pickindim_kmet
Member
Last month I travelled on Eurostar from Brussels to London, and then planned to take a Lumo train north to Newcastle. However, due to huge disruption in Brussels there were significant delays along the tunnel. All trains were delayed, and mine was delayed 50 minutes.
My connection in London was around 50 minutes and it was obvious I wasn't going to make it, so as recommended by Eurostar I contacted the train manager who gave me a HOTNAT form which is an agreement with train companies that Eurostar takes blame and I can travel freely on the next available service. The train manager specifically told me twice that it shouldn't be an issue, and if I am forced to buy a new ticket then Eurostar will refund me as it's their fault I was late.
When I reached London, I hopped on the next available service. The sticking point here is that it was an LNER train, not Lumo. There were no more Lumo trains that night and the alternative was I am stuck in London late at night.
After an hour into the journey I was approached by the LNER train manager who understood my situation but still needed to charge me for an extra ticket. After initially charging me over £150 for the journey, we negotiated and he changed the ticket type and destination to bring it under £100. I was reassured that I could claim this back because of my Eurostar interaction.
Following this, I've communicated with all parties involved and nobody will take responsibility. Eurostar have insisted that LNER should have accepted this and not charged me and issued me a form to show my Eurostar was late at HOTNAT should have applied. LNER has rejected this and said their train manager was right to charge me for a new ticket and I should pursue a refund with Eurostar. Eurostar have gone back on what the train manager told me. It's a constant back and forth. Eurostar's policy on 'delay repay' is the train must be 60+ minutes late for anything, but this is to refund the Eurostar ticket - not following journeys where HOTNAT comes into play.
I suppose my questions are;
-Who exactly should be to blame? Should I be focusing on Eurostar or LNER?
-Is there any independent body that can help settle such things?
-If the sticking point is the different train networks, what should I be doing in future if my original train network (Lumo) has no more services?
-Is it just a case where there's nothing I can do and suck it up?
Thank you!
My connection in London was around 50 minutes and it was obvious I wasn't going to make it, so as recommended by Eurostar I contacted the train manager who gave me a HOTNAT form which is an agreement with train companies that Eurostar takes blame and I can travel freely on the next available service. The train manager specifically told me twice that it shouldn't be an issue, and if I am forced to buy a new ticket then Eurostar will refund me as it's their fault I was late.
When I reached London, I hopped on the next available service. The sticking point here is that it was an LNER train, not Lumo. There were no more Lumo trains that night and the alternative was I am stuck in London late at night.
After an hour into the journey I was approached by the LNER train manager who understood my situation but still needed to charge me for an extra ticket. After initially charging me over £150 for the journey, we negotiated and he changed the ticket type and destination to bring it under £100. I was reassured that I could claim this back because of my Eurostar interaction.
Following this, I've communicated with all parties involved and nobody will take responsibility. Eurostar have insisted that LNER should have accepted this and not charged me and issued me a form to show my Eurostar was late at HOTNAT should have applied. LNER has rejected this and said their train manager was right to charge me for a new ticket and I should pursue a refund with Eurostar. Eurostar have gone back on what the train manager told me. It's a constant back and forth. Eurostar's policy on 'delay repay' is the train must be 60+ minutes late for anything, but this is to refund the Eurostar ticket - not following journeys where HOTNAT comes into play.
I suppose my questions are;
-Who exactly should be to blame? Should I be focusing on Eurostar or LNER?
-Is there any independent body that can help settle such things?
-If the sticking point is the different train networks, what should I be doing in future if my original train network (Lumo) has no more services?
-Is it just a case where there's nothing I can do and suck it up?
Thank you!
