Refunds under Condition 30 (Delayed or cancelled train)

[TUC]

Condition 30 of the National Rail Conditions of Carriage provides for a full refund of a ticket if your train is delayed or cancelled and you decide not to travel. How is this calculated if this relates to the outward journey for a return ticket? If you have decided not to travel then the return journey is also likely not to occur. However, whilst there are specific provisions for most Delay Repay schemes which usually work on the basis of only a proportion of the ticket being refunded when the delay is for one half of the journey, the NRCoC says nothing about this for Condition 30 delays. What is the expected practice for such claims?

 

[Watershed]

Condition 30 of the National Rail Conditions of Carriage provides for a full refund of a ticket if your train is delayed or cancelled and you decide not to travel. How is this calculated if this relates to the outward journey for a return ticket? If you have decided not to travel then the return journey is also likely not to occur. However, whilst there are specific provisions for most Delay Repay schemes which usually work on the basis of only a proportion of the ticket being refunded when the delay is for one half of the journey, the NRCoC says nothing about this for Condition 30 delays. What is the expected practice for such claims?

If your intended train is delayed or cancelled, and you decide not to make the outward journey, you can get a full refund on your ticket regardless of ticket type (single/return, flexible/Advance).

The only complication arises if you buy split tickets, particularly if you do so from different retailers or from retailers who don't really "do" splitting, because the retailer(s) may then claim you're not entitled to a fee-free condition 30 refund as "our ticket was not affected". Your rights are unaffected but it may prove harder in practice to get the refund you're entitled to.

 

[js517]

Single ticket wholly unused: Refund price paid for the single ticket

Return ticket wholly unused: Refund price paid for the return ticket

Return portion of ticket unused: Refund 50% of price paid for the return ticket

You can't refund only the outward portion of a return.

 

[miklcct]

You can't refund only the outward portion of a return.

So if I decide to abandon my outward journey due to disruption and use alternative transport, but take the return back, can't I get any money back? Delay Repay is obviously not applicable here as it requires the journey to be undertaken.

And if the journey is A-C-D and D-C-B, where C-D is a return used in combination of A-C single and C-B single, how is the refund calculated if there is disruption?

 

[toffeedanish]

If your intended train is delayed or cancelled, and you decide not to make the outward journey, you can get a full refund on your ticket regardless of ticket type (single/return, flexible/Advance).

Single ticket wholly unused: Refund price paid for the single ticket

Return ticket wholly unused: Refund price paid for the return ticket

Return portion of ticket unused: Refund 50% of price paid for the return ticket

You can't refund only the outward portion of a return.

Im unclear as to whether I could get a full refund for an Advance ticket that was to form a return journey where the outward journey was eligible for full refund.

 

[ainsworth74]

Im unclear as to whether I could get a full refund for an Advance ticket that was to form a return journey where the outward journey was eligible for full refund.

Advances are specifically single tickets so you would be eligible for a full refund if you decided not to travel.

 

[alistairlees]

So if I decide to abandon my outward journey due to disruption and use alternative transport, but take the return back, can't I get any money back? Delay Repay is obviously not applicable here as it requires the journey to be undertaken.

You can't get a refund on the outward portion. You could try claiming Delay Repay, if you were delayed in arriving at your destination.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Nov 2021 ==

Im unclear as to whether I could get a full refund for an Advance ticket that was to form a return journey where the outward journey was eligible for full refund.

Yes you can, if the reason for the full refund for the outward ticket was that you decided to abandon your journey because of disruption. The Advance ticket forms part of the same contract (your journey).