Its bonkers.
Thats a good deal to London - but my 99p flight to Prague 7 years ago takes some beating haha.
I only paid a few pence more than the £3.15 fare myself on the X1 from Newcastle to Houghton a few months back
As pointed out in the twitter conversation, it is cheaper to get a Tyne Tees Day Ranger and hop on and off the train all day across the entire North East for the 11 year old, than it is to spend half an hour in each direction on the bus to and from Chester!
RE: Go North East