Had to buy new ticket due to delayed service

[Ed-Hunter]

Hello. Yesterday I was due to travel back from York to Seaham via Thornaby. Unfortunately by the time I reached the station, there was a substantial delay on the outgoing service to Thornaby, that meant I would miss my connection and be stranded.

Needing to make a quick decision and with no staff around, I used an LNER ticket machine and booked on the next train that could take me to Newcastle so I could make my way home either on a train from Newcastle or a combination of Metro and Bus. As it transpired, I got into Newcastle with enough time to make the Northern service to Middlesbrough.

TLDR version

York - Thornaby delayed, would cause me to miss a connecting service at Thornaby
Purchased a ticket (£24) to get from York - Newcastle

Advanced Single York -Thornaby £8.40 Purchase on trainline travel via TPE
Advanced Single Thornaby - Seaham £2.30 as above, travel via Northern
Advanced Single York - Newcastle £24.00 Purchase from LNER ticket machine Travel via TPE
Newcastle - Seaham cost nothing, ticket machine would not sell a ticket and no conductor came to either check or sell tickets. Travel via Northern

Is there a way of getting some or all of the £24 back?

 

[Watershed]

Why would you have been stranded if you had missed the connection at Thornaby - was it the last train of the day you were connecting onto?

I can understand why you wanted to act quickly if it was late at night and you saw a way of avoiding getting stranded. However if you had missed your connection onto the last train of the day at Thornaby, Northern and TPE would have been obliged to provide you with alternative transport to get you to Seaham - such as a taxi. By buying a new ticket without giving the train companies a chance to sort it out, it could be argued you incurred avoidable costs.

You can definitely opt for a refund on the York to Seaham via Thornanby tickets, as you decided not to use them due to disruption. However, it will be harder to establish any entitlement to a refund on the new York-Newcastle ticket you bought, especially as you didn't buy a ticket that covered your entire journey to Seaham (which meant you could have been issued with a Penalty Fare or worse on that leg).

You could contact TPE's customer services and ask them to consider reimbursing the cost of the York-Newcastle ticket, but I wouldn't hold out much hope of them agreeing to it.

For future reference I'd definitely suggest speaking to a member of staff, or contacting an operator (e.g. through social media) to ask for assistance before incurring any costs.

 

[Ed-Hunter]

Why would you have been stranded if you had missed the connection at Thornaby - was it the last train of the day you were connecting onto?

I can understand why you wanted to act quickly if it was late at night and you saw a way of avoiding getting stranded. However if you had missed your connection onto the last train of the day at Thornaby, Northern and TPE would have been obliged to provide you with alternative transport to get you to Seaham - such as a taxi. By buying a new ticket without giving the train companies a chance to sort it out, it could be argued you incurred avoidable costs.

You can definitely opt for a refund on the York to Seaham via Thornanby tickets, as you decided not to use them due to disruption. However, it will be harder to establish any entitlement to a refund on the new York-Newcastle ticket you bought, especially as you didn't buy a ticket that covered your entire journey to Seaham (which meant you could have been issued with a Penalty Fare or worse on that leg).

You could contact TPE's customer services and ask them to consider reimbursing the cost of the York-Newcastle ticket, but I wouldn't hold out much hope of them agreeing to it.

For future reference I'd definitely suggest speaking to a member of staff, or contacting an operator (e.g. through social media) to ask for assistance before incurring any costs.

Last train of the evening to Seaham. There were no staff around. I used the ticket machine to get the time of the next train, and I had less than 10 minutes. Not enough time to start conversations on X with TOC'S!

I went to Newcastle as I said, as it gave me the option of getting home either with a Metro to Sunderland then a bus or as it turned out via a train.

 

[John R]

At a major station like York I think it is reasonable to have expected the passenger to ask a member of staff for assistance. The Thornaby train was 27 minutes late leaving Manchester, so the screens would presumably have been showing it as being significantly late for quite some time. So I am as sceptical as @Watershed that compensation will be given, although I do hope that they do so.

 

[mikeg]

At a major station like York I think it is reasonable to have expected the passenger to ask a member of staff for assistance. The Thornaby train was 27 minutes late leaving Manchester, so the screens would presumably have been showing it as being significantly late for quite some time. So I am as sceptical as @Watershed that compensation will be given, although I do hope that they do so.

