Ticket acceptance by other operators when a service is cancelled

[nitten_travell]

Hello everyone,

I'm currently waiting at Newcastle for the 1521 TPE to Edinburgh as the 1421 service was cancelled, not enough drivers apparently. I have a TPE-only off peak return with restrictions https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/I3. I arrived at the station at around 1350 to see that the train I planned to take had been cancelled and asked at the customer service desk for advice. The advice was that I would either have to wait for the 1521 TPE or buy a ticket for an earlier service and claim a delay repay refund (which would not cover the cost of a replacement ticket) as ticket acceptance with LNER was not in place. I'm happy to wait.

However...

Is there a cut-off time beyond which a ticket restricted to a particular operator becomes open to any one (in my case XC or LNER in addition to TPE)? Let's say the 1521 was also cancelled - would I just have to wait here until a TPE service eventually arrived or does there come a point when I can use any service.

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, I've looked around on this site and online and can't find an answer.

As an aside, I quite like the new TPE trains from Edinburgh to Newcastle though if they are going to be unreliable (my journey yesterday was 26 mins late) I'll stick with the more expensive LNER!

 

[221129]

Is there a cut-off time beyond which a ticket restricted to a particular operator becomes open to any one (in my case XC or LNER in addition to TPE)? Let's say the 1521 was also cancelled - would I just have to wait here until a TPE service eventually arrived or does there come a point when I can use any service.

Unless it is the last train of the day then no. Unless Transpennine decide to request ticket acceptance.

 

[JBuchananGB]

RTT indicates that the 1521 did show up. You were unlucky to just miss the late running 13.21. The advice you were given was wrong. In fact you could have bought a replacement ticket, and claimed a refund from the retailer of your original ticket, without the £10 admin fee, on the basis of abandoned journey due to train having been cancelled.

As the 1521 arrived in Edinburgh 2 minutes late you can now claim delay repay compensation from TPE for in excess of 60 minutes delay.

 

[yorkie]

I believe LNER have stated that if you have a 1 hour wait for the next TPE you are expected to wait; you would then claim Delay Repay and effectively get a free journey.

However if the next TPE is 2 hours later then LNER will accept TPE tickets.

Of course if you would otherwise be stranded NRCoT Condition 28.2 applies and you would have to be conveyed by any other relevant operator in a position to assist.

It's not true to say you should claim Delay Repay if you didn't use the ticket though; the correct course of action would be a refund.

 

[221129]

I believe LNER have stated that if you have a 1 hour wait for the next TPE you are expected to wait; you would then claim Delay Repay and effectively get a free journey.

However if the next TPE is 2 hours later then LNER will accept TPE tickets.

That was the case, but it is now the same as normal. Only in specific circumstances.

 

[nitten_travell]

Thanks for all your replies. When I got to Newcastle the boards still showed the late running 1321 and platform 2 was pretty busy so I thought my luck was in... then an XC train chugged in and the 1321 disappeared from the screens. So, I'd just missed it. Now to process my second delay repay in as many days, on the same ticket!

Out of interest as I had already used half of my return ticket yesterday would my refund have been £42/2 = £21? Or the whole ticket price?

 

[nitten_travell]

A follow up to this story. I took the 1521 service and submitted a Delay Repay claim for the cancelled 1421 service, which I originally intended to take. I received this email today from TPE:

Thank you for your delay repay claim which we received on Thu, 20 Feb 2020.
We are sorry that you experienced a delay to your journey.

Your claim has been checked using a set process and the details of any delay verified using industry systems holding historic train running information. We have reviewed your claim and can confirm the following:

Journey Details:
Travel Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2020
Departing 14:21 from NEWCASTLE to EDINBURGH

Decision: Unsuccessful

Thank you for your Delay Repay claim. The ticket provided is not valid for the journey you’ve claimed for. Therefore, your claim has been rejected on this occasion.

This is interesting as I held an off peak TPE return. What's more, the booking email and PDF from LNER specifically lists the 1421, though I had not booked a seat. I shall try to refrain from sarcasm in my reply!

 

[JBuchananGB]

A polite appeal is called for. The most charitable explanation I can think of is that whoever reviewed your claim only looked at the start date of your return ticket, and mistook it for a day return. So I think you should stress in your appeal that it was not a day return and was valid on the date of travel.