Uni students need flights to UK’s north

Is he aware that not all train routes are running in the UK, especially the cross-country lines... which currently makes travel that way extraordinarily expensive and time consuming?

My son lives not far from East Midlands airport and would normally fly over from Manchester. His firm works a system of ‘factory shut-down’ holidays so, facing three weeks off so soon after a forced three months in lockdown, he researched the idea of coming home for a change of scene. The idea was we would self-isolate together for the 14 days, then he would have about five days’ freedom to see friends and, more importantly, his grandparents, in one case almost certainly for the last time. He researched the travel options fully, either paying to park in Southampton or getting the train. Due to the limited routes available, the train fare was going to cost more than the flight (approx. £250). Nor were there much in the way of guarantees that the trains would run anywhere near on time, making planning connections nigh on impossible. This was not the clincher that scuppered his visit, but was certainly a discouraging factor. He ‘comes home’ with just a small bag, having a stock of basic clothing here. Having been a UK resident student, and mother to a Guernsey resident UK student, I certainly would not fancy trying to make an arduous journey across the UK with the quantity of luggage required to start a new year at uni... and that’s just as a returning student.

Our ‘freshers’ have had a very trying final six months of schooling already; is it really necessary to pile the stress of a nightmare journey, laden with luggage, across a strange country on top of the nerves they are bound to have starting out on their new lives? Please try to find a way to add at least one flight each to say Manchester and Leeds (the Pennines are not train-friendly) for those trying to access universities away from the south coast.

CHRIS BROWN

The Boat Shed,

6, Bel Air Cottages,

Victoria Avenue,

St Sampson’s,

GY2 4AX.