Erm... Have you ever tried getting hold of a member of staff at York late at night? Even worse when you need one for a specific TOC. I've had to spend nearly an hour scouring the station up and down when the last train's been cancelled and I'd just finished work. Clearly that wouldn't be practical for the OP who by definition needed a time bound resolution.

Ironically I think the OP may have had better luck and Thornaby. Last time I was stranded at Thirsk the person on the other end of the information button put me a taxi on.

 

[gray1404]

You do not need to purchase additional tickets in a situation like this. The train companies are obliged to get you to your destination using alternative services especially if you would be left stranded.

 

[yorkie]

Hello. Yesterday I was due to travel back from York to Seaham via Thornaby. Unfortunately by the time I reached the station, there was a substantial delay on the outgoing service to Thornaby, that meant I would miss my connection and be stranded.

Needing to make a quick decision and with no staff around, I used an LNER ticket machine and booked on the next train that could take me to Newcastle so I could make my way home either on a train from Newcastle or a combination of Metro and Bus. As it transpired, I got into Newcastle with enough time to make the Northern service to Middlesbrough.

TLDR version

York - Thornaby delayed, would cause me to miss a connecting service at Thornaby
Purchased a ticket (£24) to get from York - Newcastle

Advanced Single York -Thornaby £8.40 Purchase on trainline travel via TPE
Advanced Single Thornaby - Seaham £2.30 as above, travel via Northern
Advanced Single York - Newcastle £24.00 Purchase from LNER ticket machine Travel via TPE
Newcastle - Seaham cost nothing, ticket machine would not sell a ticket and no conductor came to either check or sell tickets. Travel via Northern

Is there a way of getting some or all of the £24 back?

You are entitled to a full refund of the original tickets.

As you bought from Trainline, you'd need to go back to them for a refund of the ticket for the delayed train. Hopefully that will be straightforward (I know if you had bought it from us, it would be).

You may struggle to get the Thornaby to Seaham ticket back, as presumably that train wasn't impacted and no train in your booking with Northern was impacted. However, as you arguably got more value in travel from Northern than you paid, it's probably best to leave it.

Let us know how you get on.

In future, I would advise booking any such journey with a through itinerary, as clear evidence of a contract for travel, and this also means you would seamlessly get a refund if you chose not to use the tickets due to any of the trains in the itinerary being delayed or cancelled. If you don't want to buy it as a through itinerary, then at least buy in one transaction from one retailer. Obviously I'd recommend using the forum's site, rather than Trainline in future

However, you were contractually entitled to use the original tickets and take the train to Thornaby and be conveyed at TPE's expense to Seaham, but I can understand why you chose not to exercise that right. (If I was in that situation, I'd have attempted to find staff at any of the relevant stations, as well as on the train, and also contacted TPE via Twitter, but I accept that can be a lot of hassle, which you perhaps didn't want).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Aug 2025 ==

Erm... Have you ever tried getting hold of a member of staff at York late at night? Even worse when you need one for a specific TOC. I've had to spend nearly an hour scouring the station up and down when the last train's been cancelled and I'd just finished work. Clearly that wouldn't be practical for the OP who by definition needed a time bound resolution.

It is true that there is not much of a visible staff presence at York at late evening times.

I've helped passengers on various occasions when the industry as a whole didn't seem to care.

Ironically I think the OP may have had better luck and Thornaby. Last time I was stranded at Thirsk the person on the other end of the information button put me a taxi on.

Yes, you're probably right that the information point at Thornaby would have been more productive. There would also have been a member of staff on the TPE train who the customer could speak to.

 

[dodecahedron67]

Just a heads up - I know exactly what trains these are as it's a relatively "tight" connection and I work these trains regularly. If you find the guard (TPE guards are guaranteed to be at the very rear of the train on leaving York, it's a dispatch instruction for us there) and explain your situation, we can ring our Control and get you a taxi sorted. Have done this multiple times myself for pax and no doubt will do again in the future!

No extra cost to you, and all it takes is 2 phone calls - one to book and one to confirm!