Eurostar is trying to force me to upgrade my ticket

Watershed · 23 Dec 2025

I didn't see this thread at the time but have just been alerted to it by another member.

joncombe said:
Yes that's not a bad idea and I am giving it serious consideration. I can see that the initial claim is not that expensive although there is a risk of costs if I lose.

The costs you can be forced to pay in a Small Claims Track case if you lose are quite limited. Essentially you wouldn't get back the Court fees, and you could be ordered to pay the defendant's direct travel costs of sending a representative to a hearing.

Actual legal expenses cannot be awarded unless there is evidence of unreasonable behaviour, which is a high bar to meet.

joncombe said:
It sounds like the first part of the process is to send (by recorded delivery) a letter before action giving 14 days for Eurostar to respond. (I am not sure this part is strictly required but it seems it is expected you will have exhausted all avenues first so for the cost of a letter it seems worth a try first).

The Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct encourages parties to avoid unnecessary Court claims and sets out the details that should be included in any Letter Before Claim. You'll find template examples online, e.g. on the Which? website.

Whilst sending a LBC before bringing a claim isn't technically mandatory, failing to do so could be viewed dimly by a judge when it comes to awarding costs. It could be one element proving unreasonable behaviour in which case more costs can be awarded, though it likely wouldn't prove it on its own.

joncombe said:
Assuming I go ahead with action one complexity seems to be that I would be trying to enforce payment under an EU law in the UK (2021/782). Would that matter?

It's a fair question. Jurisdiction and the applicable laws are two different things; in this case, EU law applies to the EU portion of the journey as a matter of statute, but the Eurostar Conditions of Carriage state that the English Courts have jurisdiction for any claims.

The old version of the PRO (Regulation 1371/2007) applies to the English portion of the journey and provides essentially the same rights in this situation, so you could claim under that too. Notably it doesn't contain the same exceptions as the new EU PRO.

As it happens, Eurostar's CoC reiterate the PRO right to overnight accommodation (including to be reimbursed for it) so you don't even need to get into the weeds of how the right arises - your claim can stand as a breach of contract claim.

That's an important point, since a breach of contract brings you within the purview of the section 75 regime. That would allow you to bring a claim against your credit card lender instead - assuming you used a credit card to pay for the tickets, and that they cost £100+ in total.

A section 75 claim is, in many ways, easier to pursue since you have recourse to the Financial Ombudsman if it's incorrectly rejected. Whilst not perfect, that Financial Ombudsman is much more effective than most and can award compensation for the general inconvenience of a lender not following the rules - which a Court cannot.

joncombe said:
I guess potentially there is the option of the Consumer Rights Act using the "Reasonable Care and Skill" clause? Or potentially because they tried the "Bait and Switch" approach which is illegal under the Unfair Trading Regulation 2008 law.

Those would also be options but I think you have a much clearer and easier pathway to getting your money back via the County Court or, if available, a section 75 claim.

joncombe said:
Assuming that is still OK I think probably I will draft a "letter before action". Would anyone on the forum with any experience of this be able to review it before I send it?

Happy to do so whichever way you decide to pursue it.

RailUK Forums

rvdborgt · 6 Jan 2026

joncombe said:
After contacting Eurostar again now rather than just ignore they have come back with a refusal

"As your train was cancelled 4 days prior to travel, these expenses are not covered in our Compensation policy, To claim expenses for these costs, you'll need to get in touch with your travel insurance provider."

I did quote the law above rather than the Eurostar compensation policy when making the claim but it seems they ignored that bit.

Someone suggested to me that Eurostar may be of the opinion that this case (train cancelled several days in advance) is not covered by the EU Regulation and that they can therefore make up their own policy. However, I haven't been able to find this "Eurostar compensation policy" mentioning a 4-day limit. And of course this case is covered by the EU Regulation.

Gerald Fiennes · 8 Jan 2026

Has there been any update on this case?

There's been a very similar situation following the closure of the Channel Tunnel on 30th December, with the individual I have been advising having been offered £40 instead of hotel, travel, meal costs and a delay of 48 hours. This includes a refusal to rebook into a higher class of travel (Premier) although others were apparently offered this.

