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Advance tickets are now no longer refundable

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yorkie

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The Department for Transport (DfT) and Rail Delivery Group (RDG) are of the view that Advance tickets are now non-refundable under any circumstances; this includes where tickets are booked to, or from, locations that are subsequently placed under "local lockdown" restrictions.

Obviously the usual T&Cs apply, such as if the train(s) are cancelled, you can of course obtain a refund as per the Conditions of Travel.

But if you book an Advance ticket to a town that subsequently becomes "locked down", you either have to make the journey anyway (against Government guidelines) or simply lose out on the price paid for the ticket!

Feel free to discuss....
 
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ainsworth74

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Well lifting the easement in general doesn't seem unreasonable but I have to say that it seems down right barmy as well as mean to not offer to refund in the event of a "local lockdown"!
 

CyrusWuff

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As a point of order, refunds haven't been generally available for Advance tickets sold since 07:00 on Monday 23rd March, other than where Condition 30.1 of the NRCoT applies, so there's no change there. (Whether TOC staff are interpreting that particular brief correctly is an exercise for the reader, mind you!)

The only that's changing with respect to Advance tickets is that the change of journey fee (where charged) will apply to tickets purchased from Monday 7th September onwards.
 

stevetay3

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Thay may change there minds when thay have to start paying there own way, rather than depending on the tax payer.
 

Fyldeboy

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Sorry to raise a dead thread, has this situation changed at all?

Booked a short capital break about a month ago and utilised GWR advanced singles.

Due to travel in 6 days time but my area is on the verge of entering lockdown including no leaving the area. I'm watching every news programme to see if my trip is barred!!!!

As the railways are now to all intents and purposes funded by the Government, and lockdown restrictions are imposed to comply with government requirements, does the government have any financial liability for the consequences of the direction it has chosen?
 

joncombe

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Sorry to raise a dead thread, has this situation changed at all?

Booked a short capital break about a month ago and utilised GWR advanced singles.

Due to travel in 6 days time but my area is on the verge of entering lockdown including no leaving the area. I'm watching every news programme to see if my trip is barred!!!!

As the railways are now to all intents and purposes funded by the Government, and lockdown restrictions are imposed to comply with government requirements, does the government have any financial liability for the consequences of the direction it has chosen?

This is of interest to me because I'm currently in dispute with my travel insurance company and a hotel who is refusing to refund a non-refundable hotel booking.

The travel insurance company has directed me to this Government web page : https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...c-consumer-contracts-cancellation-and-refunds

They tell me this means the hotel is required to refund a non-refundable booking and I should therefore pursue the hotel for the money. The hotel naturally disagrees.

Anyway the relevant part of that document seems to be this.

In some circumstances, due to lockdown laws, a contract cannot go ahead as agreed or at all, and is therefore ‘frustrated’. A contract will be frustrated as a matter of law if, due to no fault of the parties, something happens after the contract was entered into which means it can no longer be performed at all or performance would be radically different to what was agreed.

As a result, the contract comes to an end and, where consumers have paid money in advance for services or goods that they have yet to receive, they will generally be entitled to obtain a refund.
This seems to be the case if you book an Advance ticket and then the area you are travelling from or to is subject to a local lockdown. As to whether you could convince the TOCs to agree to it I don't know (given my experience with the hotel I have my doubts but....)
 
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Unfortunately, although the law may be on your side the time and cost of enforcing it (small claims court) is significant. The best way is surely to raise a chargeback via the credit card company (and always use credit cards for rail bookings).
 

island

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A section 75 claim might be feasible if the individual ticket cost over £100. (Two or more tickets each under £100 totalling more than £100, including two Advance tickets forming a return journey, do not qualify.)
 

robbeech

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Thay may change there minds when thay have to start paying there own way, rather than depending on the tax payer.

At what point Is this going to be happening? (I appreciate this comment was made before recent announcements)

The Results of this (especially given the tightening of restrictions since this thread was started) could be responsible for deaths when people break the guidelines (and laws where applicable) because they don’t want to waste what could be over £100. It really depends if the DfT and RDG are more focussed on the safety of the people both on and off the railway or the revenue generated from tickets that have been sold after they’ve encouraged rail travel by throwing controversial figures around willy nilly.
we know what the answer is of course, but there’s nothing we can really do about it.
 

paul1609

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Ive just lost around £75 for advance tickets for a walking holiday in Northumberland this week that i felt obliged to cancel because of the restrictions there.
This was my first planned rail trip since march and tbh I thought it would be pretty safe to a rural outpost with relatively low population density.
I don't imagine Ill be booking any rail travel for the foreseeable future.
 
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