Missed Train due to Track Fault with Oyster

[gfa]

Hi there,

I tried to make the following journey last month - London Kings Cross to Newark Northgate.

I paid a fair amount for the ticket above so am hoping to receive compensation. I live by Alexandra Palace and planned to use my oyster to travel down to Kings Cross to jump on the train. I gave myself 45 minutes however every train was cancelled due to a track fault. It was pouring with rain so I couldn't lime bike and there was no Piccadilly Line due to works. As such, I had to rebook my ticket on the day at significant cost.

Is there any scope to receive money back either for my initial ticket or alternative trip (Alexandra Palace - Stevenage, Stevenage - Newark Northgate). I presume I may be stuck since the first leg relied on an oyster card rather than a pre-booked National Rail ticket, however it was to be made using a National Rail operator (either Great Northern or part Thameslink too then Victoria Line).

Thanks

 

[Titfield]

It is my understanding that you did not go to London Kings Cross and enquire if the ticket could be used on a later train.

I also presume that you purchased the Alexandra Palace - Stevenage, Stevenage - Newark Northgate as one ticket?

If so that begs the question why you didn't book Alexandra Palace - Stevenage and ask there if you could at least use the original ticket for onward travel to Newark Northgate. (Though I accept that if this was refused then there may have been a higher aggregate cost.).

I think you will struggle here because (1) the responsibility for presenting yourself at London KX at the appropriate time lies with you (2) what appears to be no attempt to engage with TOC staff to be permitted to use the original ticket.

You could of course approach the original train operator and ask for a goodwill gesture of a refund of the original ticket and provide the proofs of the replacement ticket purchased.

 

[AlterEgo]

Hi there,

I tried to make the following journey last month - London Kings Cross to Newark Northgate.

I paid a fair amount for the ticket above so am hoping to receive compensation. I live by Alexandra Palace and planned to use my oyster to travel down to Kings Cross to jump on the train. I gave myself 45 minutes however every train was cancelled due to a track fault. It was pouring with rain so I couldn't lime bike and there was no Piccadilly Line due to works. As such, I had to rebook my ticket on the day at significant cost.

Is there any scope to receive money back either for my initial ticket or alternative trip (Alexandra Palace - Stevenage, Stevenage - Newark Northgate). I presume I may be stuck since the first leg relied on an oyster card rather than a pre-booked National Rail ticket, however it was to be made using a National Rail operator (either Great Northern or part Thameslink too then Victoria Line).

Thanks

Did you approach staff to permit travel on a later train owing to the delay? If they refused, what grounds did they give?

 

[gfa]

It is my understanding that you did not go to London Kings Cross and enquire if the ticket could be used on a later train.

I also presume that you purchased the Alexandra Palace - Stevenage, Stevenage - Newark Northgate as one ticket?

If so that begs the question why you didn't book Alexandra Palace - Stevenage and ask there if you could at least use the original ticket for onward travel to Newark Northgate. (Though I accept that if this was refused then there may have been a higher aggregate cost.).

I think you will struggle here because (1) the responsibility for presenting yourself at London KX at the appropriate time lies with you (2) what appears to be no attempt to engage with TOC staff to be permitted to use the original ticket.

You could of course approach the original train operator and ask for a goodwill gesture of a refund of the original ticket and provide the proofs of the replacement ticket purchased.

Did you approach staff to permit travel on a later train owing to the delay? If they refused, what grounds did they give?

Hi-

I thought my Kings Cross train was stopping at Stevenage so the goal was to make it there and hop on, however I missed it by a few minutes frustratingly. As a result, the two tickets were bought separately. I did not talk to any staff for some reason - I kind of just assumed i'd got no chance as the Alexandra Palace-Kings Cross was not connected to the Kings Cross-Newark leg.

I did not want to travel to Kings Cross to try and get a later train as this was even more expensive (Zone 1 I guess) and also no trains were managing to go south at the time.

I will contact Great Northern again and see if they are feeling nice I think - thanks both for the help.

 

[tram21]

In future speak to staff and they will almost certainly allow travel.

I may be mistaken but surely it's one through journey so therefore you are covered by the NRCOT for the entire journey, and therefore they must allow you to travel on the next service?

 

[Watershed]

You've stated you allowed 45 minutes to get to Kings Cross. Because we don't have the exact date or time you travelled I can't double check the timings to see if that allowed enough time for an official connection at Kings Cross (you need to allow at least 15 minutes). Everything written below is based on the assumption that you did have an official connection.

Under condition 9.4 of the National Rail Conditions of Travel (NRCoT), you are entitled to travel on the next service run by the same operator when there's been disruption to an earlier train in your journey. You're entitled to make a journey using multiple tickets under condition 14 of the NRCoT, and using Oyster PAYG on National Rail services counts as a ticket under the definition given in Appendix B of the NRCoT.

So you would have been entitled to take the next available train if you'd continued to Kings Cross. It's really unfortunate you didn't know your rights, but it's unlikely you'd have any legal right to reimbursement when you chose to buy an unnecessary new ticket.

