How to get from Sussex to Liverpool for just £81: Lecturer, 60, reveals how he cut £360 off the cost of his journey by ‘split ticketing’ – paying NINE separate small fares instead of getting just one return

• Rail passengers could save thousands of pounds a year through ‘split ticketing’
• Buying tickets for separate legs of journey on the same train is cheaper
• Lecturer saved £360 on one return journey alone between Liverpool and Sussex

Rail passengers could save thousands of pounds a year thanks to a tactic which cuts price fares to Liverpool from Sussex by hundreds of pounds on just one return trip.  

Kieran Maguire, 60, saved £360 on his return train tickets to Liverpool Lime Street Station from Haywards Heath, Sussex by using a simple ‘split ticket’ technique online.

The University of Liverpool lecturer caught on to the technique three years ago when he realised he could buy nine separate train tickets to cut the cost of his journey to just £81. 

The accounting and finance lecturer travels from Sussex to Liverpool twice a week and depending on the hours of travel, a return ticket between Liverpool and Sussex can cost £441.20. 

Kieran Maguire, 60, saved £360 on his return train tickets to Liverpool Lime Street Station from Haywards Heath, Sussex by using a simple ‘split ticket’ technique online

Kieran Maguire uses the simple technique of ‘split ticketing’ to save hundreds of pounds each month to travel from Sussex to Liverpool and back 

The tickets he purchases for his journey to Liverpool are:

Haywards Heath to Gatwick Airport: £5.20

Gatwick Airport to London Blackfriars: £12.90

London Blackfriars via the tube to London Euston to Crewe: £14.65

Crewe to Liverpool Lime Street: £12.45

And on the way home:

Liverpool Lime Street to Crewe: £12.45

Crewe to London Euston: £8.55

London Euston to Croydon: £6.45

Croydon to Gatwick Airport: £3.85

Gatwick Airport to Haywards Heath: £5.20

Instead of taking the simplest route he buys nine separate tickets which are a mixture of off-peak, anytime and advanced singles. 

Kieran purchased four tickets to get to Liverpool from Sussex and five tickets to get back home for just £81.70.

Kieran said: ‘I have been doing this trip for a few years now – over three years. 

‘I am an old man and I have got a senior Railcard and it saves me around £350 a journey as opposed to a standard return ticket.

‘There are some very good split ticketing websites that you can now use and that is fine for someone like me who knows their way around the train system.

‘I am a regular commuter but if you are a tourist or don’t usually travel the price will come as a shock.’

Kieran said he is ‘frustrated’ by the situation and recent strikes have added additional stress to his already-stressful journey.

He said: ‘Today I had to get to London to catch a train at 6.38am as I couldn’t catch the train 40 minutes later as it was very expensive to then join the train at Crewe.

‘It is supposed to be a network and the nature of a network is that they are joined up but this is the opposite of a network as this causes you to take a disjointed way to work.

‘The strikes have added additional stress to travel.

Kieran said: ‘I have been doing this trip for a few years now – over three years. I am an old man and I have got a senior Railcard and it saves me around £350 a journey as opposed to a standard return ticket’

The accounting and finance lecturer travels from Sussex to Liverpool twice a week which could cost him more than £400 each time

Many users on Twitter try to help people in such difficult times to save as much money as they can on travel

Many found they didn’t need to get off the train at all and could enjoy their normal journey for half the price

Many people seem more than happy to take an extra four trains to pay nearly a third of the price

Some Twitter users paid around a tenth of the original price after ‘split ticketing’

‘I think there has got to be greater emphasis on the greater need of passengers.

‘From a business point of view it creates that level of uncertainty and people will drive which is not good for you and good for the environment.

‘Commuters want a fair price and a reliable system.’

‘Fare splitting’ may not be the most convenient way to travel but many users online have sung about their eye-watering savings travelling up and down the country.

Some Twitter users claim to have bought tickets a tenth of the original price. 

There are many useful websites including TrainSplit.com to find the cheapest train fares.  

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