Is the French enforcement body the best one to start with? Or perhaps a UK newspaper?!!

rvdborgt · 8 Jan 2026

I'd first go through the proper channels before going to a newspaper: customer service, then French Ombudsman, French enforcement body (don't know if they're any good), London TravelWatch or small claims court. For any journey from/to Belgium, I can recommend the Belgian enforcement body. They seem to be efficient (they just resolved a case of mine where Eurostar and Rail Europe were both saying the other should refund my reservation: now Eurostar have to).

mq90 · 8 Jan 2026

I have a similar situation that I created a specific thread for on 23rd December.

Our (my partner and I) 19:34 London Eurostar to Lille Europe was cancelled a few hours beforehand due to the network being disrupted after an individual sadly jumped on the high speed line in Belgium.

Our only option was to rebook on the 07:04 on 24th December meaning we got to our destination more than 12 hours later than initially planned and I also lost time that I was supposed to be working from my in-laws in Belgium on the 24th. On top of that my partner who was working in Central London had to buy a ticket to come home that night and another one to travel back into St Pancras on 24th.

We couldn't claim compensation from our booking as Eurostar says we rebooked on a service so no delay...

I raised a compensation claim saying I wanted compensation for my partner's return journey to our home and the journey into St Pancras plus compensation as we missed family commitments due to the delay and was late to work on 24th (hours which I had to make up).

This is what they replied:

Dear X,

Thank you for contacting Eurostar customer service.
We are currently experiencing a very high volume of enquiries. As a result, we have been unable to contact you within a reasonable time frame, and we deeply regret this.

On behalf of Eurostar, we would like to apologise for any inconvenience you may have experienced during your journey, while planning your journey or regarding any information request.
We are pleased to offer you as an exceptional gesture, an e-voucher of £50. Our e-vouchers are valid for 1 year and are non-nominative.

Your Eurostar case will now be closed. We hope that this concludes the matter to your satisfaction and look forward to welcoming you onboard again soon

Have I got grounds to take this to the ombudsman at all or similar body? I find it utterly appalling.

Bear in mind that the voucher is for two travellers (so £25 per person in essence) and we are both Avantage Club Eurostar members (not that the latter really matters).

mad_rich · 8 Jan 2026

You won't get far with compensation for missed work or other commitments - that would be consequential loss.

Just to be clear about your partner's train tickets. Your partner was already in London, intending to go to St Pancras in the evening, but you were still at home? (Where is that?) And you stayed at home overnight once you learned of the cancellation; your partner chose to return home overnight, and then come back to London on the 24th?

You were entitled to be rebooked for free onto the next available train (which it looks like you were), provided with accommodation if necessary, and a partial refund of the fare.

How does the £50 e-voucher compare to the cost your partner's train tickets? If it (sort of) covers them, then what's missing is a partial refund of the fare (50% as cash, or 75% if you choose a voucher). As long as the 1934 train was cancelled and you took the next available train, Eurostar must pay this. They can't trick you into some sort of 'voluntary rebooking'. I would appeal/ submit another claim, or contact them via a different route, before going to an enforcement body. If you paid with a credit card, you can threaten a Section 75 claim.

rvdborgt · 8 Jan 2026

Rebooking on the first available service means you DO have a delay and thus are entitled to compensation in principle. Rebooking is always needed because of the mandatory reservations, so the mere fact that you did that doesn't mean anything. Since a jumper is force majeure they can still refuse compensation for delay, but they didn't use that argument.
As to the extra tickets for your partner: they were left stranded in London and Eurostar would have had to provide overnight accommodation in London, so a reimbursement of at least the price of reasonable accommodation should be granted.

mq90 · 8 Jan 2026

rvdborgt said:
Rebooking on the first available service means you DO have a delay and thus are entitled to compensation in principle. Rebooking is always needed because of the mandatory reservations, so the mere fact that you did that doesn't mean anything. Since a jumper is force majeure they can still refuse compensation for delay, but they didn't use that argument.
As to the extra tickets for your partner: they were left stranded in London and Eurostar would have had to provide overnight accommodation in London, so a reimbursement of at least the price of reasonable accommodation should be granted.

I just meant that my Eurostar account didn't/doesn't enable me to claim "delay repay"/voucher automatically from the booking itself as that one ran on time. Awful system.

