Rail ticket not usable for three days

BlackMonk

Hi


In August I bought a season ticket for £932. I was not told when I bought it that I would be unable to use it over the Bank Holiday weekend because of Kings' Cross station being closed for engineering works. I have made a refund request to the train company, Govia Thameslink, but they have refused on the grounds the closure was advertised well in advance.


I think this is unfair because I did not use the rail network from the end of June to mid-August and I was also out of the country for some of the time, so I never stepped inside a station, saw a poster or read an advertisement in a free newspaper. The first I knew about it was a person handing out leaflets the week after I bought the ticket.



I would have thought if you buy something then you should be informed at the point of sale of any limitations. Also I do not believe Govia Thameslink did everything possible to inform their customers. I have been a customer for seven years and made dozens of Delay Repay claims so they have my contact details on file. They could have mailed/emailed everybody on their database to make sure they were aware. Is there any consumer legislation that would support my claim?


Thanking you in advance


BM

stragglebod

So you didn't like the replies last time you asked this?

KeithP

What is the origin and destination printed on your ticket?

Robin9

Did you actually want to travel to Kings Cross over the weekend ? Did you have to change any arrangements ?

BlackMonk

Good Morning


Stragglebod - many thanks for your original reply. The Consumer Rights Bill is indeed Indian legislation! I thought I had better post to this board to find out what the corresponding UK legislation is before replying. Interesting that the Indians have better consumer protection than we have.


KeithP - my ticket is from my home town to London terminals. There is a Thameslink service that runs through my town to St Pancras but that was suspended during the bank holiday as well.


Robin9 - I often go into London at the weekends. My wife and I normally go to the Notting Hill Festival.


To me the situation is like a car manufacturer running an advertising campaign for a product recall and one of their dealerships selling an affected car then refusing to compensate the buyer because they had advertised the fault!


Any advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Trying to get money out of a train company is like trying to get blood from a stone. The only way they will pay up is if there is legislation. If all else fails I could try the unfair terms in consumer contracts act.


Regards


BM

Manxman_in_exile

BlackMonk wrote: »

Good Morning


Stragglebod - many thanks for your original reply. The Consumer Rights Bill is indeed Indian legislation! I thought I had better post to this board to find out what the corresponding UK legislation is before replying. Interesting that the Indians have better consumer protection than we have.


KeithP - my ticket is from my home town to London terminals. There is a Thameslink service that runs through my town to St Pancras but that was suspended during the bank holiday as well.


Robin9 - I often go into London at the weekends. My wife and I normally go to the Notting Hill Festival.


To me the situation is like a car manufacturer running an advertising campaign for a product recall and one of their dealerships selling an affected car then refusing to compensate the buyer because they had advertised the fault!


Any advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Trying to get money out of a train company is like trying to get blood from a stone. The only way they will pay up is if there is legislation. If all else fails I could try the unfair terms in consumer contracts act.


Regards


BM

I think you've got no hope of any sort of refund, but you could try asking here: https://www.railforums.co.uk/forums/disputes-prosecutions.152/


They're experts on all sorts of ticket disputes.

bris

A season ticket is for more than just 3 days. If anything you could be due a pro rata refund for those 3 days but for the whole season? No I think you are getting nowhere with this.

molerat

Was alternative transport available such as bus, alternative routes etc ?

Hermione_Granger

BlackMonk wrote: »

Robin9 - I often go into London at the weekends. My wife and I normally go to the Notting Hill Festival.

To be honest, using an annual 2 day festival to show that you normally travel into London at Weekends isn't really a good example.
It's a bit like my saying that as I go on the M25 once a year to get to Heathrow airport, I'm a regular user of that particular road.

davidmcn

bris wrote: »

A season ticket is for more than just 3 days. If anything you could be due a pro rata refund for those 3 days but for the whole season? No I think you are getting nowhere with this.

If they really wanted to, they could have handed it back for a pro rata refund, and then bought another ticket after the weekend. Probably an admin fee involved though.

molerat wrote: »

Was alternative transport available such as bus, alternative routes etc ?

Almost certainly, and if the OP has kept hold of the ticket, how would the TOC verify that they hadn't in fact used it over the weekend?

CardinalWolsey

This is the sort of query that I'm sure a TOC would prefer to file in the under-desk metal receptacle, but instead has to waste time (and money) in formally replying, thus raising the cost of tickets for everybody else.