No trains or buses run on Christmas Day, and Boxing Day's bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. What ran from Witney last year and when 2026 times appear.
Nothing runs on Christmas Day: no National Rail trains and, going by last year, no Stagecoach buses from Witney. Boxing Day falls on a Saturday this year, so the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December, and National Rail says train times for both days are still to be confirmed. Detailed timetables start appearing from the beginning of October.
The quick answer
- Friday 25 December: no trains, and no buses if Stagecoach repeats 2025.
- Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve (both Thursdays): trains finish early on many routes. Last year the S1 finished early on Christmas Eve and ran late as normal on New Year’s Eve.
- Council car parks in Witney are free, as they are all year.
Trains from Hanborough and Charlbury
Witney has no station. The nearest are Hanborough and Charlbury on the Cotswold Line to London Paddington, and Oxford, reached on the S1 or S2 bus. Our Witney train times page covers the everyday service.
National Rail’s Christmas and New Year 2026/27 page sets out the national picture:
| Date | What National Rail says |
|---|---|
| Thursday 24 December | Services on many routes will finish earlier than normal |
| Friday 25 December | No National Rail services on Christmas Day |
| Saturday 26 December | Most train operators will have no service; a very limited service from a small number of operators, details to be confirmed |
| Monday 28 December | The substitute Boxing Day bank holiday; the services running are to be confirmed |
| Thursday 31 December | Services on some routes will finish earlier than normal |
National Rail says “a considerable number of engineering and improvement projects” will take place over Christmas and New Year, and names only one so far: Birmingham New Street, where journeys will be significantly disrupted from 24 to 28 December. No Christmas engineering work on the Cotswold Line, Oxford or Paddington has been announced yet. National Rail says it will begin adding details from the beginning of October, and Great Western Railway posts its works on its planned engineering page.
Buses: what Stagecoach ran last Christmas
Stagecoach has not yet published its 2026 festive timetables. These were its arrangements for Oxford and Witney routes over Christmas 2025, from its Christmas timetables page. Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fell on Thursdays.
| Day in 2025 | Oxford and Witney buses |
|---|---|
| Wednesday 24 December | Saturday timetable with an early finish: nothing left its starting point after 6pm, apart from named S1 journeys; S2 on a Sunday timetable |
| Thursday 25 December | No buses and no Oxford Tube |
| Friday 26 December | Special timetables on the S1, S3, S5, S7, S9 and other key routes |
| Monday 29 and Tuesday 30 December | Saturday timetable, with late-night S1 and S7 journeys cut and no NS1 night bus |
| Wednesday 31 December | Saturday timetable with all evening and late-night services running |
| Thursday 1 January | Special timetables, as on Boxing Day |
| Friday 2 January | Normal weekday school holiday timetables |
On Christmas Eve 2025 the S1 departures from Carterton at 5.26pm, 5.46pm, 6.06pm, 6.26pm and 6.46pm terminated in Witney rather than going on to Oxford, and the 6.05pm from Oxford’s Frideswide Square still ran. The S7 at 6.10pm from Witney terminated at Woodstock.
The Boxing Day and New Year’s Day S1 timetable was hourly. The first bus towards Oxford left Witney Market Square at 6.58am and the last at 5.58pm; the last from Frideswide Square back to Witney left at 7.05pm.
Parking over Christmas
West Oxfordshire District Council does not need a Christmas parking offer, because its car parks are free all year. It confirmed in July 2025 that “parking will remain free in all Council-run car parks”. Time limits still apply and are enforced: see our parking in Witney page for the maximum stays at Woolgate, Marriotts Walk and the rest.
Still to be confirmed
- Train times for 24, 26, 28 and 31 December, and any Cotswold Line or Paddington engineering work. National Rail begins publishing in October; we will check again in mid October and in early December.
- Stagecoach’s 2026 festive timetables for the S1, S2 and S7. We will check for them in late November.
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