Taxi reclaim

[Palaceboy]

My friends daughter and her friends, all aged 16 were due to catch the 22.14 to Chester to catch the 23:00 train to Liverpool Lime Street at the end of last year. The 22:14 train eventually left Wrexham at 22:59 according to Realtimetrains.

There was no one at the station and info was limited as to what to do to try and get to Liverpool.

As they are only 16 and couldn't see a way to get home they phoned for a cab to take them from Wrexham to Liverpool at considerable cost to themselves.

The next train they could have caught was the 23:42 which wouldn't have arrived in lime street until nearly 7 hours later than originally expected and would have involved a change of train and a bus replacement service

ATW have got back to them and offered them the price of their return tickets but no mention of reimbursing them for their taxi fare. Should they accept or push for the taxi fare as well.

All help gratefully received

 

[bb21]

Is there any help point available at Wrexham (General I assume)?

 

[Llanigraham]

Is there any help point available at Wrexham (General I assume)?

Shows 3 Help points:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/SME/html/NRE_WRX/plan.html?rtnloc=WRX

 

[Bletchleyite]

For future reference the usual thing you'd be expected to do in this case is catch the delayed train and seek help at the point you get stuck (a staffed station making most sense). If the last connection to Liverpool had gone at Chester as a result of this, normally a free taxi would be provided from there.

I'd imagine a help point would have said that.

They *might* be in luck so no harm in trying but I expect a full refund is the best they are *likely* to get.

Neil

 

[Tetchytyke]

Is there any help point available at Wrexham (General I assume)?

Even more importantly, at that time of night where does the help point go through to? In my experiences at Preston and Aylesbury it goes through to NRE at night, who are marginally more useless than a chocolate teapot.

I'd push them for it. Taking it to Passenger Focus will help; I've had success from them before. Emphasise their age and vulnerability. They are not entitled to it though, so if ATW refuse to budge for Passenger Focus there isn't much you can do.

 

[6Gman]

Is there any help point available at Wrexham (General I assume)?

I would assume there would still be staff at Chester on arrival?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I would assume there would still be staff at Chester on arrival?

I'd assume so. But as they had the funds for a taxi all the way, I'm surprised they didn't still go to Chester in any case - they could have taken one from there and as the distance is far shorter it would presumably have been cheaper. Unless after midnight I suppose.

Neil

 

[northwichcat]

I would assume there would still be staff at Chester on arrival?

I'd assume so.

Chester station is staffed from 05:45 - 23:00 Monday-Friday, 06:30 - 22:30 Saturday and 07:30 - 22:00 Sunday.

 

[sheff1]

Chester station is staffed from 05:45 - 23:00 Monday-Friday, 06:30 - 22:30 Saturday and 07:30 - 22:00 Sunday.

Staffed 24 hours according to NRE.

 

[bb21]

I don't know what the situation was like on the night so can only comment from my existing knowledge. AFAIK there are PIS screens on the platforms at Wrexham General (assuming that is the station in question) so I would have imagined that the extent of the delay was known to the passenger. Had there been a problem with the PIS, the first port of call should always have been the help point (assuming that there were no staff at the station), the person at the other end (be it TOC control or NRE) should in theory be able to provide information on the status of the train in question. As we know now, the train ran with a heavy delay, so the passengers in question could have got to Chester, and have a taxi arranged for them at the train company's expense from there onwards.

In reality, Wrexham General is a fairly open station and not particularly nice place to wait at night. Another point about the use of the help point is that taking into account the fact that they would be missing their connection, had the phone line gone through to ATW control, they may well have authorised a taxi for the passengers from there without them having to hang around for half an hour waiting for the delayed train to arrive.

That said, it is always shaky ground when the passenger arranges a taxi himself without authorisation from the train company. In theory, as the train in question did run, the passengers should have reported themselves to station staff at Chester on arrival where a taxi would be arranged. Unless there are other mitigating circumstances, judging from what the OP said, I see very little entitlement to the refund of the taxi fare.

 

[yorkie]

My friends daughter and her friends, all aged 16 were due to catch the 22.14 to Chester to catch the 23:00 train to Liverpool Lime Street at the end of last year. The 22:14 train eventually left Wrexham at 22:59 according to Realtimetrains.

There was no one at the station and info was limited as to what to do to try and get to Liverpool.

As they are only 16 and couldn't see a way to get home they phoned for a cab to take them from Wrexham to Liverpool at considerable cost to themselves.

The next train they could have caught was the 23:42 which wouldn't have arrived in lime street until nearly 7 hours later than originally expected and would have involved a change of train and a bus replacement service

ATW have got back to them and offered them the price of their return tickets but no mention of reimbursing them for their taxi fare. Should they accept or push for the taxi fare as well.

All help gratefully received

If they had waited for the train, ATW would have got them home (if necessary by bus/taxi)

As they chose to abandon their journey and pay for their own taxi, ATW are not liable.

They're entitled to a refund of course, but not any additional losses or expenses.

 

[headshot119]

My friends daughter and her friends, all aged 16 were due to catch the 22.14 to Chester to catch the 23:00 train to Liverpool Lime Street at the end of last year. The 22:14 train eventually left Wrexham at 22:59 according to Realtimetrains.

There was no one at the station and info was limited as to what to do to try and get to Liverpool.

As they are only 16 and couldn't see a way to get home they phoned for a cab to take them from Wrexham to Liverpool at considerable cost to themselves.

The next train they could have caught was the 23:42 which wouldn't have arrived in lime street until nearly 7 hours later than originally expected and would have involved a change of train and a bus replacement service

ATW have got back to them and offered them the price of their return tickets but no mention of reimbursing them for their taxi fare. Should they accept or push for the taxi fare as well.

All help gratefully received

Wrexham General is staffed by private security contracted by ATW, so staff would have been available at Wrexham. There is definitely a help point on the Chester bound platform as well.

 

[island]

If they had waited for the train, ATW would have got them home (if necessary by bus/taxi)

As they chose to abandon their journey and pay for their own taxi, ATW are not liable.

They're entitled to a refund of course, but not any additional losses or expenses.

I agree with this assessment.

 

[6Gman]

Apologies - I misread the original post and assumed they'd caught the late-running train to Chester.

 

[Shempz]

Got to agree with yorkie here.

I had an incident at London Victoria a few years back, where due to waiting for an East Grinstead train to take me to Oxted to catch my connection to Ashurst, the train was continually delayed and I missed the connection for the final train. Luckily I called Southern customer services at this point, and they instantly told me to get a taxi and they'd refund it - and they gave me the reference number to quote when claiming back.

Hindsight is a great thing, but you can never assume TOCs are going to recompense you for anything unless agreed up front (or agreed as part of their passenger/customer charter....or whatever they care to call it!)