London Intl CIV

[theageofthetra]

A well know financial/political commentator is having a right go on Twitter over a cancelled HS1 Gravesend-St Panc service causing her to miss a E*. The advice is normally to always buy your ticket to London Intl CIV so you can travel on next available E* service. Now if (as I suspect) she already has a season from say Gravesend-London terminals could she have bought a cheap New-Cross -London intl CIV so she had some protection? If not how does a ST holder achieve this?

 

[anme]

What actually happened with the Eurostar? In my experience, Eurostar are helpful and sympathetic in these circumstances, regardless of what ticket you hold.

 

[theageofthetra]

She's still stuck at Gravesend & does have a CIV ticket so presumably she will be put on next available service FOC?

 

[Hadders]

There are generally two services an hour from Gravesend to St Pancras. The interchange time at St Pancras is 15 minutes plus an additional 35 minutes for Eurostar connections.

If her intended train to St Pancras was cancelled then the next train should have got her into St Pancras 20 minutes before the Eurostar departure. As noted above Eurostar are usually very flexible about check in if you make yourselves known to staff. I have seen many people rushed through check in and security a few minutes before departure (and remember business check in doesn't close until 10 minutes before departure anyway).

Looks like insufficient time was left to interchange...

 

[theageofthetra]

Thx. Does anyone know what a ST holder could buy though?

 

[ainsworth74]

As noted above Eurostar are usually very flexible about check in if you make yourselves known to staff. I have seen many people rushed through check in and security a few minutes before departure (and remember business check in doesn't close until 10 minutes before departure anyway).

I've always been under the impression that the check-in times for Eurostar have more to do with ensuring that a whole train load of passengers don't turn up trying to check in and get through security a few minutes before departure rather than a hard and fast rule.

 

[FMCoppola]

Hi all.

I think I should explain what happened this morning. The cancelled 8.12 HS1 was actually the SECOND HS1 train I had been unable to take. I arrived at Strood station at 7.15 this morning to discover that the 7.32 HS1 was starting from Gravesend and there was a replacement bus service from Strood to Gravesend. There was no advance warning about this posted online by Network Rail or South East Trains. Nor was there any information about it at Strood station. The bus to Gravesend did not leave until 7.37, which of course meant I missed the 7.42 HS1 from Gravesend (the train that would normally have left Strood at 7.32). The 8.12 HS1 was cancelled a few minutes after I arrived at Gravesend.

Gravesend staff were great, really tried hard to rescue stranded passengers - I was certainly not the only person facing missed connections. Of course we need to allow for delays, but this morning was exceptional.

Eurostar booking office rebooked my ticket free of charge without question. I'm not a ST holder, but I imagine it would be useful for those who are ST holders to know that Eurostar will rebook tickets even without CIV.

Frances Coppola

 

[Hadders]

I've always been under the impression that the check-in times for Eurostar have more to do with ensuring that a whole train load of passengers don't turn up trying to check in and get through security a few minutes before departure rather than a hard and fast rule.

That's certainly consistent with what I've witnessed at St Pancras. On one occasion a family, out of breath from running, boarded literally seconds before the doors closed. Later in the journey they explained that their lift from Lincoln to St Pancras had been caught up in traffic and they feared they'd miss the train as they arrived with only a couple of minutes before departure.

In another case some young women were stood near the departure gates in tears because they'd arrived too late. Staff went over to enquire if they were okay and although check in had officially closed they were rushed through in time to make the train.

Excellent service on both occasions.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Hi all.

I think I should explain what happened this morning. The cancelled 8.12 HS1 was actually the SECOND HS1 train I had been unable to take. I arrived at Strood station at 7.15 this morning to discover that the 7.32 HS1 was starting from Gravesend and there was a replacement bus service from Strood to Gravesend. There was no advance warning about this posted online by Network Rail or South East Trains. Nor was there any information about it at Strood station. The bus to Gravesend did not leave until 7.37, which of course meant I missed the 7.42 HS1 from Gravesend (the train that would normally have left Strood at 7.32). The 8.12 HS1 was cancelled a few minutes after I arrived at Gravesend.

Gravesend staff were great, really tried hard to rescue stranded passengers - I was certainly not the only person facing missed connections. Of course we need to allow for delays, but this morning was exceptional.

Eurostar booking office rebooked my ticket free of charge without question. I'm not a ST holder, but I imagine it would be useful for those who are ST holders to know that Eurostar will rebook tickets even without CIV.

Frances Coppola

That does sound very unlucky. Did your Eurostar call at Ebbsfleet? In the circumstances I wonder if Eurostar would have allowed you to join the train there?

 

[najaB]

That's certainly consistent with what I've witnessed at St Pancras. On one occasion a family, out of breath from running, boarded literally seconds before the doors closed. Later in the journey they explained that their lift from Lincoln to St Pancras had been caught up in traffic and they feared they'd miss the train as they arrived with only a couple of minutes before departure.

Excuse the off-topic post but I had a similar experience with an air journey. The traffic on the way to the airport was chaotic and what should have been a 45 minute bus journey took closer to three hours. Arrived at the airport to find the check-in desks closed, spoke with the one Air France staff member who was still around and they made a radio call. The result was that boarding had already started but they would see what they could do. Check in, security, immigration exit check and getting on board took a grand total of 15 minutes (if that).

 

[gray1404]

Make sure you claim Delay Repay from South Eastern. Will be interesting if you can get them to pay out on the entire international journey, or if they'll just pay out on the UK bit. But do be sure to claim.

 

[theageofthetra]

Good to hear of the service you received from E* & the staff at Gravesend.

 

[gray1404]

Has anyone ever managed to claim delay repay against a journey involving travel on Eurostar plus a UK leg when they've been delayed getting to London or indeed after they've got of Eurostar in London?

 

[DEE-DE]

I've claimed on an international journey involving Eurostar and a Lndon Estar CIV ticket. It was one standard class London Special from DB and a first advance. I sent both in to DB with a claim of being 2881 minutes late into London. Basically the UK ticket was only as proof of arrival as I had been given an authorisation to travel. I only got 50% of the London Spezial back (27 euros) and didn't bother pursuing the issue any further (was already enough bother as they had issued me with a refund five times as much initially by error).

The only time there was an issue on a ticket issued by Eurostar (continent-bound) they still managed to get me through in time/I ran fast enough from King's Cross. Otherwise they would've had to put me up in a hotel.

Regarding the issue of delay repay: Internationally you generally claim from the railway you bought your ticket from, so this might be an issue with these, as Eurostar (19) has got a separate code from ATOC (1170).

 

[talldave]

I would add that I encountered a really helpful Southeastern guy at Gravesend last week. In the post cow derailment mayhem, he called up to find out what was happening regarding HS1 cancellations (well, fast running to make up time actually) so I could make the right decision about taking an alternative train into London so as not to be late for my meeting. Excellent service.