Department for Transport

Commuters urged to claim for week of train strain
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date 9 Jan 2009 14:32
source Department for Transport
type Press release

note DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT News Release (005) issued by COI News Distribution Service. 9 January 2009

Passengers who have suffered during a week of misery on the West Coast Main Line should claim compensation under the Passenger's Charter, Transport Minister Andrew Adonis said today.

Andrew Adonis said:

"This has been a nightmare week for passengers returning to work after the Christmas break, looking forward to an improved service on the West Coast line.

"I strongly urge passengers who suffered from a series of different incidents that disrupted their journeys to claim what they are entitled to. Compensation forms are available at stations, and for passengers from Euston these can also be downloaded from the Virgin and London Midland websites as appropriate."

The train company's Passenger's Charter sets out the entitlement to compensation for travel problems.

On Virgin Trains, for a delay within industry control, for example delays or cancellations caused by infrastructure or trains, passengers can claim compensation as follows:

* For a delay of an hour or more to your journey (or 45 minutes on the London-Birmingham/Wolverhampton services) passengers with single, return or weekly season tickets are entitled to vouchers equal to 25 % of the total fare paid;

* If a passenger is delayed by more than two hours they can claim the equivalent of the full fare paid;

* Monthly or annual season ticket holders could be entitled to a five per cent discount when they renew their season tickets, based on poor performance over the previous year. Virgin also has discretion to declare a day void, meaning a full refund or extension to the monthly or annual season ticket, if performance is particularly bad.

On London Midland, for a delay, whatever the cause, all passengers can claim compensation as follows:

* For a delay of from 30 to 59 minutes, all passengers are entitled to vouchers equal to 50% of the total fare paid;

* If a passenger is delayed by more than one hour, they can claim the equivalent of the full fare paid;

* If the journey is delayed by more than two hours, passengers with a return ticket will be entitled to receive 100% of the cost of the return ticket.

Claims can be made by picking up a form from a station or the train company's website (see below links) and sending it freepost to the relevant train company. The website links are:

http://feedback.virgintrains.co.uk/img/Comments_form.pdf

http://www.londonmidland.com/app/webroot/files/cache/delay%20repay%20f or%20web.pdf

Public Enquiries: 020 7944 8300
Department for Transport Website: http://www.dft.gov.uk

Railhub Archive ::: 2009-01-09 DfT-001