You could contact the train company you were planning to travel up to Newark with (LNER, I presume) and ask them if they'd be willing to reimburse the cost of either your original or new ticket because you misunderstood your rights. But they'd probably be within their rights to refuse your claim.

Using Oyster doesn't reduce your rights in this situation, but if it would make you feel more at ease, you might want to consider buying ticket that cover your entire journey next time. It will usually cost a similar amount to using Oyster or contactless for the local leg, and sometimes it might even be cheaper.

In some cases, where your ticket would be valid on the Underground, you might then only be able to receive your ticket in paper form (printed at the station) rather than as an eTicket, but I'd say that's a small 'price' to pay if it'll give you more peace of mind.

 

[gfa]

You've stated you allowed 45 minutes to get to Kings Cross. Because we don't have the exact date or time you travelled I can't double check the timings to see if that allowed enough time for an official connection at Kings Cross (you need to allow at least 15 minutes). Everything written below is based on the assumption that you did have an official connection.

Under condition 9.4 of the National Rail Conditions of Travel (NRCoT), you are entitled to travel on the next service run by the same operator when there's been disruption to an earlier train in your journey. You're entitled to make a journey using multiple tickets under condition 14 of the NRCoT, and using Oyster PAYG on National Rail services counts as a ticket under the definition given in Appendix B of the NRCoT.

So you would have been entitled to take the next available train if you'd continued to Kings Cross. It's really unfortunate you didn't know your rights, but it's unlikely you'd have any legal right to reimbursement when you chose to buy an unnecessary new ticket.

You could contact the train company you were planning to travel up to Newark with (LNER, I presume) and ask them if they'd be willing to reimburse the cost of either your original or new ticket because you misunderstood your rights. But they'd probably be within their rights to refuse your claim.

Using Oyster doesn't reduce your rights in this situation, but if it would make you feel more at ease, you might want to consider buying ticket that cover your entire journey next time. It will usually cost a similar amount to using Oyster or contactless for the local leg, and sometimes it might even be cheaper.

In some cases, where your ticket would be valid on the Underground, you might then only be able to receive your ticket in paper form (printed at the station) rather than as an eTicket, but I'd say that's a small 'price' to pay if it'll give you more peace of mind.

Thanks for the clarity on this - there was around 30 minutes I left to grab food and to transfer at Kings Cross so likely should not have been an issue. Using oyster had confused me as I thought for delay issues, it had to be the same ticket tied together.

A lesson learnt anyway - and certainly good to know in case a similar situation comes up again (which no doubt it will eventually!).

 

[tram21]

Thanks for the clarity on this - there was around 30 minutes I left to grab food and to transfer at Kings Cross so likely should not have been an issue. Using oyster had confused me as I thought for delay issues, it had to be the same ticket tied together.

A lesson learnt anyway - and certainly good to know in case a similar situation comes up again (which no doubt it will eventually!).

Under the NRCOT you can use any number of tickets for a through journey and you have the same rights (including oyster)

 

[Belperpete]

Under the NRCOT you can use any number of tickets for a through journey and you have the same rights (including oyster)

My reading is that the OP intended to go to Kings Cross, but presumably as he didn't do so, he wouldn't have used his Oystercard and therefore had no ticket for the leg to Kings Cross.

I would suggest contacting the ticket retailer and request a refund of the original KX to Newark ticket because of the disruption getting to Kings Cross. My understanding is that unlike delay repay, refunds should be obtained from whoever sold the ticket, not the TOC responsible for the delay. And because the refund is due to disruption, no admin fee should be deducted from the refund.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Sep 2026 ==

Using oyster had confused me as I thought for delay issues, it had to be the same ticket tied together.

The critical word there is "using". If you use your Oyster card to make a journey, then you bought a ticket and have the same rights as anyone buying any other type of ticket for things like split ticketing, delay repay, etc. However, if you don't make the journey, so don't use your Oyster, then you won't have bought a ticket. My understanding is that this will severely limit your rights. Which is why it is worth considering buying a through ticket (which may also be cheaper).

 

[gfa]

My reading is that the OP intended to go to Kings Cross, but presumably as he didn't do so, he wouldn't have used his Oystercard and therefore had no ticket for the leg to Kings Cross.

I would suggest contacting the ticket retailer and request a refund of the original KX to Newark ticket because of the disruption getting to Kings Cross. My understanding is that unlike delay repay, refunds should be obtained from whoever sold the ticket, not the TOC responsible for the delay. And because the refund is due to disruption, no admin fee should be deducted from the refund.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Sep 2026 ==


The critical word there is "using". If you use your Oyster card to make a journey, then you bought a ticket and have the same rights as anyone buying any other type of ticket for things like split ticketing, delay repay, etc. However, if you don't make the journey, so don't use your Oyster, then you won't have bought a ticket. My understanding is that this will severely limit your rights. Which is why it is worth considering buying a through ticket (which may also be cheaper).

Thanks - I will also try contacting the ticket retailer.

With regard to buying a through ticket, I looked into this but there was a good reason why I didn't do it which I can't remember now!