Claiming mileage in lieu of a cancelled train.

Sinbad

During the week, I bought a return ticket from Weymouth to Winchester. The return journey did not happen due to a lineside fire that knocked out signalling (I believe). All the boards were showing delayed or cancelled service.

The announcement on the PA at Winchester was to take the next train to Eastleigh and alight there, heading in the right direction though. Waited at Eastleigh for a while and there was no sign of any further trains to Southampton. Station staff suggested taxis would be laid on at Southampton but as we couldn’t get that far, that was a fat lot of use!

The only way home for me was for a friend to drive from Weymouth to Eastleigh to pick me up, a round trip of 128 miles. I intend to submit a claim but what is a realistic pence per mile claim?

I was thinking 25p per mile, making a total claim of 32.00 This is load cheaper than a taxi, a previous taxi in lieu of a cancelled train from Bournemouth was 90.00! Or something different?

 

Has anyone been down this road before?

maman

I've no experience of trying to claim mileage but I have claimed for a cancelled train from South West trains. That was very simple. 

A single ticket from Eastleigh to Weymouth is about £30 so may be a simpler option. 

daveyjp

You can claim for a full refund of the ticket as journey was abandoned.  The refund is from the ticket seller not the train operator.  There is no fee to pay.

maman

I bought my ticket from South West railway so used their Delay Repay system for a refund. I checked and it says to use their contact us form if you want to claim expenses instead. 

daveyjp

If you didn't catch the service its not delay repay, if it didn't run they may simply reject your claim.  See how they treat it.

Even though the outward service ran you are entitled to a full refund of the total fare paid.

MilesT6060842

In a similar situation, I got SWR to pay £10 for "Mileage" (friend who helped has an EV) to a nearby station and then single ticket (as the train line was different route).

Other passengers were booking and expensing taxis from the affected station to destination, as it was late at night and SWR declined to put on coaches for group transport (very long wait to get a taxi)