During the first lockdown I was in the Republic of Ireland and needed to leave the country or be stranded. Irish Rail couldn't operate the last Enterprise service up to Belfast Lanyon Place due to a problem with the signalling at the border, and as there were only a couple of us travelling, the guard went to the ticket office, took €150 out of it, handed it to me and said to get a taxi for us all and post the receipt back to CIÉ. I did what he said and we trundled up the N1, M1 and A1 to Belfast with a very happy taxi driver, and obtained a receipt from him. Posted this back to CIÉ at Heuston Station with a note explaining what it was for. A few days later I got a letter back from them with a cheque for €150, plus the price of the 1stPlus fare, a €60 gesture of goodwill and a €100 Leap card for the inconvenience. I called the number on the letter and explained that the guard had taken the cash from the ticket office and they said to keep the money as it was their mistake.
The original time it took for the guard to arrange the cash from the train being cancelled was about ten minutes. No call to IÉ control, but a brief conversation with somebody in the ticket office.
I know that ScotRail were unable to provide taxis or replacement buses the other night because of other issues, but surely they must have been able to do something, rather than palm passengers off with "we cannot help any further"? Not only does ScotRail meant to comply with the NRCOC (or whatever it is called now), but have a duty of care to passengers, some of whom may have hidden disabilities and not known to the operator. Even by running trains to/from Edinburgh Park or Gateway on a shuttle service to other destinations and allowing passengers to use the Tram would've been easier. I'm sure Edinburgh Trams would convey passengers to these stations and claim it back from the TOC?