Meaning I had to raise a manual compensation claim.

We live in St Albans so it wasn't an issue for my partner to come home when I informed her our tickets had been changed. It's just that she had tapped in to go into work in Central London and was planning on going to St Pancras straight from there. But then she had to pay for a new fare to come home and another one to go into St Pancras International the next morning.

I know of someone who got an earlier train on the same day and got into Bruxelles Midi with a delay of three and a half hours and was entitled to 50% of the fare in cash value or a voucher equalling 75% of the value of their ticket. Whereas we essentially got a delay of 12+ hours and were given a whopping £25 per person.

Seeing as our journey was London-Lille what would be the next port of call? London Travelwatch, rail ombudsman, or any of the French bodies?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Jan 2026 ==

mad_rich said:
You won't get far with compensation for missed work or other commitments - that would be consequential loss.

Just to be clear about your partner's train tickets. Your partner was already in London, intending to go to St Pancras in the evening, but you were still at home? (Where is that?) And you stayed at home overnight once you learned of the cancellation; your partner chose to return home overnight, and then come back to London on the 24th?

You were entitled to be rebooked for free onto the next available train (which it looks like you were), provided with accommodation if necessary, and a partial refund of the fare.

How does the £50 e-voucher compare to the cost your partner's train tickets? If it (sort of) covers them, then what's missing is a partial refund of the fare (50% as cash, or 75% if you choose a voucher). As long as the 1934 train was cancelled and you took the next available train, Eurostar must pay this. They can't trick you into some sort of 'voluntary rebooking'. I would appeal/ submit another claim, or contact them via a different route, before going to an enforcement body. If you paid with a credit card, you can threaten a Section 75 claim.

Hi Rich,

Yes I do appreciate that, I was trying to give a bit of context to our circumstances.

I think my reply above sums it up. And to answer your question re value, we paid £55 per head per journey. So the £50 voucher would represent 45% of the fare paid.

I am concerned that if I do submit another claim they will just give the same reply. I am tempted to go into St Pancras as I go through there when I go into the office anyway and try to speak to a human being.

Wolfie · 8 Jan 2026

Bletchleyite said:
It is really quite bad that Eurostar acts worse than Ryanair in this sort of situation. Ryanair would rebook you and get you a hotel. And a legacy airline would certainly upgrade someone to business to free up an economy seat (though probably it'd be a frequent flyer who got the upgrade rather than the OP).

Eurostar are a group legal action waiting to happen if they continue this highly dubious policy. They also are almost guaranteeing increased political push for more competition with what looks like abuse of a monopoly position.

rvdborgt · 8 Jan 2026

mq90 said:
I know of someone who got an earlier train on the same day and got into Bruxelles Midi with a delay of three and a half hours and was entitled to 50% of the fare in cash value or a voucher equalling 75% of the value of their ticket. Whereas we essentially got a delay of 12+ hours and were given a whopping £25 per person.

The £50 voucher looks like the standard thing they use to try and fob you off. I also got that recently when I used their general complaint form, but it's largely of no use to me.

mq90 said:
Seeing as our journey was London-Lille what would be the next port of call? London Travelwatch, rail ombudsman, or any of the French bodies?

It's your call which way you go. I only have experience with some of them, so it's difficult to comment.

mq90 said:
I am concerned that if I do submit another claim they will just give the same reply. I am tempted to go into St Pancras as I go through there when I go into the office anyway and try to speak to a human being.

Going into St Pancras to speak with a human may be worth a try if you're in the neighbourhood anyway.

ThisIsSurbiton · 10 Jan 2026

mq90 said:
I know of someone who got an earlier train on the same day and got into Bruxelles Midi with a delay of three and a half hours and was entitled to 50% of the fare in cash value or a voucher equalling 75% of the value of their ticket. Whereas we essentially got a delay of 12+ hours and were given a whopping £25 per person.

They seem to have treated you very badly here. I was four hours late into Brussels that day and was offered €90 or 1,000 points, and the train managers were advising people with missed connections to book their own hotels and claim back later. You'd still get more back from almost all GB TOCs of course...

joncombe · 22 Jan 2026

Watershed said:
I didn't see this thread at the time but have just been alerted to it by another member.

