each and joked it would be cheaper to buy a car and drive it there.
Rob, 31, decided to ‘make a point’ and bought a 16-year-old Citroen C1 for just £400, then taxed it, insured it and topped it up with fuel for an additional £71.
Two stubborn commuters concocted the most extreme travel hack to dodge an ‘extortionate’ £600 train fare – BUYING a car and driving to London for £150 less. (Image: Kennedy News/@RobAdcock) The content creator’s viral TikTok revealed it cost the pair a total of £484.04 to drive to London, park up, attend the meeting on January 28 and then drive home later that day.
The stunt saved them £138 and Rob claims it only took them only half an hour longer [three hours] than it would have done if they’d have taken the £623 Avanti West Coast train journey.
Rob confessed the pair worried their three-door vehicle would break down but was relieved when it completed the 340-mile round trip without any issues.
He says that the stunt gave him and Tyler, 28, a ‘good laugh’ but also proves how train fares are ‘extortionate’ for ‘normal working people’.
His defiant video’s caption, posted on February 7, said: “I woke up this morning and chose to fight back. I was never going to pay it so what else was I supposed to do?”
The clip documenting the pair’s daring journey and baffling cost breakdown has gathered more than 400,000 views.
Rob, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, said: “The whole thing is about making a point of how expensive trains are.
“It’s about raising awareness about how normal working people like myself get to a point when they can’t spend that much money on a train ticket.
“We were chatting about how we’re going to get to the meeting and what time so we checked online to see how much it will be and thought ‘that’s surely incorrect’.
“We don’t live far from the station so we went to speak to the staff and try to work it out, but it was actually that price.
“We were joking about how expensive it is and we said ‘no way we’re going to pay that amount of money, it’d be cheaper for us to buy a car and drive it there.’
“That’s how we got the idea.
“The car was very cheap and we were constantly concerned that it wasn’t going to make it due to the condition it was in.
“We’ve worked it out and it came to £480.16 including tax, petrol, insurance and parking so it was a lot cheaper and we’ve come out of it with a car.
“We made it just in time. There was a bit of running involved and I had a bit of a sweat by the end of it but we made it.”
Rob, who spent a further £78 on non-essential items for the trip like a heated blanket, says his post aims to raise awareness of ‘extortionate’ rail prices.
He advises other disgruntled commuters to do the same if they ‘like saving money’.
Some commenters suggested he should have booked the train further in advance but he says that sometimes you can’t plan that far ahead.
Rob said: “I’m not some kind of campaigner against rail prices.
“I understand they’re a company and I get there must be reasons why they charge that price but for the working people, if you are a normal person, that’s just extortionate.
“People say if you book it in advance because it’s a lot cheaper but ultimately you can’t plan life like that.
“If you have a job and need to be in London the next day, that’s the price you have to pay.
“If you’re just a person that needs to get somewhere, it seems like a lot more money for what it is.
“It was a good laugh, I like to raise a point in a humorous way, me and my mate had a laugh while doing it.
“If you want to save money it’s an option but it’s a big commitment.”
Rob’s viral TikTok has more than 180 comments.
One commented: “This country is a joke.”
A second said: “£600 is beyond diabolical. That’s a holiday.”
A third added: “Probably because you tried to get it there and then, peak time and an expensive ticket version, but still the prices are mental in this country.”
Another said: “It’s cheaper for the fine.”
An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: “In the past 12 months, around 375,000 journeys have been made on our services between Stoke-on-Trent and London.
“The vast majority of customers will have taken advantage of the range of advance single fares, which start at £26 in addition to our Superfare ticket that costs just £14.
“The average standard class single fare paid by our customers for a ticket from Stoke-on-Trent to London is £48. There are also 30 services in each direction every weekday between Stoke and London.”
“With overall journey numbers up six per cent year on year, the train is increasingly the transport mode of choice, offering the fastest and greenest way of travelling.
“We are continuing to increase services in our timetable as well as investing in our trains, with our new Evero fleet and refurbished Pendolinos trains, to improve customer service.”
Rob’s car journey cost breakdown
- Buying the car – £400
- Car tax for a month – £1.66
- Car Insurance – £32.08
- Parking – £12.80
- Fuel – £37.42
- Total – £484.04
