Timetabe changed after booked, impossible to make connection

alanrowell

Travelling Skipton to Edinburgh via Carlisle & return by same route.

After booking date timetable was changed due to landslide between Appleby & Carlisle which had occurred before my booking date but had not changed before my booking date introducing bus replacement service which meant my arrival at Carlisle would be after the booked service had left for Edinburgh.

Return journey has similar problems except the bus replacement service left before the scheduled arrival time of the train from Edinburgh.

Went to ticket office who told me that as the tickets were Advance I couldn't use them on other services and therefore I had to buy new tickets which I did at a cost of over £100 when the original tickets cost under £40. I was not able to offset the cost of the original tickets against the new.

Skipton-Carlisle was by Northern Rail
Carlisle-Edinburgh was by Virgin Trains West Coast

Edinburgh-Carlisle was by Cross Country
Carlisle-Skipton was by Northern Rail

All tickets booked through Virgin Trains East Coast
All tickets are Advance.

Questions

1) Am I due a refund?
2) From whom?
3) What can I claim for?
4) Why wasn't I told about the timetable changes?
5) Anything else?

Owain_Moneysaver

1) Yes. The tickets were mis-sold. You would have been allowed to travel on the next permitted train.

2) From the train company that operated the ticket office which mis-sold the tickets. (Some stations may have several ticket offices, operated by different companies.)

3) The full cost of the mis-sold tickets.

4) Train company booking systems don't necessarily hold your information in a format which enables them to selectively contact customers travelling on particular routes.

yorkie2

alanrowell wrote: »

Travelling Skipton to Edinburgh via Carlisle & return by same route.

After booking date timetable was changed due to landslide between Appleby & Carlisle which had occurred before my booking date but had not changed before my booking date introducing bus replacement service which meant my arrival at Carlisle would be after the booked service had left for Edinburgh.

Return journey has similar problems except the bus replacement service left before the scheduled arrival time of the train from Edinburgh.

Went to ticket office who told me that as the tickets were Advance I couldn't use them on other services and therefore I had to buy new tickets which I did at a cost of over £100 when the original tickets cost under £40. I was not able to offset the cost of the original tickets against the new.

This is nonsense.

Ignore the clueless ticket office staff.

alanrowell wrote: »

Skipton-Carlisle was by Northern Rail
Carlisle-Edinburgh was by Virgin Trains West Coast

Edinburgh-Carlisle was by Cross Country
Carlisle-Skipton was by Northern Rail

All tickets booked through Virgin Trains East Coast
All tickets are Advance.

Questions

1) Am I due a refund?
2) From whom?
3) What can I claim for?
4) Why wasn't I told about the timetable changes?
5) Anything else?

If you choose to abandon your journey, you are due a full refund with no admin fee applicable.

If you choose to travel, you can depart on the first available train at/after the time of your booked departure, and claim delay compensation, as appropriate, OR you can take an earlier train in order to minimise/eliminate any delay (and you can still claim delay compensation if you arrive late).

What do you want to do?

alanrowell

Well I've heard back from Virgin East Coast, their reply boils down to "nothing to do with us guv" and suggests that I contact Virgin West Coast instead which as only one of the four journeys was with them does seem odd.

Owain_Moneysaver

But which train company operates the ticket office that mis-sold you the tickets? or sold you the original ticket for which you wish to claim delay repay?

It might not have been the operator of any of the trains on which you travelled.

alanrowell

As I said right at the beginning - Virgin East Coast

p00hsticks

alanrowell wrote: »

Skipton-Carlisle was by Northern Rail
Carlisle-Edinburgh was by Virgin Trains West Coast

Edinburgh-Carlisle was by Cross Country
Carlisle-Skipton was by Northern Rail

All tickets booked through Virgin Trains East Coast
All tickets are Advance.

Just to clarify - did you book tickets from Skipton to Edinburgh and return, or split tickets so that you had ones from Skipton to Carlisle and then separately from Carlisle to Edinburgh ?

Owain_Moneysaver

alanrowell wrote: »

As I said right at the beginning - Virgin East Coast

Skipton station is (was) operated by Northern Rail. Were they the

ticket office who told me that as the tickets were Advance I couldn't use them on other services and therefore I had to buy new tickets which I did at a cost of over £100

?

yorkie2

p00hsticks wrote: »

Just to clarify - did you book tickets from Skipton to Edinburgh and return, or split tickets so that you had ones from Skipton to Carlisle and then separately from Carlisle to Edinburgh ?

Doesn't really matter, but if separate tickets were involved, it can complicate matters if they were purchased from different retailers and you were requesting a refund.

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Skipton station is (was) operated by Northern Rail. Were they the ?

That wouldn't surprise me, as some Northern ticket office staff appear to be inadequately trained.

yorkie2

alanrowell wrote: »

1) Am I due a refund?
2) From whom?
3) What can I claim for?
4) Why wasn't I told about the timetable changes?
5) Anything else?

It's still not clear to me if you wish to cancel your journey (in which case, you are entitled to a 100% refund, with no admin charges, from the retailer) or if you do wish to travel.

If you do wish to travel, what itinerary were you provided with? Would you rather depart earlier, or arrive later?