LNER and Facebook post yesterday (30th)

[38Cto15E]

I know a bit about railfares but not a lot. I was looking at the LNER Facebook site and a passenger had a ticket yesterday from somewhere in England to Gleneagles on the direct Highland Chieftain service.

https://www.facebook.com/LNERail/ph...3368129576779609/?comment_id=1301883653877713

My sister is currently stuck in Edinburgh, 6pm Saturday 30th Dec, in the middle of her journey from Darlington to Gleneagles. No onward trains, no bus replacement service. Told she has to get train at 5.20am tomorrow. No help, staff walking around with their arms held up, (not their faults but unfortunately they are getting the grief) utter chaos.

She’s managed to get on a Megabus to Dunblane. Hopefully a taxi from there.

The train was cancelled at Edinburgh, and I get the impression that passengers to Gleneagles were told to get the Scotrail train to Dunblane or even Perth. Unfortunately these trains were all cancelled as well and the passenger would have been left stranded at Waverley not knowing what to do.

I don't know if they had help from staff at EDB, but they went on their journey via Megabus to Dunblane and taxi to Gleneagles.

Presumably LNER laid on coaches for Perth and the A9 corridor to Inverness and thought that Scotrail could cope with Gleneagles and Stirling passengers.

I'm sure there may be more to this than I am aware of, but from the facts I know, should LNER have laid a taxi on from Waverley to Gleneagles?

TIA

 

[kkong]

In my experience, if no direct assistance (e.g. buses) or other actionable advice is forthcoming from LNER, it is best to make your own (reasonable) arrangements and claim the cost back from LNER.

LNER recently reimbursed me for a hotel stay when bad weather made it impossible to complete the journey the same day (either by rail or road).

 

[Watershed]

I know a bit about railfares but not a lot. I was looking at the LNER Facebook site and a passenger had a ticket yesterday from somewhere in England to Gleneagles on the direct Highland Chieftain service.
The train was cancelled at Edinburgh, and I get the impression that passengers to Gleneagles were told to get the Scotrail train to Dunblane or even Perth.
Unfortunately these trains were all cancelled as well and the passenger would have been left stranded at Waverley not knowing what to do.
I don't know if they had help from staff at EDB, but they went on their journey via Megabus to Dunblane and taxi to Gleneagles.
Presumably LNER laid on coaches for Perth and the A9 corridor to Inverness and thought that Scotrail could cope with Gleneagles and Stirling passengers.
I'm sure there may be more to this than I am aware of, but from the facts I know, should LNER have laid a taxi on from Waverley to Gleneagles?
TIA

If the passenger would otherwise have been stranded, then yes, a taxi would have been one of the ways LNER could have discharged its duty to provide alternative transport or accommodation. In fact, any operator in a position to assist was obliged to help (such as ScotRail, who clearly have a considerable staff presence at Edinburgh).

The problem the passenger may face when trying to recover the Megabus and taxi fares is if they didn't seek assistance before incurring these costs. Obviously the passenger might well argue that the costs they incurred were less than what LNER would have paid for a taxi, but it's an argument they could expect to come up against.

 

[robbeech]

The real problem is the passenger being refused assistance by the railway being left with no option but to fend for themselves. This is normal on the railway now of course, anyone who can’t afford a hotel or potentially long distance taxi is taking a significant risk when using the railway, regardless of the legalities.

Whilst they may have clearly tried to “seek assistance”, if the railway has refused on the ground the chances are they’ll at least initially refuse in the aftermath.

 

[Huntergreed]

The real problem is the passenger being refused assistance by the railway being left with no option but to fend for themselves. This is normal on the railway now of course, anyone who can’t afford a hotel or potentially long distance taxi is taking a significant risk when using the railway, regardless of the legalities.

Whilst they may have clearly tried to “seek assistance”, if the railway has refused on the ground the chances are they’ll at least initially refuse in the aftermath.

Indeed, although the railway is obliged legally to provide such expenses in the event of disruption, they rarely if ever do so.

As a student, my finances are often very tight, so I never like to make a very long journey on (say) the last train of the day, at the risk of me having to fork out a considerable proportion of my savings just to deal with their incompetence/complete lack of customer service.