Sorry for being slow in updating here. I don't think Section 75 applies here because whilst I did pay by credit card the total cost was under £100. I don't want to let Eurostar get away with just acting like this either forcing you to travel another day at your own expense or force you to pay for an upgrade.

For now I have raised a complaint with the French "Médiateur SNCF Voyageurs" to see if they can help here. However if I don't hear anything from them in the next month or so I do intend to send a letter before action and potentially proceed from there, but I wanted to try that as the last resort first.

I think probably I would be able to get costs back on travel insurance but there would probably be an excess AND it would probably put the price up next year because I have made a claim (this seems to be standard practice with insurance, unfortunately) so in the end I feel I would still be out of pocket. I also suspect the insurance company would make things difficult for me because they too would want Eurostar to pay up.

I do find it odd that their argument for not paying the hotel costs is that I was given 4 days notice (they consider this "lots" according to the email) yet they DID still pay compensation for me being delayed as a result of it, which is covered by the same law. So I am unclear how they can think part of it does apply and part of it does not.

williamn · 27 Jan 2026

From this Guardian article it seems you’re not the only one having issues with getting the correct compensation.

Eurostar sent a £120 voucher instead of the £1,744 it owes me

I was stranded in Brussels after a power failure, but the promised refund for hotels, food and transport failed to arrive

www.theguardian.com

Eurostar sent a £120 voucher instead of the £1,744 it owes me
I was stranded in Brussels after a power failure, but the promised refund for hotels, food and transport failed to arrive

Bletchleyite · 27 Jan 2026

That's just a repeat of what Virgin Trains used to do when they got overwhelmed, isn't it? They basically just sent £50 vouchers without reading complaints on the basis that most complainants would be happy to receive that as in a lot of cases they wouldn't have done anything. Those for whom that wasn't enough would however be quite taken aback by it.

Obviously as a result of that when it was particularly common there were people who found the slightest thing to complain about (e.g. one toilet out of order, a broken light or similar) because they'd be near certain to get fifty quid, and because there was a valid (but trivial) complaint they couldn't be accused of fraud in the way they could if they just sent a meaningless or empty letter.

furnessvale · 27 Jan 2026

Gerald Fiennes said:
Has there been any update on this case?

There's been a very similar situation following the closure of the Channel Tunnel on 30th December, with the individual I have been advising having been offered £40 instead of hotel, travel, meal costs and a delay of 48 hours. This includes a refusal to rebook into a higher class of travel (Premier) although others were apparently offered this.

Is the French enforcement body the best one to start with? Or perhaps a UK newspaper?!!

I wonder if the French have improved?

Years ago I wrote to a UK booking authority (I can't remember which) about couchettes which had been resold by the attendant leaving my party bedless for the night.

I got the terse reply, "We do not enter into correspondence with SNCF about the double booking of couchette reservations".

Gerald Fiennes · 28 Jan 2026

williamn said:
From this Guardian article it seems you’re not the only one having issues with getting the correct compensation.

Eurostar sent a £120 voucher instead of the £1,744 it owes me

I was stranded in Brussels after a power failure, but the promised refund for hotels, food and transport failed to arrive

www.theguardian.com

I couldn't possibly comment but this case does seem somewhat familiar. The voucher offer was essentially to 'end the case', so the Eurostar spokesperson was being a little 'economic with the actualite' as the old phrase has it. Disappointing.

It would have been better if Eurostar reacted positively at the start: the monetary amounts were, indeed, quite large (a whole family affected). What was particlarly frustrating was that Eurostar's booking system wouldn't transfer the booking to the following day even though they were still selling seats for new passengers...

mq90 · 12 Feb 2026

mq90 said:
I have a similar situation that I created a specific thread for on 23rd December.

Our (my partner and I) 19:34 London Eurostar to Lille Europe was cancelled a few hours beforehand due to the network being disrupted after an individual sadly jumped on the high speed line in Belgium.

Our only option was to rebook on the 07:04 on 24th December meaning we got to our destination more than 12 hours later than initially planned and I also lost time that I was supposed to be working from my in-laws in Belgium on the 24th. On top of that my partner who was working in Central London had to buy a ticket to come home that night and another one to travel back into St Pancras on 24th.

We couldn't claim compensation from our booking as Eurostar says we rebooked on a service so no delay...

