Passenger rights - last train cancelled

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

These days it’s mostly dealt with by First Travel Solutions AIUI^▸ (as I understand it).  They will coordinate buses/taxis nationally using operators that have signed up. 

I expect much like when you book taxis through many apps the drivers have a choice as to whether to accept or decline the booking and they will be offered the job in general order of proximity to it and when their current job is expected to be completed.

That would normally be arranged by the station staff liaising with Control who would contact FTS.

I think the days of trotting everyone down to the local taxi rank and picking drivers who want the job have largely gone now, unless in extremis.

[ChrisB]

It's still done in Banbury....but the taxi private-hire company there has to guarantee driver availability for x number of cars, plus the rank drivers need to guarantee a certain number on the rank from x to y times, 7 days a week if they want a badge.

[IndustryInsider]

It's still done in Banbury....but the taxi private-hire company there has to guarantee driver availability for x number of cars, plus the rank drivers need to guarantee a certain number on the rank from x to y times, 7 days a week if they want a badge.

Ah yes, to clarify I meant GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) managed stations (possibly other First Group ones as well?).  Other operators will have their own arrangements, which may well still use taxis off the rank as their main procedure, especially the smaller ones like Chiltern.

[johnneyw]

Has anyone on this forum or anyone they know had a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) arrange overnight accommodation (i.e. not having to pay upfront and claim back later)?

Not a TOC but just prior to privatisation we had been to a wedding reception very near to Box Hill station but were intending to get back to Bristol that evening.  Arriving at the station in time for the last service that would get us back, we waited until well after the train was due.  Fortunately a phone box was nearby and I had sufficient two and ten pence coins in my pocket to (eventually) get through to BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)).  Turned out that the last train was cancelled, I think due to vandalism on the line.  BR told us to return to the hotel where they would arrange for a taxi to take us to a hotel next to Paddington where they would arrange a room for us and our tickets would be valid for the early train back to Bristol.  They were as good as their word.

[plymothian]

See The Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on rail passengers’ rights and obligations [PRO] which fully became law in Great Britain (GB^▸ (Great Britain)) on 4 December 2019 and recast in 2021.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-rail-passengers-rights-and-obligations-regulation-no-13712007/guidance-on-regulation-no-13712007-on-rail-passengers-right-and-obligations

Article 18: assistance to passengers in the event of delays (such as meals, possible alternative travel and hotel accommodation)

Passengers must be kept informed of the situation by the railway undertaking or by the station manager including current estimated departure and arrival times as soon as such information is available.

In the case of delays over 60 minutes, the passenger shall be offered free of charge:

    meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the waiting time if these are available on the train or station or can be reasonably[footnote 1] supplied
    hotel or other accommodation and transport between the station and the accommodation in cases where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary, when physically possible
    transport from the train to the station if the train is blocked on the track, to an alternative departure point or the final destination of the service, where physically possible

Where the railway service cannot be provided, the railway undertakings shall provide alternative transport as soon as possible.

Where there is disruption, the railway undertaking shall certify the same on the ticket when requested by the passenger.

When discharging these duties, the railway undertaking shall pay particular attention to the needs of people with a disability and others with reduced mobility.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021R0782

Article 19

10.   A railway undertaking shall not be obliged to pay compensation if it can prove that the delay, missed connection or cancellation was caused directly by, or was inherently linked with:

(a)
   

extraordinary circumstances not connected with the operation of the railway, such as extreme weather conditions, major natural disasters or major public health crises, which the railway undertaking, in spite of having taken the care required in the particular circumstances of the case, was unable to avoid and the consequences of which it was unable to prevent;

(b)
   

fault on the part of the passenger; or

(c)
   

the behaviour of a third party which the railway undertaking, in spite of having taken the care required in the particular circumstances of the case, was unable to avoid and the consequences of which it was unable to prevent, such as persons on the track, cable theft, on-board emergencies, law enforcement activities, sabotage or terrorism.

Strikes by the personnel of the railway undertaking, acts or omissions by another undertaking using the same railway infrastructure and acts or omissions of the infrastructure and station managers are not covered by the exemption referred to in point (c) of the first subparagraph

[nickswift99]

All valid points but if GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have not got the capability to do this from Bristol, Gloucester or Cheltenham then you have to question their commitment to their obligations.

For context, I have had GWR arrange taxis from a small station with no local taxi service in the past, which required a fleet of taxis to travel from Reading to collect passengers. This was done really well.

[NickB]

There was an article/editorial in The Times a couple of months ago (might have been Caitlin Moran) about ‘why no one travels by rail’ and revolves around a tale of a prematurely curtailed rail journey to the west of England. In the tale, rail staff absolve themselves of their responsibility to ensure onward travel by issuing vouchers for taxi travel in the full knowledge that no taxis were operating in the area. The station being closed up for the night with many passengers standing at a taxi rank that would never bear fruit.
IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) they got a taxi, hotel, taxi back and claimed for the lot. Fair play.

[nickswift99]

I thought the forum would like an update on this.

After 2 weeks, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are now denying that the service ran from Cheltenham to Gloucester (2B98). This is not consistent with the experience of the passengers that were on it.

Interestingly sites that use DARWIN are showing this as cancelled throughout, but it did run and I have opentraintimes images of timing points for that service from Cheltenham to Gloucester.

[NickB]

I’ve had a similar experience of applying for a refund on a service that according to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) was a ghost-train.

This seems to be a relatively new phenomena - I didn’t have such issues pre-pandemic so do GWR not source their data from a different source?

[nickswift99]

I'm going to correct what I said in my last post.

Darwin sites are showing the service as cancelled, but only from Gloucester (which is correct).

There's probably a training issue in GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Customer Services where trains are cancelled for part of their journey.

[nickswift99]

Final update.

After a "Letter Before Action", GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have finally agreed to compensate the taxi expense. Contrary to their Complaints Handling policy, it's still taking effort to get Delay Repay for this journey.

In summary, GWR do not appear to have an effective process for dealing with stranded passengers when they cancel services, nor do they seem to have a mechanism that is customer friendly to recover costs when they breach their contract.

@mods can you move this thread to the "Your rights and redress" section of the forum? Thanks

[JayMac]

@mods can you move this thread to the "Your rights and redress" section of the forum? Thanks

Done.