Everything parents and guardians need to know about travelling with children this half term…

The train operator has issued a reminder that children aged five to 15 go for half price and those under five years old travel for free alongside fare-paying passengers.

Anyone with a long list of activities designed to get the kids out of the house is encouraged to consider a Rover ticket that provides discounted travel on seven consecutive days, allowing families to ‘hop on and hop off’ during the holidays.

For smaller groups of two, Duo tickets offer a 25% discount if you buy your ticket and travel together.

People using the train as part of a day out on their bikes are being reminded that storage space on-board is allocated on a first come, first serve basis and there is a maximum of two bikes allowed on each train.

Matt Rice, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “The half term holidays is a great opportunity to get out and explore the region – and by leaving your car at home, you can relax, enjoy the journey and rake in the savings.

“Our trains call at more than 500 stations across the North of England, so wherever you’re going we can help get you to where you want to be.”

The train operator has also used the opportunity to remind all customers in Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Tyne & Wear that some of its services operate as ‘dry trains’ and no alcohol is allowed on-board.

Those services are the 19:44 from Whitby to Middlesbrough; the 19:23 and 21:25 from Newcastle to Carlisle; and the 19:09, 20:00, 21:06 and 21:49 services from Carlisle to Whitehaven.

Rice added: “For some time now, we’ve operated a very small number of our services as ‘dry trains’ based on previous experience of people getting rowdy and unfortunately causing trouble.

“We didn’t take this decision lightly, but it is for the safety of all our staff and other passengers, especially those travelling with children.”

The train operator says parents should consider downloading the British Transport Police ‘Railway Guardian’ app from the App Store or Google Play.

The app is an all-in-one safety app that allows users to report suspicious behaviour on the rail network, share journeys with trusted contacts and get access to news, guides and support.

Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with nearly 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.