TfL refuses Service Delay Refund when Overground was fully suspended

[miklcct]

On an evening in late January, there was a signal failure at Liverpool Street (Network Rail), so no trains could operate from the station. The barrier lines were shut and ticket acceptance for Cambridge on the route from King's Cross was announced.

I was travelling from Farringdon to London Fields and could not enter the gates at Liverpool Street as a result. TfL Go soon showed "Suspended" for Weaver line. I could not complete my journey as planned and forced to travel another way, namely Central line to Bethnal Green, then a bus to London Fields. Unfortunately there was an extremely long wait (20 minutes) when I changed from the tube to the bus despite that a bus should come every few minutes. As a result, my journey was delayed by 37 minutes because of train cancellations. I used a Travelcard to pay for my journey.

I applied for a service delay refund and got rejected. I phoned TfL customer service and got an explanation that I was not eligible because I didn't travel on a delayed service (the service was suspended). Such a response implied that TfL can avoid payouts by suspending all their services at the first sign of service failure, so people are prevented from entering the system and travelling, instead of running them with delays.

I then made a follow up complaint by writing and got the following reply:

Thank you for your feedback form of 8 February about applying for a service delay refund.

Thank you for being patient with us whilst we work towards getting your enquiry sorted.


I have looked into this more thoroughly for you and we cannot refund for this delay unfortunately. If the alternative journey cost you more we could've refunded the difference there for you however, I can see you had a travel card for this therefore, there are no refunds due.

Thanks again for contacting us. If there is anything else we can help you with, please reply to this email. Alternatively, you can call us on 0343 222 1234 and we'll be happy to help you.

I have found an old thread describing a similar case but there wasn't a follow up, and the situation was slightly different that, in my case, my line was fully suspended that I was forced to travel another way, rather than a few cancellations.

I would like to have an answer if I am entitled to any compensation under any industry arrangements due to TfL's failure to run the Overground service that I could not stick to my original route, as the NRCoT minima didn't apply here (it only kicks in at 60 minutes which never happens in metropolitan London).

 

[Watershed]

TfL's service delay refund policy is vague and is only available to view on their website. They don't seem to publish a Charter anymore.

I can't see anything in the policy which would suggest that you don't get the 'refund' (compensation, contractually speaking) if you travel via an alternative route and/or use alternative modes of transport.

I would escalate this to London TravelWatch once you receive a 'letter of deadlock', or 8 weeks have passed from your initial complaint. They are generally quite quick to respond and have, in my experience, been much more helpful than the other bodies that are supposed to represent passenger rights (e.g. the Rail Ombudsman).

The other, arguably nuclear, option would be to raise it with your London Assembly member or MP. I wouldn't do this before you have fully exhausted all escalation options with TfL and LTW though.

 

[PhilW59]

I think the mistake was in telling them about your alternative journey. You should just tell them about the journey you intended to take on their service which was cancelled and therefore eligible for a refund. What you did after that was none of their business.

 

[jumble]

On an evening in late January, there was a signal failure at Liverpool Street (Network Rail), so no trains could operate from the station. The barrier lines were shut and ticket acceptance for Cambridge on the route from King's Cross was announced.

I was travelling from Farringdon to London Fields and could not enter the gates at Liverpool Street as a result. TfL Go soon showed "Suspended" for Weaver line. I could not complete my journey as planned and forced to travel another way, namely Central line to Bethnal Green, then a bus to London Fields. Unfortunately there was an extremely long wait (20 minutes) when I changed from the tube to the bus despite that a bus should come every few minutes. As a result, my journey was delayed by 37 minutes because of train cancellations. I used a Travelcard to pay for my journey.

I applied for a service delay refund and got rejected. I phoned TfL customer service and got an explanation that I was not eligible because I didn't travel on a delayed service (the service was suspended). Such a response implied that TfL can avoid payouts by suspending all their services at the first sign of service failure, so people are prevented from entering the system and travelling, instead of running them with delays.

I then made a follow up complaint by writing and got the following reply:



I have found an old thread describing a similar case but there wasn't a follow up, and the situation was slightly different that, in my case, my line was fully suspended that I was forced to travel another way, rather than a few cancellations.

I would like to have an answer if I am entitled to any compensation under any industry arrangements due to TfL's failure to run the Overground service that I could not stick to my original route, as the NRCoT minima didn't apply here (it only kicks in at 60 minutes which never happens in metropolitan London).