I raised a compensation claim saying I wanted compensation for my partner's return journey to our home and the journey into St Pancras plus compensation as we missed family commitments due to the delay and was late to work on 24th (hours which I had to make up).

This is what they replied:

Have I got grounds to take this to the ombudsman at all or similar body? I find it utterly appalling.

Bear in mind that the voucher is for two travellers (so £25 per person in essence) and we are both Avantage Club Eurostar members (not that the latter really matters).

I went to the Eurostar travel desk at St Pancras yesterday, complaining about the above.

I have to say the fella behind the desk was very polite and calm, although he did explain there was very little he could do. I put forward the argument that the £50 was short of the 75% voucher value they offer for delays of 3+ hours. He admitted that since it was a cancellation and I booked on a different service, it wasn't deemed a delay by the system (although it is).

He offered to update the existing claim with the hope that an additional voucher be issued for it to come to a 75% total compensation. Having said that, he told me that there wasn't any guarantee and to cross fingers.

What a malarkey but with the money I put into Eurostar, that's the least they can do.

joncombe · 23 Feb 2026

With regards to the issue I had originally I did complain to "Mediation SNCF Voyageurs" who did after about a month accept my case:-

I have received your request for mediation and can inform you that I am proceeding with the investigation of your case.

However I haven't had any further response as yet, but I guess it's good news that it has at least been accepted. I don't rule out any further action if I don't make any progress via this route however.

joncombe · 4 Jun 2026

I have tried to chase up the "Mediation SNCF Voyageurs" as it said they would respond within 90 working days and it is now well past that. I have chased up twice a few weeks apart but just get the response both times.

"Your application is currently being processed by our department. Due to a large number of requests, I would like to inform you that the deadline has been extended.". But no indication by how much the deadline has been extended.

Wondering if it's worth trying London Travelwatch or now move onto starting the money claim process by sending a letter before action. Has anyone any experience with London Travelwatch? I know the Rail Ombudsman is not good but seems they don't deal with Eurostar, but London Travelwatch does. So that might be a bonus but I don't want to wait about 4 months and get no response as I have done wiht the Mediation SNCF. The only other avenue is travel insurance and although I have travel insurance the excess on it for this type of claim is £99 (less than the expenses I incurred) so it's pretty pointless to try and claim on that, so it seems that the Money Claim process might be the only way to not be left out of pocket.

MotCO · 5 Jun 2026

Others may have different opinions, but given that it is some 7 months since the incident, and you have made no progress, I would consider the Letter Before Action route. I don't recall any posts on here where London Travelwatch have resulted in a favourable outcome for the passenger.

The thing to consider is what is your follow up is if the LBA does not resolve the issue. Are you willing to pursue it with or without a solicitor's help?

ModernRailways · 5 Jun 2026

MotCO said:
Others may have different opinions, but given that it is some 7 months since the incident, and you have made no progress, I would consider the Letter Before Action route. I don't recall any posts on here where London Travelwatch have resulted in a favourable outcome for the passenger.

The thing to consider is what is your follow up is if the LBA does not resolve the issue. Are you willing to pursue it with or without a solicitor's help?

I would be inclined to agree now that it has gone on quite a while now, however;

@joncombe
Do you have access to the SNCF Mediation portal? If so, that should have an updated date of expected resolution. There is also an ‘internal’ messaging platform on there where you could try chasing them stating they’ve exceeded the deadline and you would be grateful for an update.

I’ve only skimmed over the previous posts so apologies if this has been done but when corresponding with Eurostar in writing have you specified the EU directive that entitles you to the compensation, along with a quote of this?
It may also be worth emailing their CEO (it won’t tend to reach the CEO but usually gets higher up customer support involved).

It may be worth your while sending one final email to Eurostar, including their CEO outline what you want, attach any receipts etc and then from there see what they come back with. I’m sure myself and others would be happy to help you draft a final email before you then issue a Letter before Action. Of course, I would ideally wait for SNCF in the first instance to respond, the portal should help if you have access.

joncombe · 11 Jun 2026

Thank you all for the helpful replies to my last post (especially @ModernRailways and @MotCO). Today I had a response from the SNCF Mediation. The good news is they appear to have upheld my complaint and told Eurostar to pay my expenses. The bad news is they have done so by telling Eurostar to issue a voucher. According to the communication this is the final response and is not open for negotiation, so I either accept it or go to court.

