Train money back?

[ProudCat]

I was on a long train journey last weekend, due to arrive at my destination by 18.22.

Tragically, the journey was interrupted by a person on the tracks and the train was held at a small station from about 17.15. No information was forthcoming. Eventually, we were all evacuated at the next major station (very hungry and dehydrated) by about 20.00. Still no information forthcoming.

I waited around for a bit, however, there was no indication that the journey would continue and even through the conductor was doing his best, he couldn't confirm what would happen next.

I knew that a direct train (which seemed like an unlikely prospect at this point) would take at least another hour even if it arrived immediately - which no one thought it would as all trains out of the station we were currently standing in and going in our direction had been cancelled up to and including 22.30.

As I'm a teacher and couldn't risk the prospect of arriving after midnight (representing a 10 hour journey instead of 4) / not arriving at all, I took a cab. This cost me £100.

I understand I can reclaim via delay and repay, however, the fare doesn't nearly cover the additional expenses I incurred. I know that the family of the person who died were much more badly affected than myself but this isn't the matter under discussion and I'm not complaining.

What is the position and how do I offset the money spent - which means I don't actually have enough to survive until the next pay day.

You're entitled to a refund under delay repay. If you'd waited, they may well have arranged and paid for your onward travel.

I’ve had this once, and once the late running train I was on meant I missed my connection.

Both times I asked them to book me a cab on their account and they did. I think you need to be politely persistent there and then and they will get you home.

I don’t know of a scheme to recompense you now.

I don't believe you can make a claim in retrospect, for costs incurred. It would have been better to get the train staff to organise something - I've had cabs paid for once or twice, when delays meant I missed my connection to the last train.

As it was out of their control then you can’t get any money back for arranging your Irn journey. You can’t most likely claim your fare back.

Something similar happened to me recently. I was able to claim the cab fare back very quickly and within 24H of claiming . This was because the train company had made an announcement that they would compensate taxi journeys because the delays had gotten so bad. Not that I had actually heard this but I worked it out subsequently by looking at an announcement they made online. I suggest you look this up on your train providers website. Easier still would just be to put the context with the name of the train company into an AI assistant and it will locate the relevant form for claiming cab fares on the company’s website for you. Fingers crossed for you.

Here is an example of one train providers approach - https://www.southwesternrailway.com/contact-and-help/claiming-during-disruptionscroll down to ‘If you had to use a taxi to complete your journey’. Clearly this may vary depending on each train company’s policy but hopefully each one will have some sort of policy and way to claim for this stuff

Same happened to me a few years ago only I realised I wasn't going to make it back before my last connecting train home. I got a hotel which work paid for, and was able to get a refund on the new ticket I bought the next day. Others who couldn't make connections were put in taxis by the train company.

Unfortunately, in my case, the conductor had no information.

At first they said it wasn't a person on the track as normally they are given this information, so they wanted us all to stay on the train. It was very crowded, lots of people standing and sitting on the floor. We were all in a pretty poor condition after nearly 3 hours of this - no access to food or water, the train was meant to terminate at my destination by 18.22.

I was unable to wait once we were disgorged onto the platform of a nearby station - where the event had occurred. Station staff were obviously extremely upset. There were police everywhere. The conductor was overwhelmed. There were no announcements and people were extremely distressed and very ragged. The conductor did say that he would let us know what was going on once he himself knew something but was unable to give a timeline and there had been total confusion for around 3 hours by this point.

I did ask about a cab, but there were 1000s of passengers and one conductor, plus a couple of rail staff. No one could give me any definitive information. The online system just said everything was cancelled. There was no further advice. The issue was also complicated because although this was a major intersection of several rail lines, it's actually in a very small town, so cabs were at a premium and as this had disrupted all trains (the entire west to east of southern England) there was general panic when it became clear that there was literally no infrastructure to support.

I'll contact the company as suggested.

This just goes to show how brittle our transport network is.

AI is your friend here- if there’s no obvious way to claim taxi costs then do it as a complaint using AI to help you draft - key thing is arguing that

1. The railway failed to get you to your destination
2. No reasonable alternative was provided
3. You had little choice but to make your own arrangements

go for it - you have nothing to lose and your situation sounds way worse than the one I was in where I got my money back swiftly

Not much help now, but usually what people do in this situation is team up with other passengers and split the cost.

