Ticket refund after testing positive for covid

[beeza1]

My friend was due to travel tomorrow, Wednesday, to come and visit me for a week, she has already purchased her tickets, Normal off peak returns with a split.
Unfortunately yesterday morning she tested positive for covid so now she has to isolate for 5 days as per government guidelines.
What are her options for getting a refund?
Obviously she won't be able to go back to the station until next week at the earliest.
Surely she should be eligible for a full, refund on the unused tickets and won't have to pay the ridiculous "admin fee", after all, as previously stated she is following government guidelines.
Any advice will be gratefully received, thanks.

 

[transportphoto]

Surely she should be eligible for a full, refund on the unused tickets and won't have to pay the ridiculous "admin fee", after all, as previously stated she is following government guidelines.

She is eligible for a refund, the admin fee is at the discretion of the retailer.

She has up to twenty-eight days after the date of travel to seek a refund from the original retailer.

See Part F (page 20) of the National Rail Conditions of Travel: https://assets.nationalrail.co.uk/e...572570/National_Rail_Conditions_of_Travel.pdf.

 

[Bletchleyite]

There is no longer a requirement to isolate if you have COVID. She might choose to, and you might prefer her not to bring it to you, but there's no longer law on the matter.

 

[800001]

My friend was due to travel tomorrow, Wednesday, to come and visit me for a week, she has already purchased her tickets, Normal off peak returns with a split.
Unfortunately yesterday morning she tested positive for covid so now she has to isolate for 5 days as per government guidelines.
What are her options for getting a refund?
Obviously she won't be able to go back to the station until next week at the earliest.
Surely she should be eligible for a full, refund on the unused tickets and won't have to pay the ridiculous "admin fee", after all, as previously stated she is following government guidelines.
Any advice will be gratefully received, thanks.

The following is from the Gov.co.uk website regards Covid

‘If you have a positive COVID-19 test result, try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days after the day you took your test.’

As others have write there is no longer a require to isolate.

 

[richw]

after all, as previously stated she is following government guidelines.

Except she isn’t. No longer the case to isolate. In fact they say carry on as normal unless you feel to unwell to do so. They say it’s fine to go to Work etc

 

[Watershed]

Can I ask people to please keep to the topic of refund rights. Thank you.

 

[gray1404]

Which retailer did she book the tickets with? And had these been collected or issued yet?

I see you mentioned a split. Where they all booked in the same transaction? Once we have this information we'll be able to advise on where she stands.

 

[yorkie]

There is no requirement to isolate (any further discussion on that would be for General Discussion); if someone is not feeling well enough to travel, or chooses not to travel for any reason, then an admin fee still applies.

The only ways round this are to either wait until immediately before travel to book, or use a retailer which allows fee-free changes / refunds (which is loss making for retailers, so most - understandably - won't do it).

Retailers cannot claim back the fees charged by RDG and are still lumped with various costs even if tickets are refunded; it's not so bad with e tickets compared to paper tickets, but the costs soon stack up.

 

[disunity]

There is no requirement to isolate (any further discussion on that would be for General Discussion); if someone is not feeling well enough to travel, or chooses not to travel for any reason, then an admin fee still applies.

The only ways round this are to either wait until immediately before travel to book, or use a retailer which allows fee-free changes / refunds (which is loss making for retailers, so most - understandably - won't do it).

Retailers cannot claim back the fees charged by RDG and are still lumped with various costs even if tickets are refunded; it's not so bad with e tickets compared to paper tickets, but the costs soon stack up.

What retailers allow for fee-free change/refund?

 

[Alex365Dash]

What retailers allow for fee-free change/refund?

Railsmartr do fee-free changes and refunds.

XC and TPE do fee-free changes (XC on Advances only for any TOC, TPE on any ticket), but XC provides an easier way to actually change your journey.

GTR do fee-free refunds for uncollected ToD flexible tickets.

Less useful, but RailUK Tickets and TrainSplit do fee-free refunds for tickets where a refund is requested within two hours of purchase.

There’s probably something I’m missing!

 

[island]

Southeastern also do not charge a refund fee on non-advance single and return tickets where the refund is processed before the ticket's valid-from date.

 

[Deafdoggie]

What retailers allow for fee-free change/refund?

Trainline.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Trainline.

Not that I'm aware of, though it doesn't charge a flat refund charge, rather a sliding one below £10 so you always get something back.

 

[MrJeeves]

Not that I'm aware of, though it doesn't charge a flat refund charge, rather a sliding one below £10 so you always get something back.

TrainSplit will also do this for uncollected ToD bookings, but not other refunds.