Train Delays guide discussion

Hello all. I have regularly travelled on the Chichester to Brighton line for decades. A few weeks ago our train diverted to Littlehampton because of some incident and we were told a replacement bus service was being arranged. On previous occasions when this has happened a bus has turned up reasonably quickly. However, on this occasion we waited half an hour or so and nothing seemed on the horizon. We urgently had to get to Brighton, so got a public bus to Worthing with our free bus passes instead, then a taxi on from Worthing to Brighton at a cost of £28.

Southern Rail subsequently admitted that we would have arrived in Brighton well over 2 hours late, but still refused to reimburse us anything at all towards our taxi. I am not very happy about this and was thinking about making a court claim against them, in line with the Consumer Rights Act. Based on all of the circumstances, then does anyone else think it is worth a punt? I don't mind losing and I am willing to be a guinea pig here. I just want to know I at least have some chance of succeeding.

Deleted_User wrote: »

Southern Rail subsequently admitted that we would have arrived in Brighton well over 2 hours late, but still refused to reimburse us anything at all towards our taxi. I am not very happy about this and was thinking about making a court claim against them, in line with the Consumer Rights Act. Based on all of the circumstances, then does anyone else think it is worth a punt? I don't mind losing and I am willing to be a guinea pig here. I just want to know I at least have some chance of succeeding.

In the end, I decided discretion was the better part of valour on this occasion. The reasons for my decision were as follows:

1. The root of all the delays on the day in question was genuinely down to someone trespassing on the line and getting killed. Although I thought Southern Rail didn't seem to be right on the ball when it came to organising a replacement bus service, compared to previous experiences of mine, it was admittedly a Sunday morning.

2. The taxi rank in Worthing I got a taxi to Brighton from seems to be populated by independent drivers. I forgot to get a receipt from the taxi driver on the day in question, then couldn't locate any sort of telephone number for the taxi rank afterwards to chase it up. I only had my own word to go on.

On the whole, I deemed that these factors might tip any court verdict in favour of Southern Rail.

tommy2k8 wrote: »

I needed to get to my creative writing class yesterday, and I normally get the 11.18 from Otford to Tonbridge (operated by Thameslink). This was cancelled, and the 11.48 was delayed (but it didn't say by how much time.) So I had to get a friend to take me to Sevenoaks to allow me to get the train to Tonbridge. Can I claim for a cancellation?

Everything depends on when you would have arrived at your destination, regardless of whether any late arrival is down to a delayed train or a cancelled train. So yes, you certainly can claim for a cancellation in this instance.

As you are unsure of exactly how late your train would have been, you only know for sure it over was 30 minutes late, then just mark it down as being 1 hour late. They check all of these claims automatically you see. If your train was less than 1 hour late, then they certainly won't pay you the extra money. However, if you claim for a 30 minutes to 59 minutes delay and your train would have been over 1 hour late, then I can easily see them not paying you the extra money you are due.

tommy2k8 wrote: »

This also happened last Thursday - the 11.48 was cancelled, we were told there was a bus replacement service for the next train, which was at 12.18, but that never turned up, so we had to wait until 12.48. Can I do the same for that one?

Absolutely. Make another claim for a 1 hour delay. If you haven't signed up for online compensation claims, then I would advise doing so, as everything is a lot easier that way in my opinion.

https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/help-and-support/contact-us/faqs/delays-and-compensation

thecatsmother70 wrote: »

Eventually, having spoken to a really lovely lady at LTW she went back to them and queried the whole thing again and I eventually got a refund for the whole year's delays (this was before delay repay came in). It took from 1/9/17 to 13/2/18 to actually get SWR to provide the compensation due. The passenger charter rules refer to oyster cards and say that they will 'consider' a claim if made by passengers who hold their season ticket on one, but it seems that the standard response is 'rejection' for no good reason if you try to claim. They are just using it as an excuse to not pay up for all their London customers who use an Oyster card.

It's disgraceful what you went through and great job on persevering and getting a result.

thecatsmother70 wrote: »

Delay Repay will now make it impossible to get any refunds if you use an Oyster Card for your season ticket.

Have you thought about bringing this up with your M.P.? :eek:

goodatsaving wrote: »

Question, do you actually need to be on the train to claim for compensation if you have a season ticket?

I would suggest going on to the website of your train operator and looking at their compensation rules. If in doubt, then message them with your query.

MSE_Kelvin wrote: »

If either of these apply to you, I'd love to hear from you - simply reply on here or email [EMAIL="kelvin.goodson@moneysavingexpert.com"]kelvin.goodson@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL] . Thanks for your help! MSE Kelvin

Hello Kelvin. If I encounter another instance of my train being over 1 hour late and desperately needing to get a taxi, with Southern Rail being responsible, then I am determined to take court action if I am not compensated for it. With a taxi receipt to boot of course.

As night follows day, I am sure this will happen soon enough, so I want to know if the forum will back me up and take an interest in my case. Any chance you can ask Martin for me? I mean he would have an interest in some test cases wouldn't he? Someone needs to take the plunge! Much appreciated.

Has anyone had success claiming for a delay where you have missed a connecting train due to lifts being out of order (or other station facilities issue)?

Having a baby in a buggy meant I needed to use lift but inevitable missed my train when the lift wasn't working - I missed by only a few seconds so would definitely have made it of lifts were not out of order.

The station in question is operated by the rail company, so I feel like hey are responsible for having me miss the train. Nothing to stop me putting in a claim, but wasn't sure what the official situation is

Thank you