GWR poor service refund

[island]

A colleague has this year successfully claimed back just under 10% of the price of his annual season ticket from GWR under section 56 of the Consumer Rights Act, on top of a charter discount. They folded on the last day of the 21-day notice period he gave them in a letter before action.

 

[yorkie]

That's good to hear.

GWR have recently committed multiple contract and consumer law breaches that I am aware of (by refusing to honour itineraries) so it's good to hear that at least one of their customers has managed to bring them to account.

Perhaps someone can post here some advice/tips on how to achieve a similar result.

 

[JN114]

A colleague has this year successfully claimed back just under 10% of the price of his annual season ticket from GWR under section 56 of the Consumer Rights Act, on top of a charter discount. They folded on the last day of the 21-day notice period he gave them in a letter before action.

Just to clarify - did GWR settle before action or did it actually reach court and your colleague was awarded 10% of the price of their annual season?

It’s a very important distinction - the latter would finally provide a case example that validates use of the Consumer Rights Act for claiming against train operators. The former would suggest that, like every other case I’ve read, the TOCs aren’t willing to allow this legislation be tested in court for fear of setting a precedent and opening the floodgates.

 

[bnm]

Money claims settled in a Magistrates Court do not set precedents.

 

[Starmill]

They may not set binding precedents, but if the case, put as it was by island's colleague, was convincing enough that a judgement was made against GWR then that is potentially persuasive to others who might seek to make their own claim.

It doesn't sound like that's what happened though, based on island's choice of words?

 

[island]

I can confirm that my colleague did not issue any action; he received his requested compensation before the expiry of the deadline of his letter before action.

 

[Muzer]

A colleague has this year successfully claimed back just under 10% of the price of his annual season ticket from GWR under section 56 of the Consumer Rights Act, on top of a charter discount. They folded on the last day of the 21-day notice period he gave them in a letter before action.

What was GWR doing that warranted a 10% refund as compensation?

 

[island]

Operating a service without due skill.

 

[kristiang85]

What was GWR doing that warranted a 10% refund as compensation?

Well, I look at my regular morning service (SWR) and the average delay for a 47 minute journey is 9 minutes (yes, I keep a spreadsheet now). That's 19% delays (and overall a lot of wasted time), so presuming the passenger's GWR experience was similar, and I presume worse due to the fact he needed to go through this action, then 10% seems quite reasonable, if not actually rather low.