Refund for being unable to use first class?

[lyesbkz]

Hello. I bought, via the TransPennine Express website, a first class Anytime Day Return this morning from Chesterfield to Sheffield. I was planning to get the 0703 CrossCountry service, which is shown on my itinerary. By the time I got to the station there was significant disruption due to a person being hit by a train near Chesterfield, and the 0703 along with many other services had been cancelled. I was advised to take a Northern service running back and forth between Sheffield and Chesterfield because no trains were able to get through from the south, so I took the 0655 (departed 0713) which only had standard class accommodation. On my return journey I was able to use first class on EMR without any problems.

How much (if anything) would I be able to claim back for not being able to use first class on my outward journey, and who would I need to claim from please?

 

[Watershed]

NRCoT condition 31 deals with downgrades. It states:

The minimum refund to which you will be entitled will be the difference between the price of the first class Ticket purchased and the cheapest valid standard class walk-up fare available on the service you used

However this doesn't really set out the calculation method to be used in a situation where you hold a return ticket, but only incur a downgrade in one direction.

It may end up getting calculated between the closest equivalent first class and standard class single fares, but there aren't always close equivalents available. Another method which I might suggest would be half the difference to the equivalent standard class return, to provide a proportional refund based on half of your return journey being affected.

You would need to claim from the operator that was (due to) operate the service you intended to take, i.e. CrossCountry.