The Crusader: Joy as ‘ghost train’ tab settled
A festive goodwill gesture from online ticket seller Trainline has helped to cheer up a passenger whose journey last Christmas descended into the stuff of nightmares.
Rebecca Murphy began to think she had booked a ghost train when she turned up at Dundee station on New Year’s Day to find everything closed. She was booked on a return journey to London, explaining: “I even received a reminder the day before, telling me to get there in good time.
I was astonished to find no trains were scheduled to leave,” she told Crusader. And that surprise quickly turned to dismay as Rebecca discovered no replacement services had been laid on.
“I was stranded,” she said. “It took me 11 hours to get back to London.” Her marathon journey involved a taxi ride to Glasgow, a bus to Carlisle, a train to Crewe and then another to Euston.
“Virgin Trains reimbursed my ticket costs as there were faults on the lines I was on as well. But this didn’t cover the £140 for taxi fares,” she said. “I then received email proof from ScotRail that I was sold a journey that never existed. But no one has been keen to reimburse me for those extra journeys, which can’t be fair.”
So who should pick up the tab for this shambles? We asked Trainline for its view and it explained: “Our timetables are provided by the industry and any revisions are made by the train operating companies. Maintaining those timetables is the responsibility of both the train operating companies and Network Rail.
It took me 11 hours to get back to London
“At the time Ms Murphy booked her ticket, the service was scheduled to run and the ticket was sold in good faith. In this particular case, the service Ms Murphy booked was removed by Network Rail and ScotRail after she had already booked her ticket.
“Unfortunately we were not made aware of this timetable change, meaning that we were unable to pass the information on to Ms Murphy. “We regret that Ms Murphy’s experience was a negative one and will ensure that we work closer than ever with Network Rail and our train company partners to prevent situations such as this, however rare, from happening again.”
Trainline also offered to cover Rebecca’s extra travel costs, which she has accepted. So what rights do passengers have if they find themselves in a similar predicament? Nobody it seems has thought about the repercussions for the travelling public because, according to solicitor Joanne Lezemore of advice service consumer-genie.co.uk, the problem falls into a grey area.
“The issue with train tickets is that, if a breach of contract occurs, the normal contractual rules do not apply and so the customer then has to look at each train company’s national charter in order to establish their rights,” she explains.
The National Rail Conditions of Travel entitle customers to the same compensation levels or refund regardless of where they purchase their ticket.
“The problem is that while the charter covers delays and cancelled trains, the companies are only contractually obliged to pay compensation in certain circumstances.
“But it does not cover this situation,” adds Lezemore. “In this instance, any claim would have to bring in either misrepresentation or negligence – and these are not easy to deal with against such large companies.”
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Promised changes to the failing way rail companies operate their penalty fare appeals have taken a step closer. The Department for Transport has announced it wants to make sure that appeals bodies are independent of the train operating companies and their financial owners.
The new rules, listed to go through Parliament next year, are in response to a public consultation on issues raised by consumer champion Transport Focus.
Crusader has also featured the plight of honest passengers caught in the deplorably managed system.