Fell Ill during journey, missed connection had to buy new ticket

curlygirl1971

Hi

This is a long shot but perhaps someone can offer advice? I rarely travel by rail so am not very knowledgeable about what's what.

I bought advance tickets for my sister and I, return from Burton to Kingston from Virgin. The journey involved connections and tube journey. We had to get on specific trains rather than having an open journey. Last night my sister was very unwell and missed most of the play we'd made a special journey to see. By this morning she thought she was much better but unfortunately fell ill during the first 15 mins. of the return journey. She has an underlying health issue that made it even more difficult for her to cope with being unwell during the journey.

She was on the verge of fainting, felt dreadfully nauseous and had quite violent problems the other end! On the first leg of the journey there was no loo on the train so we had to get off at a station for 10/15 mins. The staff there were brilliant. We then continued and arrived at Waterloo. The itinery allowed about 50mins for getting from Waterloo to Euston -usually plenty of time. The Bakerloo line was closed and this had a knock-on effect on the Northern line and we struggled even getting near the platform. We eventually got on the tube but it was crammed full and my sis thought she was going to be ill again so we had to get off for 5 mins and then continue. We got to Euston but she needed another toilet break and we missed our train by 10 mins. Whilst she was in the loo I went to the Virgin desk and explained but the guy literally kept saying "It's a new ticket" and that's it. We had 10 mins to the next train, my sister was dying to just get home and we had another connection to catch so we went and bought another ticket each at £40.90 each.

It's not a huge amount in the great scheme of things but she can't afford hers - this weekend was a carefully planned treat that was ruined for her and quite honestly I'm just annoyed - I just feel gutted for her as things really aren't going her way recently!

Is there anything that I can do in the circumstances? I do intend writing to them but can anyone suggest anything specific.

Many thanks in advance

faithcecilia

Did you have insurance? If so then you may well find you can claim if your sister can get a drs note. If not then you probably won't be able to do anything about it as the cheap fares do tend to be for specific trains, but you might be lucky.

Hop your sister is feeling better.

Mankysteve

Aye unfortunately there nothing you can get back off them unless you've got insurance.

curlygirl1971

Many thanks guys - no not got insurance. Darn it. I let my annual policy lapse and was going to renew for next holiday (ie out of UK). Benefit of hindsight and all that..........

And thanks - she's feeling much better now she's got access to her own bathroom!

babyshoes

I would suggest you still write to them, and stress how unsympathetic the staff member on the desk was (was he rude, stand-offish, bored, unfriendly etc etc? Be sure to mention such things too). They may offer you a partial refund or a free ticket for the future so that you don't give them bad publicity, though of course they don't have to!

Good luck, and hope your sister is OK now!

placido

There was a post on another forum about a year ago from someone who arrived at Euston, returning home after a visit, to find that he had mistakenly booked the ticket for the wrong day.

He approached the Virgin desk and received exactly the same response as you. So I think "unsympathetic" and "stand-offish" is the rule rather than the exception.

I travel quite frequently from North Wales to Euston and always get an advance ticket which is much cheaper than the standard fares. Last Sunday it cost me £10.80 from Euston to home where-as one guy who paid on the train had to cough up £57.

So I can see why they are quite strict about not refunding people who miss their designated train.

On the other hand I was not happy when I was told at Chester Station that the train company’s regarded five minutes as being sufficient time for a passenger to get off one train and on to a connecting train in the same station.

As an older person with heart problems and suitcases I was stressed out wandering what would happen if the train was even a minute late. Humping cases over bridges, trying to find which platform the train is leaving from takes time.

If I had missed my connection I would have dogged them for a refund of any excess fare.

I agree you should write a letter explaining the circumstances of your sisters illness and make a point of mentioning to them that they operate a code for disabled people. It seems clear that at that time she was incapacitated.

I don’t believe you have any legal entitlement as such but hopefully Virgin will recognise the merits of your appeal. I myself know what it is like to be sick on a train. I also can imagine how stressed out she must have felt trying to board the tube train on a crowded platform whilst feeling unwell.

Travelling around London, and especially on the tube, is for the fit and strong. Sometimes allowances have to be made for those who, for whatever reason, are not up to it.

curlygirl1971

A very belated 'Thank-you' to Placido for taking the time to post (I can't stand it when you take the trouble to reply and then never hear from the OP)

Once I'd calmed down and thought about it (and taking on board everyone's comments) I realised that I had no right to expect anything from Virgin. Think at the time I was just naffed off with the attitude of their desk at Euston and very disappointed for my sister.

I've since looked at the insurance situation - most travel policies wouldn't have covered it as it was just an overnight stay (many stipulate minimum of 2 or 3 night trips), but when booking the tickets I think I was asked if I wanted insurance then? and just breezed through it - lesson learned

Oh and sister had a virus that took her 3 weeks to shake off - she has MS so things hit her harder as well - but all better now