Rail Replacement Bus missed a stop

[Joey Beauchamp]

Hi all. I would usually put in a delay repay claim for this, but I'm worried it'll tie them up in knots and I also don't know which company to do it with!

On Tuesday 11th February, the 22.50 from Birmingham to Northampton was curtailed at Coventry due to planned engineering works and customers were advised to get an Avanti to Rugby and a rail replacement bus. Both the LNW and National Rail websites were very clear that the bus would be calling at Long Buckby - this link stating this should still work as it's the same deal tonight: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/engineering-works/northampton-10-feb-lnw-20250210/

I went outside the station at Rugby and a bus driver was having a smoke next to his coach. I asked him if this was going to Long Buckby and he said no it wasn't, he was going direct to Northampton, he'd got his job slip and he couldn't get there anyway because of a low bridge (this wasn't completely true because he could have avoided the bridge, but never mind).

I went to speak to a member of station staff who told me a second bus would be along in a minute which was stopping. I went back to the bus driver who said this definitely wasn't true but he'd try to speak to control to find out what to do. He also said the same thing had happened the day before. At this point two other people for Long Buckby turned up and we decided to share a taxi at our own expense because it was nearly midnight and we wanted to get home.

Do I claim delay repay or put in a complaint? And who should I do it with as I have no idea who was operating the bus - realtime trains shows two buses, one LNR and one Avanti, both stopping at Long Buckby!

 

[redreni]

If you want reimbursement of the taxi fare then I would explain all of the above to customer services. Maybe worth emphasising that the driver told you he couldn't go to Long Buckby and that there definitely wouldn't be another bus along in a minute that could.

The TOC may take the view that you chose to do your own thing when there were staff on hand who could have sorted out a bus or taxi for you, so that's your choice. On the other hand they may accept that it was late at night, no bus was provided and it was reasonable in the circumstances for you to share a taxi.

If you want delay repay, I can't tell from the info you've provided whether you're entitled to any. It depends what time you arrived at Long Buckby compared to the scheduled arrival time. If it was planned engineering works, you can only claim against the timetable that was in place on the day, not the normal timetable. How late do you think you were arriving at Long Buckby?

EDIT: Assuming the arrangements were the same last night as they are tonight, NRE is saying the scheduled arrival time at Long Buckby is 00:20. Unless you bought your ticket against an itinerary that gave an earlier arrival time than that, I would say that's the timetable. You say it was nearly midnight when you got a taxi with the other passengers. Google maps reckons it's a 23 minute drive. So I would say you were bang on time. The time you would have arrived if you had waited for the bus is irrelevant for delay repay purposes.

 

[Bletchleyite]

EDIT: Assuming the arrangements were the same last night as they are tonight, NRE is saying the scheduled arrival time at Long Buckby is 00:20. Unless you bought your ticket against an itinerary that gave an earlier arrival time than that, I would say that's the timetable. You say it was nearly midnight when you got a taxi with the other passengers. Google maps reckons it's a 23 minute drive. So I would say you were bang on time. The time you would have arrived if you had waited for the bus is irrelevant for delay repay purposes.

I'd agree with that. The TOC should really refund the taxi out of goodwill (though may argue that the OP should have dealt with staff on the matter rather than doing their own thing) however Delay Repay isn't applicable, as looking at it they've either ended short at Rugby on time, or they arrived at their eventual destination (in the taxi) on time.

 

[Joey Beauchamp]

I'd agree with that. The TOC should really refund the taxi out of goodwill (though may argue that the OP should have dealt with staff on the matter rather than doing their own thing) however Delay Repay isn't applicable, as looking at it they've either ended short at Rugby on time, or they arrived at their eventual destination (in the taxi) on time.

Oh well, I can't claim the taxi fare as the other passengers were staying in it so it would've been antisocial to keep them waiting while the driver wrote out a receipt for my share. I'm not too bothered about the money, it's more the principal of not sticking to something they advertised and providing incorrect information. There was even an announcement on my train advising passengers for Long Buckby and Northampton to change for a rail replacement bus. If I'd been a more timid person, or the bus driver had been conversing with another passenger, it's perfectly feasible that (having read the website and heard the on train announcement) I would have seen the coach with people getting on it and just climbed aboard, thus ending up at Northampton!

 

[Lewisham2221]

Did you wait to see if a second bus turned up? Or did just take the bus drivers word, over that of the station staff?

I'm not really sure I would take the word of one bus driver, employed by one bus operator, sub-contracted by one "transport solutions" provider, contracted by one TOC over that of the station staff who will have been made aware of the bigger picture.

To my knowledge, Avanti and LNR don't use the same road transport provider. Those two providers will each have a multitude of different operators on their books, so it's highly likely that the two buses would be supplied by two totally different operators. Why would Avanti and LNR both input bus details - with differing timings - into the timetable system if only one of them was providing a bus?

 

[Joey Beauchamp]

Did you wait to see if a second bus turned up? Or did just take the bus drivers word, over that of the station staff?

I'm not really sure I would take the word of one bus driver, employed by one bus operator, sub-contracted by one "transport solutions" provider, contracted by one TOC over that of the station staff who will have been made aware of the bigger picture.

To my knowledge, Avanti and LNR don't use the same road transport provider. Those two providers will each have a multitude of different operators on their books, so it's highly likely that the two buses would be supplied by two totally different operators. Why would Avanti and LNR both input bus details - with differing timings - into the timetable system if only one of them was providing a bus?

I don't know, but both operators inputed bus details showing a stop at Long Buckby.

The National Rail and LNR websites make it sound like one bus: "and a replacement bus between Rugby and Northampton, calling at Long Buckby."

I also don't understand why the Avanti replacement bus would call at Long Buckby. I mean it clearly doesn't in reality, but it's weird that they put a stop into the timetable system. I should add that I made an identical journey in August 2023 and was put in a taxi because there wasn't a bus to Long Buckby despite it being advertised.