Train and car hire prices TRIPLE after Christmas bubble rules revealed
BRITS who are travelling home for Christmas face paying up to three times the price for train tickets and car hire over the festive season.
It comes after the government finally confirmed up to three households can mix in a new bubble for five days.
Social distancing and travel rules will be scrapped between 23 December and 27 December.
But travellers are already being warned of a Christmas “triple whammy” of having to pre-book tickets, limited trains and battling railway engineering works to see family.
The Sun found car hire prices have already started to soar, leaving Brits paying up to triple the price.
Cheap fares for some train journeys have also sold out with remaining tickets costing double compared to the week before.
How to find the cheapest car hire deal
HERE'S how to make sure you get the best deal on your car hire:
Comparison sites - Use sites like Booking.com, Skyscanner, or Kayak to help you compare prices from different companies. Watch out for any extra costs added after you've left the comparison site though as it could see you getting a worse deal.
Book in advance - Whatever you do, don't leave it until the day you travel to book your deal. You'll end up paying over the odds compared to if you'd booked it in advance.
Get your own insurance policy - Don't be conviced to buy a super collision damage waiver (SCDW) at the desk. Take out your own standalone policy with a specialist provider to save you some serious money.
Get unlimited mileage - If you're planning on a long road trip, avoid being hit by extra mileage charges by paying a bit more upfront for a policy that is unlimited. It could save you hundreds.
For car hire, we compared prices using Booking.com and found prices in London cost £81.07 between December 14 and December 20.
But this shoots up to £282.37 for the following week - December 21 to December 27 - leaving customers forking out £201.30 more, or 250%.
Car hire in Birmingham costs £127.08 the week before Christmas, but this goes up to £207.72 starting December 21.
For drivers in Manchester, we found the cheapest car hire was £118.33 the week before Christmas. This then increases to £175.16 starting December 21.
For people travelling by train, a journey from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly cost just £25 for the cheapest fare on December 20.
However, the best price for the same journey between December 21 and December 27 costs £64.40 - an increase of £39.40, or 150%.
Travellers going from London Euston to Liverpool Lime Street would pay £29 on December 20, but remaining tickets now cost £64.40 between December 21 and December 27.
For people going from London King Cross to Edinburgh, a trip that costs £51.50 on December 17 and 18 is £105.70 from December 19 onwards.
London Victoria to Brighton travellers face a 50% increase in price. The cheapest ticket on December 20 is £12.80 but the same fare is £19.10 between December 21 to December 24.
Trains won't be running across the National Rail network on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
It's not uncommon for cheap fares to be snapped up early in the run-up to Christmas.
Last year, MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis urged people to start booking train tickets from early October.
How to save money on train tickets
HERE are some top tips to help you save cash on rail fares.
Split tickets
If you're taking a lengthy train journey then you could save hundreds of pounds by splitting your tickets.
You won't need to change trains and National Rail lets you split your ticket as long as the train calls at the station you buy the tickets for.
One site that works this out for you is .
Buy a season ticket
Regular travellers should be able to save by purchasing either a seven day, monthly or annual season ticket, which will allow them to make the journey an unlimited number of times as long as it's valid.
If you're making the same journey on three or more days a week, then a seven-day season ticket is likely to save you money, compared to buying a new one every day.
You can check to see if a season ticket will save you money on your trip with .
Consider Carnet tickets for London travel
If you often travel back and forth to London on the train but you don't go regularly enough to buy season ticket, you might save with a Carnet ticket.
This gives you ten single journeys to or from London for the price of nine.
Tickets are valid for three months and you can buy books of peak (anytime) or off-peak tickets.
Book at least 12 weeks in advance
Network Rail releases its timetable 12 weeks in advance, so ticket firms usually make their fares available at this time.
Just like plane tickets, the earlier you book the lower the price you'll pay for your seat.
You can sign up to the and it will tell you when cheap advance tickets go on sale for a particular journey.
Also, the shows the furthest advance date that you can buy tickets.
Save money with a Railcard
If you're a regular traveller then a railcard should shave a third off the price of your ticket.
Just make sure you'll make more in savings over a year than the price of the Railcard. See for more information.
Robert Nisbet, director of nations and regions for the Rail Delivery Group, said: "Rail companies are working together with government to ensure that passengers can travel with confidence over the festive period.
"Thousands of services will continue running daily up to and after Christmas.
"The latest information is on train operator websites and we are asking people to book ahead, avoid busy times and check before they travel."
Meanwhile, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has warned people to "look very carefully at the transport route they take” when people cross the country.
He added: "We have got to understand there are limitations to the [train] network caused by, for example, things like the need on some trains to pre-book tickets at this time, in order to prevent overcrowding.
"It is the reality of the situation we're in, we will try to do everything we can with the network to make it as good as possible, but I think it is worth people being aware that busy times of travel is a problem.”
He also warned there would still be significant disruption on the network from planned engineering works.
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