That is certainly frustrating! I've pasted the response below (removing personal information).

Sir,
You have submitted a complaint online on January 20th, 2026, following the response from the Eurostar
Customer Care which was not satisfactory to you.

I apologize for the delay in my reply, which is due to the time needed to process the many requests I receive.
I have carefully examined your request in the light of the information provided to me by you and the carrier.
In this case, you indicate that you were scheduled to make a round-trip journey between London and Lille
Europe, aboard Eurostar train n°9110 on November 8th, 2025, and then Eurostar train n°9161 on November 9th,
2025. However, you explain that these two trains were canceled by the carrier less than a week before
departure. You add that you were able to take another train for your outbound journey on November 8th, 2025,
but that no alternative was available for your return journey on November 9th, 2025, as Eurostar train n°9161
was the last train of the day. Under these circumstances, you state that you finally reached London aboard
Eurostar train n°9113 on November 10th, 2025, and incurred accommodation expenses while awaiting for this
rerouting.

You request the refund of your additional expenses, in the amount of 65.66 euros.

After reviewing your request, I note that Eurostar train n°9110 between Lille Europe and London on November
8th, 2025, and Eurostar train n°9161 between Lille Europe and London on November 9th, 2025, were indeed
canceled due to construction work.

Regarding your outbound journey, I note that you acknowledge that you were to take another train to travel to
London on November 8th, 2025.

Furthermore, regarding your return trip, I note that the carrier offered you the choice between a refund or a free
exchange of your Eurostar ticket, in accordance with Article 18 of European Regulation No. 2021/782 of April 29,
2021.

I note that you opted for a free exchange and that you ultimately reached London aboard Eurostar train n°9113
on November 10th, 2025, as your original train was the last one of the day on November 9th, 2025. In this
context, it is understandable that you incurred additional costs to stay in a hotel in London on November 9th,
2025.

In this regard, I also note that you have provided a customer receipt and a personalized invoice confirming your
expenses.

Consequently, in view of the elements brought to my attention, I propose that Eurostar Customer Care send you,
on an exceptional basis, the sum of 65,66 euros, corresponding to your accommodation costs, in the form of an
e-voucher to the address: <my email redacted>

This e-voucher will be sent to you in the form of an alphanumeric code valid for one year. It is valid only on the
Eurostar.com website and can be used to pay for all or part of a future trip on Eurostar routes. The e-voucher
reference must then be entered in the field provided for this purpose during the payment step of the booking
process.

This notice is final, and your request cannot be re-examined. Please note that I will not be able to respond to any
comments or complaints you may have. If you dispute the notice, it is your responsibility to file with the
appropriate court as outlined in the attached document.

Best regards,

I did a Google search and the Google AI result suggests booking a new fully flexible ticket using the voucher (and paying the difference). These tickets allow a full fee-free refund so then once booked, cancelling the ticket and requesting a refund and that this will result in a full refund to the payment method used and not another voucher. So it seems that might be a way to convert the voucher back to money. I don't mind doing that if it works but obviously a bit worried they will only refund the amount extra I paid and issue another voucher for the part I paid by voucher. Has anyone successfully "converted" a voucher to cash in this way?

Watershed · 11 Jun 2026

I wouldn’t at all be confident that this will result in a cash refund. You will probably just get back what you paid ‘in kind’, i.e. part back to your card and part back to a new voucher (or the original voucher reinstated).

I think you will have to take legal action to get anywhere on this one. I really can’t understand how the mediation service can think that requiring Eurostar to provide a voucher would make them comply with their legal obligations.

Mainline421 · 11 Jun 2026

joncombe said:
I did a Google search and the Google AI result suggests booking a new fully flexible ticket using the voucher (and paying the difference). These tickets allow a full fee-free refund so then once booked, cancelling the ticket and requesting a refund and that this will result in a full refund to the payment method used and not another voucher. So it seems that might be a way to convert the voucher back to money. I don't mind doing that if it works but obviously a bit worried they will only refund the amount extra I paid and issue another voucher for the part I paid by voucher. Has anyone successfully "converted" a voucher to cash in this way?