It seems likely that the a plausible reason is that a Network Rail failure is out of TFL control and so their refund policy in section 8.2.3 of the c o c does not apply

If your London Overground or Elizabeth line journey was delayed by 30 minutes or more for
reasons within our control, you may apply online for a refund. We will refund you the single pay as
you go fare for the journey on which you were delayed. You must apply within 28 days of the
delayed journey.

https://content.tfl.gov.uk

/tfl-conditions-of-carriage.pdf

 

[miklcct]

I think the mistake was in telling them about your alternative journey. You should just tell them about the journey you intended to take on their service which was cancelled and therefore eligible for a refund. What you did after that was none of their business.

I used a Travelcard, how did it work?

It seems likely that the a plausible reason is that a Network Rail failure is out of TFL control and so their refund policy in section 8.2.3 of the c o c does not apply

If your London Overground or Elizabeth line journey was delayed by 30 minutes or more for
reasons within our control, you may apply online for a refund. We will refund you the single pay as
you go fare for the journey on which you were delayed. You must apply within 28 days of the
delayed journey.

https://content.tfl.gov.uk

/tfl-conditions-of-carriage.pdf

A Network Rail signal failure is within TfL's and rail industry's control, as Network Rail is just a contractor by TfL to provide the rail services.

 

[Egg Centric]

TfL's service delay refund policy is vague and is only available to view on their website. They don't seem to publish a Charter anymore.

I can't see anything in the policy which would suggest that you don't get the 'refund' (compensation, contractually speaking) if you travel via an alternative route and/or use alternative modes of transport.

I would escalate this to London TravelWatch once you receive a 'letter of deadlock', or 8 weeks have passed from your initial complaint. They are generally quite quick to respond and have, in my experience, been much more helpful than the other bodies that are supposed to represent passenger rights (e.g. the Rail Ombudsman).

The other, arguably nuclear, option would be to raise it with your London Assembly member or MP. I wouldn't do this before you have fully exhausted all escalation options with TfL and LTW though.

There is more detail buried in their conditions of carriage - including an appendix with examples - although it's still somewhat ambiguous if not even possibly contradictory in this case imo. See section 8.2 and Appendix 2 here.

 

[Watershed]

There is more detail buried in their conditions of carriage - including an appendix with examples - although it's still somewhat ambiguous if not even possibly contradictory in this case imo. See section 8.2 and Appendix 2 here.

Thanks for the reference. Appendix 2 only refers to Underground delays and doesn't really add anything to what TfL's website says.

It's surprising they consider such ambiguous language to be acceptable for a contractual document but I imagine they see a comparatively low claim rate.

 

[miklcct]

London Travelwatch has confirmed that, in my case, there is no compensation due (emphasis added by me)

Thank you for contacting London TravelWatch and for the further emails you sent.



I'm sorry your journey from Farrington to London Firleds on 30 January was delayed due to a signal failure. I can only imagine how frustrating this must've been. This can only have been made worse by being advised by TfL there's no compensation due for the delay. Regrettably, London TravelWatch is unable to help with your request for compensation.



This will undoubtedly be disappointing as you needed to take an alternative route to complete your journey. However, the reason is that, when using any TfL mode of transport, the passenger agrees to the terms and conditions surrounding the use of the ticket. These can be found in TfL's Condition of Carriage in which it states:



8.2.5 If you use an alternative route to your destination due to delays caused by reasons within our control and have to pay additional or higher fares, we may refund the difference in fares paid.

It does appear ridiculous but, if your were on a train that was delayed by the signal failure it's likely you'd have been eligible for compensation. However, as you took an alternative route and as you didn't have to pay anything extra there's no compensation/refund due.



I accept this isn't the answer you were hoping to receive and am sorry London TravelWatch is unable to help on this occasion.

So it meant that, once I took an alternative route, I would not be eligible for any compensation. However, in that case, I was actively prevented from travelling on the original route (otherwise I would have got on a train), so I have sent a follow-up reply in this case what I should do if I encounter the same situation again.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Mar 2025 ==

The final reply London Travelwatch replied me is that

However, the only way that TfL would consider offering compensation is if either the train you were travelling on was delayed or you were caused additional expenditure.

Please advise. If the above sentence is held verbatim, TfL can effectively shut down its compensation scheme when a signal failure occurs, by suspending the service and send people to alternative routes which do not cost more than the train service.