ForTheLoveOf
Established Member
- Joined
- 7 Oct 2017
- Messages
- 6,416
Last month I was delayed by over an hour on a journey I made. I was delayed by a Chiltern service, and the delay was within the control of the rail industry.
I had started my journey within the London Zones and took a National Rail service to one London terminal, and then took the Underground to Marylebone, where I boarded the Chiltern service. I used Oyster for the first part of my journey until Marylebone, and had a regular paper ticket from Marylebone to my destination.
Chiltern paid delay compensation calculated on the cost of the paper ticket from Marylebone without hesitation. However they are refusing to pay the remaining compensation for the cost of the Oyster fare.
After originally claiming that the Oyster terms dictate that the journey ends wherever you tap out (despite the fact that an Out of Station Interchange had to be done during my journey!), they have now admitted that my journey was not from Marylebone, but from my origin within the London Zones.
However, they are still refusing to pay compensation on the cost of the Oyster fare, as they claim their Passenger's Charter says they will only pay compensation on the cost of the ticket covering the Chiltern part of any journey.
I cannot find any such 'exemption' in the Charter: the charter simply does not cover what happens in the case of using multiple tickets for a journey; it is silent on the matter and so one must assume that compensation is calculated in exactly the same way as it is for one-ticket journeys.
Furthermore, the National Rail Conditions of Travel (NRCoT) do not have any such exemption, and similarly, it does not address the possibility of claiming compensation for multiple-ticket journeys (which we know we have the right to make, thanks to Condition 14.1). Even if such an exemption were in the Charter, I do not see that it would have any ability to override the NRCoT.
Quite clearly this is not about the actual amount at stake, but it is about the principle. I am sure Chiltern would take objection to me refusing to pay part of an outstanding fare just because I felt like not paying all of it, and they would quite possibly threaten, or even proceed with, prosecution. I feel the same rules and penalties should apply to both parties; of course that is an unrealistic attitude in the case of train companies!
Has anyone else had any similar issues with Chiltern specifically (I know there are other train companies where this issue is common, but I haven't read much about Chiltern causing any delay compensation problems)? It is very disappointing that the case handler said they spoke to their manager and were told that they were applying the delay compensation rules properly.
If anyone has any contacts within Chiltern who might be able to take a look at this I'd be grateful for anything they could do.
I had started my journey within the London Zones and took a National Rail service to one London terminal, and then took the Underground to Marylebone, where I boarded the Chiltern service. I used Oyster for the first part of my journey until Marylebone, and had a regular paper ticket from Marylebone to my destination.
Chiltern paid delay compensation calculated on the cost of the paper ticket from Marylebone without hesitation. However they are refusing to pay the remaining compensation for the cost of the Oyster fare.
After originally claiming that the Oyster terms dictate that the journey ends wherever you tap out (despite the fact that an Out of Station Interchange had to be done during my journey!), they have now admitted that my journey was not from Marylebone, but from my origin within the London Zones.
However, they are still refusing to pay compensation on the cost of the Oyster fare, as they claim their Passenger's Charter says they will only pay compensation on the cost of the ticket covering the Chiltern part of any journey.
I cannot find any such 'exemption' in the Charter: the charter simply does not cover what happens in the case of using multiple tickets for a journey; it is silent on the matter and so one must assume that compensation is calculated in exactly the same way as it is for one-ticket journeys.
Furthermore, the National Rail Conditions of Travel (NRCoT) do not have any such exemption, and similarly, it does not address the possibility of claiming compensation for multiple-ticket journeys (which we know we have the right to make, thanks to Condition 14.1). Even if such an exemption were in the Charter, I do not see that it would have any ability to override the NRCoT.
Quite clearly this is not about the actual amount at stake, but it is about the principle. I am sure Chiltern would take objection to me refusing to pay part of an outstanding fare just because I felt like not paying all of it, and they would quite possibly threaten, or even proceed with, prosecution. I feel the same rules and penalties should apply to both parties; of course that is an unrealistic attitude in the case of train companies!
Has anyone else had any similar issues with Chiltern specifically (I know there are other train companies where this issue is common, but I haven't read much about Chiltern causing any delay compensation problems)? It is very disappointing that the case handler said they spoke to their manager and were told that they were applying the delay compensation rules properly.
If anyone has any contacts within Chiltern who might be able to take a look at this I'd be grateful for anything they could do.