That won't work as the voucher is the payment method used, don't ever believe AI on things of this nature.

It's very odd that someone who is supposed to be independent would specify that the refund take the form of an e-voucher...

ModernRailways · 12 Jun 2026

joncombe said:
I did a Google search and the Google AI result suggests booking a new fully flexible ticket using the voucher (and paying the difference). These tickets allow a full fee-free refund so then once booked, cancelling the ticket and requesting a refund and that this will result in a full refund to the payment method used and not another voucher. So it seems that might be a way to convert the voucher back to money. I don't mind doing that if it works but obviously a bit worried they will only refund the amount extra I paid and issue another voucher for the part I paid by voucher. Has anyone successfully "converted" a voucher to cash in this way?

You would be refunded via the original payment method, it wouldn’t let you ‘cash out’ an evoucher. It will either generate a new one to the same value or put it back on the same code you already used. This is another instance of AI being confidently wrong.

Would you be looking to travel on Eurostar again and be able to make use of the evoucher? If so, it may be easiest to just accept that, and use it towards another trip. If not, then I would suggest your only available option would be to take it to small claims. You have additional evidence from the mediator that your claim is correct and valid but that they’ve decided to issue it as an evoucher and not cash which you are entitled too.

It is very odd that they have offered an evoucher and not the cash especially an evoucher with very specific and limited use.

rvdborgt · 12 Jun 2026

You could still ask Eurostar to pay out your claim in cash, already mentioning small claims court if they don't.

joncombe · 10 Jul 2026

Yes I will try contacting Eurostar again but I am not confident. Although the email said the offer was final another template letter attached stated I had 14 days to accept or reject the mediator and if I accepted I didn't need to do anything and if I rejected I had to send a letter within 14 days. However the email said the response was final and could not be appealred. I didn't do that because Eurostar responded the very next day and immediately sent the voucher. According to the second attachment they are supposed to wait 14 days. I don't think this precludes any further legal action however as I have not used the voucher.

I wasn't planning on using Eurostar again but may do just to use the voucher, if I can't get it refunded. I think as others have stated this means I would likely win any court case, but it does take a lot of time (e.g. I would need to take time off work) so will probably just "accept" the voucher, somewhat reluctantly and try and use it within the next year.

As an aside Eurostar still couldn't resist adding the comment "Please note that this gesture is provided on an exceptional and commercial basis, particularly as you had been informed of the cancellation of your train in advance." when they sent me the voucher. They really are a shocking company that clearly treats their customers with contempt.

Watershed · 10 Jul 2026

joncombe said:
I think as others have stated this means I would likely win any court case, but it does take a lot of time (e.g. I would need to take time off work)

It's worth noting that in the event it went to a hearing, you would ordinarily be able to recover your loss of earnings or holiday up to a maximum of £95, on top of the amount you are claiming. You could also recover your direct travel costs and £50 for your time in bringing the case.

MotCO · 10 Jul 2026

Watershed said:
It's worth noting that in the event it went to a hearing, you would ordinarily be able to recover your loss of earnings or holiday up to a maximum of £95, on top of the amount you are claiming. You could also recover your direct travel costs and £50 for your time in bringing the case.

And presumably in would be in a Court of your choosing, so if you lived in the north of England, for example, would Eurostar want to travel that far to contest a case?

Watershed · 10 Jul 2026

MotCO said:
And presumably in would be in a Court of your choosing, so if you lived in the north of England, for example, would Eurostar want to travel that far to contest a case?

They would most likely appoint a local solicitor or barrister if they wanted to be represented at the hearing. However, the cost of such representation - the vast majority of which they couldn't recover even if they successfully defended the claim - would certainly militate towards settling before a hearing.

Eurostar is trying to force me to upgrade my ticket

Veteran Member

RailUK Forums

Established Member

Member

Established Member

Member

Member

Established Member

Member

Established Member

Established Member

Member

Member

Established Member

Eurostar sent a £120 voucher instead of the £1,744 it owes me​

Veteran Member

Established Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Established Member

Established Member

Member

Veteran Member

Member

Established Member

Established Member

Member

Veteran Member

Established Member

Veteran Member

Eurostar sent a £120 voucher instead of the £1,744 it owes me