southern trains

skyepark

Hi I was made over 15mins late on these trains as tehy were delayed and decided to terminate earlier, as a result I missed my coach from Vicotira coach stations that left on time! (the only thing ever to have been on time) can I write to Southern trains to compensate me for missing this journey?

nellytheelephant

Most companies don't compensate you unless it's over half an hour, how long was there to get from your train to coach on the original journey?

pinkshoes

Only 15 minute late? That's not bad...

I'm sure it says that you should allow an hour between arrival time and a connection when travelling to London, so I very much doubt that they will offer compensation for just a 15 minutes delay!

Also, your connection was a bus, not a train, so they'll just reply and tell you it was your mistake to allow so little time to cross London.

skyepark

i was supposed to get at victoria stn with 20mins to get to victoria coach station which is 5mins away so they expect people to hang around for hours? honestly

nellytheelephant

Yeah, you have to allow time to get from station to station.
I have a train journey at the end of the month, booked as one whole journey - there's an hour to get from Euston to Victoria

helloecho

Twenty minutes is no time at all to leave 'spare' - there are so many ways to lose time on trains. Even something as small as a queue at the ticket barrier, arriving at platform miles away from the concourse, or leaving the station from the wrong exit can add that long!

It's not customary for train companies to offer compensation unless the delay is at least half an hour, and even then, it's usually only rail vouchers to half the value of that portion of your journey. I'm frequently delayed by at least 15 minutes on my morning commute, unfortunately I just have to either deal with being late for work, or reduce the risk by getting an earlier train!

swordfish

skyepark wrote: »

i was supposed to get at victoria stn with 20mins to get to victoria coach station which is 5mins away so they expect people to hang around for hours? honestly

So you were 15 mins late, but had a 5 mins walk and a 20 mins leeway? That means you should have caught the bus. Or did you dawdle and just expect the bus to be late, or was the 5 mins under-exaggerating?


I'm a train driver and on my routes 15 mins delay is infrequent, but certainly not unheard of. How regular was your train by the way (as you state "hanging around for hours"?

skyepark

Hi swordfish

I was supposed to have a 20min leeway but my original train was late by 3 mins ok, then they said it would terminate a stop earlier then originally planned and the next train was 10mins later and also late by 5 mins which means by the time I got to Victoria and legged it to the coach station I just missed my coach. In hindsight I shouldve got the earlier train which was 30mins earlier but I don't usually take trains.

swordfish

I do have sympathy believe me. Must be awful to miss a connection, but there are so many things that can delay a train that are out of the company's control. Only yesterday, I had 3 kids playing "chicken" with the one I was driving. No-ones fault but the kids, but no doubt it would be "****** train was late again!!".
I know when I hear the complaints, I always think "could you travel in a car and get to a destination 300 miles away within 3 minutes of your expectations"? We essentially have to travel virtually at the speed limit (without breaking it, or we're in it deep) for the entire journey to be on time, so any slight incident and it's going to be late.
Suppose there should be more "catch-up" time built in, but people on a lot more money than me decide that!!;)

JohalaReewi

Southern are not very good at giving compensation. You have to be at least an hour late and it has to be Southern's fault. On the other hand, Southern are very good at terminating trains short of their final destination if they are running late. The cynic in me says that this is so the train is not late for its next trip. Southern take the hit for one late train and avoid getting several black marks for being continually late. Passengers are just dumped and left to their own devices. This is not the age of the train.

all_change

It might be worth noting that for travel by national express coaches, the terms and conditions say that you are expected to arrive at the coach station 15 mins before the departure time. I've seen some drivers get shirty with passengers who don't arrive early (presumably as it takes a little while for all passengers to board - they can't all get on at the exact departure time).

Not a great place to hang a round but a short wait at the coach station is usually less inconvenient than a mad rush.

HTH