2000-10-18 Railtrack chief executive tenders his resignation (Railtrack plc)

2000-10-18 ATOC comment on resignation offer of Railtrack Chief Executive (ATOC)

2000-10-18 Statement from Tom Winsor regarding the Hatfield accident (Office of the Rail Regulator)

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date 22 November 2000
source ATOC
type Press release

National Rail operators today announced a £50million payback package for passengers to compensate for delays resulting from speed restrictions and widespread flooding.

The deal, to be funded jointly by Railtrack, train operators and the SRA, is the biggest rail compensation deal ever offered.

The package offers up to four weeks' free travel for those suffering the greatest disruption. About half a million passengers will receive three weeks' free travel, including most London commuters.

Commenting on the compensation, ATOC Director General, George Muir, said:
"No amount of compensation can make up for the delays and inconvenience passengers have experienced since the tragic Hatfield accident but we hope this package goes some way to letting them know that we recognise the frustration they are experiencing. We aim to pay passenger compensation as quickly as possible, but would ask everyone to be patient - this will be the largest compensation package the rail industry has ever arranged and administered.

"This package would not have been deliverable without the support of Railtrack, the National Rail operators, the Rail Passengers Council (RPC), the shadow Strategic Rail Authority. National Rail operators have worked with these parties over the past two weeks to make sure we got this right, and that the different levels of disruption across the network are dealt with fairly".

THE PACKAGE
Season ticket holders The package covers passengers with monthly and longer period season tickets who experienced delays during the four Charter weeks from 15 October to 11 November.

The level of disruption has been evaluated for each route. Train operators are declaring a number of days' compensation, reflecting the degree of disruption experienced on each route.

The number of compensation days being declared by each train operator is set out in the attached table. Season ticket holders can claim the value of a day's travel for every compensation day declared by their train operator.

Detailed arrangements to enable passengers to claim compensation are being finalised by train companies and will be announced locally within the next week.

Local arrangements will generally allow compensation to be made by cheque or credit card refund. Local announcements will clarify whether the train operator is able to allow passengers to choose additional days extension to season tickets. In some cases this is not practicable.

Weekly and daily ticket holders
Passengers with weekly or daily tickets who have experienced delays are already entitled to refunds for disrupted journeys through each train operating company's Passengers' Charter. They should contact their train operator using a compensation form or by letter, enclosing proof of travel and details of the journey and delay experienced.

Passengers with daily tickets which have not been used because the train has not run or ran late can usually claim immediate refunds.

Compensation for advance ticket purchase holders has already been announced. When passengers choose not to travel because the train, or trains, they intend to use are cancelled or excessively delayed, a full refund can be obtained on their rail ticket. Refunds will be available in these circumstances on all valid tickets, including those not normally eligible for a refund. The normal administration charges will not apply.

Further delays
The Passengers' Charter provides for compensation for delays which may occur in the future. A compensation working group comprising ATOC, the sSRA and RPC has been set up to review compensation issues arising from future disruption caused by Railtrack's track renewal programme. Train operators will be making special offers in the future to rebuild passenger confidence when the network is back to normal.

ENDS

For more information call the ATOC Press Office on 020 7904 3010

Notes to editors
1. Fifteen compensation days are broadly equivalent to three weeks.
2. The compensation package covers season ticket Travelcards bought from National Rail retail outlets but not Travelcards bought from Transport for London or other parties.
3. Compensation may not extend to all multi-modal tickets, depending on local arrangements.
4. Train operators are gearing themselves up to handle the large number of compensation claims, which will take several weeks to process.
5. Delays caused by severe weather are normally excluded from passenger compensation because they are outside the train companies' control. For this period, because of the overall disruption to the network, a distinction is not generally made between delays caused by severe weather and other delays and total disruption will be compensated.
6. The number of compensation days can be different for each service group within a train operator, because the level of disruption varied across their operation. In such cases, a range is indicated in the table and details will be announced locally.
7. Some of the compensation days listed below have already been announced. The local announcement may include additional days relating to other periods.
8. If no compensation days are shown, there was minimal severe disruption on those routes.

TABLE OF COMPENSATION DAYS (cf notes above)

Train operator No. of compensation days declared:
London Commuting
Connex South Central 15
Connex South Eastern 15
First Great Eastern 15
c2c 1
Gatwick Express 15
Chiltern Railways 10
Silverlink: Northampton line 16
Silverlink: North London/Watford Range 1 to 5
South West Trains 16
Thames Trains 15
Thameslink 15
WAGN: Great Northern 19
WAGN: West Anglia 15
InterCity
Anglia Mainline 16
Virgin CrossCountry 21
Virgin West Coast Range 20 to 22
GNER 22
Midland Main Line 18
First Great Western 15
Other
Anglia, locals Range 0 to 14
Central: Interurban 15
Central: other Range 4 to 10
Northern Spirit Range 0 to 10
ScotRail: Central East & Express 15
ScotRail: Strathclyde PTE 0
ScotRail: Highland 1
First North Western Range 5 to 15
Wales & West Range 5 to 15
Valley Lines 7
Merseyrail Range 5 to 10

Railhub Archive ::: 2000-11-22 ATO-001