Advance cancellation

[Stargull]

Hello

A friend was due to travel from Oxford to Crowthorne today and back, on a pair of advance singles. There were emergency engineering works that slightly delayed her departure, for long enough that the last train back - which she was booked on - was cancelled. This cancellation happened early - six hours or so early - but as my friend couldn’t leave Crowthorne earlier she decided not to go. She got a refund.

My questions are these:

If she’d decided to travel, knowing the last train was off, could she have claimed a refund for alternative transport (presumably a taxi to Reading or sonething)

As Crowthorne is unstaffed, how would she get authorisation?

Or is it on her to get an earlier train?

 

[Qwerty133]

Last services should never be cancelled on the day without road replacement except in severe weather so presumably some sort of coach or taxi was available in place of the train.

 

[robbeech]

Last services should never be cancelled on the day without road replacement except in severe weather so presumably some sort of coach or taxi was available in place of the train.

Unfortunateky there are many examples where this is not the case. You would hope that the station had an information point where they could contact someone and arrange a suitable alternative. You cannot expect someone to know that a train is cancelled until they arrive at the station a sensible amount of time before departure, for a small unstaffed station this might only be 5 minutes or so. Whilst most people here have the ability and facilities to keep a check on the progress of trains we wish to catch, many people don’t. Additionally, people who travel infrequently may not even consider the possibility that the train won’t run.
There would have to be some alternative method to get them home, if not they could land themselves in trouble.