Achieving T-12: Consultation on proposed licence modifications (ORR, 1999)

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date 7 May 1999
source Office of the Rail Regulator
type Press release

note ORR/99/16

The Rail Regulator, Chris Bolt, commented on the survey of standards of railway ticket retailing published today by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). This, the second such survey, showed that 5.7 per cent of railway tickets sold in 1998 were sold inaccurately, compared with the figure of 10 per cent, shown by the first survey in 1997, to have been sold inaccurately. This improvement was, however, offset by a significant decline in the standard of service to disabled passengers. The latest survey revealed that 58.4 per cent of transactions at stations for passengers with disabilities were incorrectly dealt with, compared with 19 per cent handled incorrectly in 1997. The National Rail Enquiry Service (NRES) picture was even worse, with more than 90 per cent of enquiries from disabled passengers answered incorrectly.

Chris Bolt said: "Although I welcome the general level of improvement in the standard of ticket retailing, I am very concerned that the standard of retailing and information to disabled passengers has fallen to an utterly unacceptable level. We will wish to examine this particular result closely and will be seeking a commitment from train operators to improve their service to disabled passengers as quickly as possible. The industry’s general intention to work together to improve standards is welcome, but this will have to be backed by clear and enforceable obligations, incentives and penalties for the public to have confidence in those intentions. If train operators cannot come forward quickly with an acceptable proposition on an enforceable retail performance regime, I will be ready to take formal regulatory action."



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Railhub Archive ::: 1999-05-12 ORR-001