I would appreciate a view on the following situation -
I buy an return ticket between A and B;
I buy an Advance ticket for B to C;
I buy an Off-Peak single ticket for C to B (to return the same day);
The train between A and B is operated by one TOC and B and C a different TOC;
All of the tickets were bought from the website of the TOC that operates the B to C part of the journey.
On the day I want to travel the train between A and B is cancelled at the last moment, which means that I cannot make my connection for the specific B to C train, and even if I was permitted to travel on a later train, I would not wish to as I would arrive at C too late for the original purpose of the journey. Therefore the return of C to B is also not required.
It would appear from rule 19 of the NCOC that although I hold a number of tickets, I am making one 'journey'.
Since I am not making the journey I want a refund, so turn to rule 26 "Refunds on tickets which have not been used". Now this has several sections, but part (a) seems to cover the situation -
"If you decide not to use a ticket (…) to make all or part of your intended journey, then:
(a) if the train you intended to use is cancelled, delayed or your reservation will not be honoured, you decide not to travel and at that time you return the unused ticket to any ticket office, the Train Company responsible for that ticket office will, if it is in a position to do so, give you an immediate full refund as shown in Condition 27;"
I can see that rule 26 also has parts (b), (c) and (d), which might appear to apply (being that they refer to tickets bought from a website, but they are all prefaced by the condition "if paragraph (a) does not apply and", and all three are subject to an administration charge and (importantly) the notes to rule 26 apply (which they don't to (a)), and note (iii) is "Your right to receive a refund of all or part of the price paid may be restricted in the case of some types of reduced and discounted fare tickets, for example, those with an advance purchase requirement."
Now my reading of the rules is that (a) is to cater for my situation where the train is cancelled, I don't want to travel later and I therfore want a refund. Rules (b), (c) and (d) are for when I decide not to travel for some other reason than a cancellation, delay or reservation not being honoured.
When I tried to do this, the ticket office told me that it was their policy never to give refunds on train tickets bought from other TOCs, irrespective of the circumstances. The customer service department of the TOC that operates the station (and the A to B trains) also advised me that they would not give a refund under rule 26(a), but I would have to make a claim to the TOC that I bought them from under (c), but I would only get a refund for the outward A to B leg, and for no other part of the journey.
Is this correct, because it seems like a misreading of the rules to me, and damned unfair.
I buy an return ticket between A and B;
I buy an Advance ticket for B to C;
I buy an Off-Peak single ticket for C to B (to return the same day);
The train between A and B is operated by one TOC and B and C a different TOC;
All of the tickets were bought from the website of the TOC that operates the B to C part of the journey.
On the day I want to travel the train between A and B is cancelled at the last moment, which means that I cannot make my connection for the specific B to C train, and even if I was permitted to travel on a later train, I would not wish to as I would arrive at C too late for the original purpose of the journey. Therefore the return of C to B is also not required.
It would appear from rule 19 of the NCOC that although I hold a number of tickets, I am making one 'journey'.
Since I am not making the journey I want a refund, so turn to rule 26 "Refunds on tickets which have not been used". Now this has several sections, but part (a) seems to cover the situation -
"If you decide not to use a ticket (…) to make all or part of your intended journey, then:
(a) if the train you intended to use is cancelled, delayed or your reservation will not be honoured, you decide not to travel and at that time you return the unused ticket to any ticket office, the Train Company responsible for that ticket office will, if it is in a position to do so, give you an immediate full refund as shown in Condition 27;"
I can see that rule 26 also has parts (b), (c) and (d), which might appear to apply (being that they refer to tickets bought from a website, but they are all prefaced by the condition "if paragraph (a) does not apply and", and all three are subject to an administration charge and (importantly) the notes to rule 26 apply (which they don't to (a)), and note (iii) is "Your right to receive a refund of all or part of the price paid may be restricted in the case of some types of reduced and discounted fare tickets, for example, those with an advance purchase requirement."
Now my reading of the rules is that (a) is to cater for my situation where the train is cancelled, I don't want to travel later and I therfore want a refund. Rules (b), (c) and (d) are for when I decide not to travel for some other reason than a cancellation, delay or reservation not being honoured.
When I tried to do this, the ticket office told me that it was their policy never to give refunds on train tickets bought from other TOCs, irrespective of the circumstances. The customer service department of the TOC that operates the station (and the A to B trains) also advised me that they would not give a refund under rule 26(a), but I would have to make a claim to the TOC that I bought them from under (c), but I would only get a refund for the outward A to B leg, and for no other part of the journey.
Is this correct, because it seems like a misreading of the rules to me, and damned unfair.
