What these quotes cumulatively show is that it is your attitude that the TOC has the right to go after every penny but the passenger should suck up broken contracts, defective services, and, if it goes wrong, pay themselves to rectify the issue. I am particularly impressed with your idea that passengers should happily stump up an additional £10-12 to get the service that they've already paid for when, in many cases, their original ticket probably didn't cost much more than that.Most people probably wouldn’t see it as a worthwhile use of their time and would conclude life was to short. Each to their own.
Someone noted above that a cab to a tube station or another NR station would be around £10-£12.
If I shoplifted from my local supermarket I’d expect to be prosecuted. If I spend £8 on some groceries which turned out to be no good I wouldn’t them to the small claims court.
An absolutely epic fail in customer services terms and, if common on the railway, probably explains the crap customer service and near contempt with which passengers are often treated. It wouldn't be accepted in the US and shouldn't be here.
Your supermarket analogy is trite and superficial. If l bought groceries that turned out to be no good most supermarkets would offer a full refund, a replacement or in many cases both. If they didn't they would be facing a referral to Trading Standards. The latter are far from perfect but have a damn sight more teeth than any enforcement body on the railways (perhaps you are arguing that such a body is needed?).
Going back to the main argument, instead the passenger response should be to always treat TOCs with exactly the same attitude to full compliance with every aspect to the rules that they demand from passengers and to pursue remorselessly every single failure. Things would soon improve as the cost would destroy the TOCs....
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