Season tickets and Coronavirus / work-from-home plans

[whole diary]

[Celestial]

Because gov are only advising not telling, insurers won’t pay up, and t&cs don’t qualify for refunds, as it’s still your choice. This is what’s upsetting the pub and restaurant trade, if they had an enforced closure they could claim lost earnings, as it’s advisory they can’t

The govt briefing made it clear today that any hospitality businesses closing because of the advisory will be able to claim if they have business interruption insurance, and I presume the financial services regulator will lean on insurers to make sure that is the case. Only problem is.... most such businesses didn't pay for that type of cover, so they are a bit stuffed, whether it's advisory or compulsory.

But the insurance companies are Saying no because it’s only advisory.

No, if you look at the statements from the ABI they are saying the vast majority of businesses don't have that type of cover. The point of whether it's advisory or compulsory is not going to be an issue where the cover is in place. Although it also seems as though most business interruption cover is only in relation to specific risks, eg flood and fire, so this would not be covered even if they have the cover. But that's a different point entirely.

[Birdie100]

I found a solution - to the refund conundrum. I found a legacy Bignosemac post from 2012 on here. If you have a gold card, the trick is to do a ‘changeover’ to Ryde Esplanade to Ryde St Johns til renewal. By doing that now, I get the full credit refund of the differential, and so for the foreseeable weeks/ months, I only ‘lose’ 52p a day from £188 season ticket. And if I need to travel once on a train I have a gold card anyway.

When normality returns, I can then repay the difference to convert the ticket back to a regular gold card!

[Clan Line]

Just been looking at the possibility of getting a refund/changing some Advance tickets on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website.   If you go to the "Unused tickets refunds" page it is headed by a large photo of a ticket just about to disappear down a drain !!   I suppose someone in GWR thought that was funny ......................

https://www.gwr.com/help-and-support/refunds-and-compensation/unused-ticket-refunds

[Sixty3Closure]

Further into the process the admin fee is waived but it then kept hanging when i tried to rebook. Guess a lot of people are cancelling tickets at the moment.

[TaplowGreen]

Went into Taplow station yesterday (now run by TfL^» (Transport for London - about)), they refunded my season ticket there and then - no admin charge.

Very impressed.

[Sixty3Closure]

Was there any information on how the 5/10% discounts might work when it all starts up again?

My employers providing taxis for certain roles so looks like i might not need mine. Just trying to do the sums of 9 months refund (a bit of a guess) vs refund ratio vs losing 10% on renewal.

I think that means if it goes on for more than 2 months its more economical to cash in.

[Oxonhutch]

Was there any information on how the 5/10% discounts might work when it all starts up again?

My employers providing taxis for certain roles so looks like i might not need mine. Just trying to do the sums of 9 months refund (a bit of a guess) vs refund ratio vs losing 10% on renewal.

I think that means if it goes on for more than 2 months its more economical to cash in.

Also look at a changeover to the cheapest local season ticket to preserve it's pro-rata value. Genuinely don't know what happens to the annual discounts in this case. If anyone does know, I would be interested to hear.

[Phantom]

TAKEN FROM: www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52002272

Commuters with rail season tickets will receive a refund if they choose to stay at home during the coronavirus outbreak, the government has promised.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said it would "ensure no-one is unfairly out of pocket for doing the right thing".

The refund is part of a package of measures to support train companies.

There has been a 70% drop in passenger numbers and ticket sales have dropped by two-thirds, the Department for Transport (DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)) said.

As a result, the firms responsible for keeping the trains running are facing "significant drops" in their income, the government said.

To stop those firms from going under, the DfT has suspended all rail franchise agreements, which govern things such as how many trains run each hour and and restrict how much the companies that run them can charge for tickets.

Under these contracts, the train operators are generally required to make payments to the government to run services on parts of the rail network.

However, DfT has now suspended these agreements for six months.

Instead, all the money from fares will be paid to the government, which will also take on the financial risk of running the network, to save firms from going under as a result of the slump in demand.

However, the train operators will continue to run the services "for a small predetermined management fee", the DfT said.

[Phantom]

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) page now live

gwr.com/help-and-support/refunds-and-compensation/season-ticket-refunds

[Sixty3Closure]

Unless I missed it though its still pro-rata over 40 weeks and no mention of what happens to renewal discounts so I'm still in the same situation as my earlier post in that it may not make financial sense yet?

I'll also still be travelling into London one or two days a week. No idea what a daily ticket costs from Twyford costs? About £25? So need to factor that into the sums I'm failing to work out.

I don't expect to make a profit but equally I'd rather not be losing money because of a lack of information or having to work.

[Oxonhutch]

Did a change-over on Thursday and with a significant refund due, it has still not hit my card as the slip from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) indicates. Not happy and quite worried to be honest especially with today's announcement of franchise freezing.

[Phantom]

Does anyone know / has anyone read if anything is being done about railcards?

I was wondering if there was going to be any extension to annual railcards? (two for two / family etc)

[Oxonhutch]

Did a change-over on Thursday and with a significant refund due, it has still not hit my card as the slip from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) indicates. Not happy and quite worried to be honest especially with today's announcement of franchise freezing.

For the record, my refund arrived 3 business days (including a weekend) after the change-over was effected. Thank-you GWR.

We shall resume normal service once this emergency is over. I'm missing my trains 

[ellendune]

A Tweet of relevance perhaps

Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) @grantshapps

Given the exceptional circumstances I've arranged for refunds on ADVANCED TRAIN Railway car TICKETS purchased, as well as SEASON TICKET holder refunds for time Alarm clock unused. Please contact your train operator for details. Please share to spread the word and help everyone #StayHomeSaveLives

[Phantom]

The below is a section taken from an email I got from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) this morning
I am intrigued what I am supposed to do with my annual ticket, I have one of the plastic touch cards
Also I assumed that the refund would be for the period of time when we are in lockdown, not for the remaining time on the card?
My doesn't expire until September, been house bound for three weeks already, so no idea now what I am supposed to do??


How to apply for your refund

If you bought your ticket at a GWR Ticket Office, through our telesales team or at GWR.com, you’ll need to apply for a refund here
 
You will need to make a note of the refund claim number, as you will need it later.  
  
There is no need to return tickets to us during this time, but to process your refund we will need you to cut your tickets in half, and email a photo of the destroyed ticket to us at: gwr.refunds.evidence@fastrailticketing.com, using the refund claim number as the subject of your email.   
 
Please note that the ticket should be cut in half, so we can still read the information on it and the photo should be taken against a clear background. Failure to do this may result in your refund request being rejected.