Absolutely ridiculous and overly dramatic to say you were dehydrated and starving!! You were only waiting for 2 hours longer than you would have been had you arrived at the usual time! Why haven’t you got a bottle of water with you? Even if you haven’t many people go all day not drinking water or anything and survive and don’t say they are “dehydrated!”

Honestly, I would write it off as being very sad and one of those things. From a morality perspective it seems an absolute joke that the railway company would have to compensate you, no wonder it's difficult to get a profit out of anything these days, but if that's the law, then there we are.

We were all in a pretty poor condition after nearly 3 hours of this - no access to food or water, the train was meant to terminate at my destination by 18.22

FFS you were on a train for a couple of hours longer than expected, not enduring international cattle transportation. Are you normally this overdramatic and lacking in resilience?

Look at the delay repay reclaim system, and also your train company's website. If reimbursement for onward travel is not automatically included, send a calm factual claim for taxi expenses as per @madgreenlemons suggestion.

I don't understand why you could not risk arriving after midnight because of you being a teacher.

What happens to teachers after midnight ?

This.
The train company is obliged to make sure you complete the journey you paid for.
They usually either put a bus on or arrange taxis.

To be fair, following major disruption, there often is no official alternative transport.

Last year I arrived at a station after a day out and within a few minutes it became clear no trains were moving.

After a bit longer it was announced that there had been a power failure and signalling loss at the biggest station in the region. There would be no rail replacement buses and people should make their own way to their destination. Tickets could be refunded via delay repay and extra costs like taxis or hotels would be refunded on application.

I managed to get home in a couple of hours on three buses with a lot of luck with connections. It didn't occur to me to get a taxi tbh.

Sadly where we are it's a very regular occurrence between Newcastle and Edinburgh but as soon as you ask a staff member they book a taxi on account..Happened over a handful of times and quite often I've been happy to share with others also

We turn to dust. It's really inconvenient.

I am disabled.

this has happened to me on a number of occasions.

often the train station where the trains are waiting is absolutely overwhelmed with passengers and ships train staff do sometimes sort out buses or taxis there is often a significant wait.

for people like myself who are in wheelchairs buses are no help (it’s usually coaches from a local coach company) and the taxis usually go fast,

quite frequently these days the train company simply say sorry we can’t sort your onward travel you need to sort it which leads to all kinds of mess.

i’m sorry this happened to you. I’m quite careful about where I travel by train these days as it seems to be more and more common.

Ahh. In that case the OP could have got a taxi and timed it to arrive after midnight, Then on arrival the driver would just find a pile of dust on the backseat and sweep it out. So no charge.

That's quite a superpower to have :-)

Also inconvenient though. Sometimes when I have a load of urgent late night marking, I just turn into dust mid paper. And that makes a horrible mess. Kids hate it when they get unmarked books and dust.

How do they get the papers back if you are dust ?

I am learning a lot on this thread so far :-)

How do they get the papers back if you are dust ?

I am learning a lot on this thread so far :-)

Very surprised by some of these hostile comments:

As I say, it was a long journey. The train had come to a stop at around 5.15. We were held on board an overcrowded train with the doors shut for nearly 3 hours before being disgorged on to a platform at 8pm where there were no facilities. Similarly, all facilities near the station were closed due to it being a Sunday night in a small town / a large police presence.

I thought I would be home by 6.30pm (because I live very close to the station). Obviously, I could manage a normal delay, and yes we had water, but we had drunk it - as initially we'd been informed it wasn't a person on the track as usually train staff were told and we'd be underway relatively swiftly and to stay put. I simply wasn't prepared for a 10 / 12 hour journey that I had expected to take 4.

And no, I don't turn to dust at midnight, but it was looking as if I wouldn't get home at all. Phoning in as unavailable as a teacher causes huge problems, costs the school about £500 to get cover for me, colleagues would have to set my lessons, etc. Sorry that this seems to amuse so many people. It matters if I don't turn up to work.

Op it matters and is extremely inconvenient to varying degrees if any of us don't get to work . . ..