AIBU to try get refund for £115 train ticket

[Deathbydolla]

I ordered an advance non-refundable ticket for £99. Fumbled with the machine this morning and missed my booked train. The desk operator said that there was nothing they could do, and I ended up having to pay another £115 for a single.

I totally get that it was my fault I missed my train, but I feel £115 is extortionate, especially with the abysmal services on offer nowadays. Anybody ever managed to get a refund or mitigation for this kind of thing?

Do you need to have a printed ticket for the trains?

(Get this) it depends which operator you are using ...

They should privatise the railways - that would sort it all out.

Indeed they should. At the moment, the pseudo privatisation is the worst of all options. Train Operating Companies (TOCs) are told by Govt/quangos what fares to charge, told what trains to run, told what routes to take, told what stations to stop at, are charged by a quango for each mile they travel, are fined by a quango for being late or cancelling trains, and they receive their money from fares in a weirdly convoluted manner (that could only have been dreamt up by a civil servant) that bares little resemblance to how many people actually travel on their trains. Bring on proper privatisation and get rid of the army of civil servants who still control the railways.

Indeed they should. At the moment, the pseudo privatisation is the worst of all options.

I must admit at my age, mischief seems to appeal again (I guess it's a consequence of start to realise I am unlikely to outlive some changes )

With that in mind, I'd love to see a truly privatised railway, without a penny of public money.

Obviously people would have to realise that the sudden cessation of billions of pounds worth of taxpayers money will result in absolutely no change whatsover to the tax they pay. But they probably already knew that.

It's fascinating to speculate what the end result would be. Probably a dozen or so lines, only stopping at huge city-stations, with tickets priced in the thousands ?

I wonder if such an exercise is worthy of one of those diagrams where the scale is changed from physical units (like miles) to something else .... (much like those pictures of humans by nerve endings, rather than body area). What would the UK look like ? Probably a massive oversized London, with Cornwall a mere sliver hanging off the far edge ?

£115 pound one way ticket where are u going

£115 pound one way ticket where are u going

I know, it's a bit cheap isn't it ?

(been a while since I looked, but you can easily pay £100+ for a 1st class single Birmingham - London one way)

£115 pound one way ticket where are u going

Penrith to London and Birmingham to Newcastle can be over £100 second class - it's not that rare.

Penrith to London is 'only' £106 except in the morning.

Birmingham to Newcastle is a flat £115 (and the operators are cheeky enough to sell advance fares for £112.30), but you can split it and pay about half that.

I don't think you have much hope unfortunately , i arrived to collect tickets 20mins before departure time , the queue was huge because they refurbishing station and the ticket office had moved to outside the station , the machine then took 3 attempts to recognise my booking number and i was still denied a refund and had to purchase another ticket .

Penrith to London is 'only' £106 except in the morning.

And if you take the train ?

I know someone on Mumsnet who could give you a lift for £2

@A4710Rider