Trains, tubes and automobiles!

[RoccoRocco]

Morning all, I am after the collective views on who (and what) I can claim for my shambolic journey home from watching Millwall at the Den last night.

I left the Den just after 9.00pm (we were 3-0 down at this point ) planning to get the 21.16 from South Bermondsey to London Bridge, then the Jubilee line to Stratford in plenty of time to get the 22.20 from Stratford to Wickford, where I would change to the last train from Wickford to Southminster (22.55).

When I got to South Bermondsey all trains to London Bridge had been cancelled (so I did not 'Oyster in' at the station, but I had used my Oyster from London Bridge to South Bermondsey on the outward journey). I decided to try and find a cab to get me to London Bridge and eventually got a mini cab from Southwark Park Road to London Bridge (£20.00).

I got to London Bridge around 21.50 and hoped I'd still make the 22.20, unfortunately the tube was delayed and I never arrived at Stratford until around 22.40 (I had used my Oyster card from London Bridge to Stratford so should be able to get the exact times)

My only option at this point was to get the 22.52 from Stratford (I tapped in using my GA smartcard which had an 'active' flexi ticket for the day) to Wickford where I got a cab home (£40.00) and arrived at midnight.

Almost as an aside to this tale, is that there were no branch line trains from Wickford to Southminster after around 18.00 last night due to a track defect (I didn't know this until this morning), so even if I had reached Stratford as planned I still would not have been able to get home.

My question is, who do I claim delay repay from?

Southern (I think that's the Bermondsey to London Bridge TOC?), London Underground, Greater Anglia or all three. And, do you think I have any chance of getting back my two mini cab fares?

Apologies for the length of the post, it's almost as long as my journey home...........

 

[Benjwri]

Passenger rights in these circumstances unfortunately aren't great, especially when you didn't tap in. In terms of what you can get back:
- In terms of Bermondsey to London Bridge on Southern, there isn't a clear right to alternate travel if you haven't tapped in, as you haven't formed a transport contract with the TOC, and if you had they would've been unlikely to approve a cab until you got as far as you could by rail. It's probably worth contacting their customer support to see if they might give you something as a goodwill gesture, but there is no right to anything unfortunately.
- The TfL portion of the journey you can get a service delay refund as your delay was over 15 minutes, and the status at the time was attributing it to faulty platform screen doors, which is in TfL's control.

You can apply for a service delay refund if your journey was delayed by:

• More than 15 minutes on London Underground and DLR services

This will only be a refund of the fare you paid for the tube. Your journey on Greater Anglia was ticketed separately, so there isn't argument TfL is legal obliged to pay that, and if you tapped in at 21:50 even if everything had run to time you would've struggled to make your connection at Stratford. TfL refuse requests for knock on compensation quite often even when required to pay out, so I don't think it is really worth trying there.
- Greater Anglia has no liability as far as I can see unfortunately. Regardless of previous delays by the time you arrived to use their services they ran everything planned to time, and TfL and Southern's delays are not their fault.

Unfortunately this is one of the big drawbacks with contactless. Personally I would recommend either tapping in and speaking to staff/using the help point rather than getting a cab, as once you have done this you have access to the passenger rights which would've obliged the railway to get you to your destination, or ideally to purchase tickets in advance so you retain these rights even in the case of being unable to tap in, for example purchasing a London Underground Zones 1-2 to South Bermondsey return, to join up with your flexi season from Stratford.

 

[Haywain]

My question is, who do I claim delay repay from?

It would appear that Southeastern Southern might be responsible, and you should claim from them. As outline above, though, without a ticket there's a good chance that they will turn down your claim. I can't see any claim against Greater Anglia because your journey was too late for any train to Southminster, regardless of cancellations.

 

[RoccoRocco]

Passenger rights in these circumstances unfortunately aren't great, especially when you didn't tap in. In terms of what you can get back:
- In terms of Bermondsey to London Bridge on Southern, there isn't a clear right to alternate travel if you haven't tapped in, as you haven't formed a transport contract with the TOC, and if you had they would've been unlikely to approve a cab until you got as far as you could by rail. It's probably worth contacting their customer support to see if they might give you something as a goodwill gesture, but there is no right to anything unfortunately.
- The TfL portion of the journey you can get a service delay refund as your delay was over 15 minutes, and the status at the time was attributing it to faulty platform screen doors, which is in TfL's control.

This will only be a refund of the fare you paid for the tube. Your journey on Greater Anglia was ticketed separately, so there isn't argument TfL is legal obliged to pay that, and if you tapped in at 21:50 even if everything had run to time you would've struggled to make your connection at Stratford. TfL refuse requests for knock on compensation quite often even when required to pay out, so I don't think it is really worth trying there.
- Greater Anglia has no liability as far as I can see unfortunately. Regardless of previous delays by the time you arrived to use their services they ran everything planned to time, and TfL and Southern's delays are not their fault.

Unfortunately this is one of the big drawbacks with contactless. Personally I would recommend either tapping in and speaking to staff/using the help point rather than getting a cab, as once you have done this you have access to the passenger rights which would've obliged the railway to get you to your destination, or ideally to purchase tickets in advance so you retain these rights even in the case of being unable to tap in, for example purchasing a London Underground Zones 1-2 to South Bermondsey return, to join up with your flexi season from Stratford.

Thanks for responding, I'll do as you suggest.

 

[Benjwri]

It would appear that Southeastern might be responsivble,

Southeastern doesn't run trains from South Bermondsey? The TOC will be Southern.

 

[Haywain]

Southeastern doesn't run trains from South Bermondsey? The TOC will be Southern.

Oops, corrected. Thanks.

 

[RoccoRocco]

I've decided to start with Southern as they were the catalyst for the delay. I've asked for the cost of all the travel and the cab fares, I thought I may as well start high and negotiate down.

 

[Haywain]

I have to say that I am a bit baffled as to why you went by taxi to London Bridge and then got the tube (Jubilee line?) to Stratford when you were barely a mile away from Bermondsey station and only marginally further from Canada Water on the same line.