Also correct, though tickets sold prior to the release will be subject to the old terms.
Presumably - if we can presume anything in this situation - any tickets already sold are subject to the current terms regardless of date of travel?
Yes, in theory, but of course we know in practise this won’t be the case and passengers will be royally fobbed off here.
Don't be ridiculous. I was making the point that the railway is no more liable for the cost of a theatre ticket than a theatre or football club is for the cost of a rail ticket. It's nothing to do with the fact that all businesses should be doing what they reasonably can to avoid cancellations.
Agreed, but at the same time only one of the aforementioned industries has received an ongoing support package worth Billions from the tax payer whereas the other has had the equivalent of about 3 months net profit whilst expecting to continue to run in impossible conditions whilst suffering 22 and counting months of costs. Given the tax payer is funding the ever decreasing level of service you’d maybe hope that the rights of the passenger may not be stripped away day by day but alas that isn’t the purpose of the railway.
The very worst thing the railway does is fail to contact people whose connections or itineraries have changed. So many tickets are bought online it really is unacceptable.
Here here. The data is there. It’s available to manipulate and use to the advantage of the customer. Any reasonable retailer would be able to contact its customers (using the data they have stored…… what else do they need to store it for ? ) and warn them that there have been changes to their booked train(s). It can present them with options which could be almost entirely automated.
*Cancel trip and request refund
*Modify date
*Catch the service before / after
*Book a seat on a different service (for flexible ticket holders).
But why bother with this? There’s no more money in for them so why go to the effort? Infact there’s a risk that people will refund.
Picture the scene. Terry and Alex are going away for the weekend. They had to choose between the car and the train. They decided that despite the train being twice the cost they’d go for that. They buy the tickets and all is well. 3 days before, it all goes wrong and their train gets cancelled. Here’s where the scenario splits.
A) The retailer has a system in place that flags this and automatically sends an email out. Terry sees this and thinks, we will get there 2 hours later and there’s no seat reservations on the later service as it’s already full, sod this for a game of soldiers we will get a refund and go in the car. Should have done that all along.
B) The retailer has access to all the data but simply cannot be arsed to implement a system to provide a decent service to its customers. On the day Terry and Alex turn up at the station with their luggage having got a £20 taxi to the station to find their train doesn’t exist. They can’t feasibly go back home and get the car so they put up with it and travel. They’re not eligible for delay repay anymore so they’ve paid the full amount and not been provided with the service they expected. They stand in a vestibule for 4 hours. They’ll complain and be fobbed off, should have gone in the car.
The result of A means less revenue for the railway, specifically the retailer so there’s no incentive to put the effort in.
I drove to a forum meal the other day, it was orders of magnitude easier, in this case it likely wasn’t a deal cheaper* but it was 1/3 of the journey time.
*In real world terms it was, as I was driving I had 2 pints of lemonade whereas if I’d been on the train I would have had 4 or 5 (or 6 or 7) pints of beer.
Railways, thinking they are above contract law once more, and if anybody is serious about taking them all the way to court they will probably pay out at the last minute rather than face a judge as it might cost them more money.
They don’t THINK it. They KNOW it.
