Trying to claim a partial refund

Dear All


I would like to ask for your advice on my request to receive a partial refund of my rail season ticket. Last month I bought a season ticket for travel between the town I live and London Kings’ Cross. When I bought the ticket no mention was made that I would not be able to use it for travel into London over the August bank holiday weekend due to Kings’ Cross being closed for engineering works. I did not use the rail network between June 30th and August 12th so the first I knew about this was someone giving out leaflets outside my station a week after I had bought the ticket.


Now the ticket was quite expensive (£932) so I thought a small refund was fair. However when I applied, my train company (Govia Thameslink) refused on the grounds they claimed to have advertised the closure plenty of time in advance and when I questioned this they just mentioned the National Rail Conditions of Carriage without reproducing the relevant section or providing a link.


I did some research and I believe under the Consumer Protection Bill 2018 I am entitled to a refund. Under the Bill one of the one of the eight Consumer Protection Rights is the Right to Information [FONT=&quot]which is the right to be given all the information necessary, including any limitations with the goods or service, to make an informed choice when making a purchase. This did not happen at the point of sale.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]I sent a detailed email explaining this and yesterday I receive this response: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]I can confirm that all planned engineering works are advertised weeks in advance and are advertised through our stations with posters and leaflets given to customers. We also do radio spots on local radio and the information is published on our websites.[/FONT][FONT=&quot] The agent had completely ignored my Consumer Protection Bill argument and just regurgitated their original response. He is obviously not giving my request proper consideration.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]I feel further communication with Govia Thameslink’s customer service department would be a waste of time and I am considering going through their complaint’s procedure, but I am not optimistic. Can you please suggest any way I can give leverage to my argument (that they are in contempt of the law is apparently not enough) and what I can do if my complaint is dismissed?
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[FONT=&quot]Thank you[/FONT]