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Can I get a refund from Northern?

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SirAlf

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24 Jul 2015
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I know there's a long running thread on Northern Sunday cancellations but this is slightly off-topic and I wondered whether there is such a thing as delay repay in reverse. Let me explain...

I went from Chesterfield to Workington to watch a rugby league match which kicked off at 15:00 on Sunday (yesterday), it would normally finish about 16:40. Not possible to get there and back in the same day so I travelled out on Saturday and had a B&B for Saturday night

On Sunday I found out that there were multiple cancellations on trains through Workington. It seemed like about half the trains were being cancelled and the situation was seemingly changing by the hour

I'd planned my journey using the National Rail personalised timetable and to get home I had 3 options:
17:06 via Barrow and Manchester
17:34 via Carlisle and Manchester
18:00 via Barrow and Manchester

Anything later meant I couldn't get back to Chesterfield that day. So I asked at the station, I was told that the 17:06 was cancelled and the 18:00 was only going as far as Whitehaven. So that left the 17:34 but the chap in the office couldn't categorically say that it would run, which meant me risking being stranded or taking the 16:29 via Carlisle. Couldn't check because rugby grounds tend not to have internet so I decided not to risk major journey difficulties and caught the 16:29. I know the railway would have had to get me home but probably not that day

This meant that I had to leave the rugby with 20 minutes still to go. So I paid around £100 in train fares and B&B to watch a rugby match and I missed quite a lot of it – there were 3 tries and I only saw one of them

Have I any chance getting compensation from Northern because I felt annoyed that I didn't get to see all of what I travelled to see?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts
 
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ForTheLoveOf

ForTheLoveOf

Established Member
Joined
7 Oct 2017
Messages
6,416
SirAlf said:
I know there's a long running thread on Northern Sunday cancellations but this is slightly off-topic and I wondered whether there is such a thing as delay repay in reverse. Let me explain...

I went from Chesterfield to Workington to watch a rugby league match which kicked off at 15:00 on Sunday (yesterday), it would normally finish about 16:40. Not possible to get there and back in the same day so I travelled out on Saturday and had a B&B for Saturday night

On Sunday I found out that there were multiple cancellations on trains through Workington. It seemed like about half the trains were being cancelled and the situation was seemingly changing by the hour

I'd planned my journey using the National Rail personalised timetable and to get home I had 3 options:
17:06 via Barrow and Manchester
17:34 via Carlisle and Manchester
18:00 via Barrow and Manchester

Anything later meant I couldn't get back to Chesterfield that day. So I asked at the station, I was told that the 17:06 was cancelled and the 18:00 was only going as far as Whitehaven. So that left the 17:34 but the chap in the office couldn't categorically say that it would run, which meant me risking being stranded or taking the 16:29 via Carlisle. Couldn't check because rugby grounds tend not to have internet so I decided not to risk major journey difficulties and caught the 16:29. I know the railway would have had to get me home but probably not that day

This meant that I had to leave the rugby with 20 minutes still to go. So I paid around £100 in train fares and B&B to watch a rugby match and I missed quite a lot of it – there were 3 tries and I only saw one of them

Have I any chance getting compensation from Northern because I felt annoyed that I didn't get to see all of what I travelled to see?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts
Click to expand...
Unfortunately there is no defined entitlement to compensation if you are effectively left with no choice but to depart earlier in order to be able to complete your journey without disruption.

The 'correct' solution (though of course it's not always necessarily practicable!) is to turn up in time for the service you intend to take, and then to seek assistance if the cancellation of this service leaves you otherwise stranded.
 
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island

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If you choose to travel earlier you would not get an entitlement to compensation. You could have arrived for your planned journey and the train companies would have needed to get you home, by alternative means if necessary, assuming of course you purchased your ticket before the cancellations were known about.

Nevertheless if you write in to Northern you may well get a couple of free scratchcard tickets.
 
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SirAlf

Member
Joined
24 Jul 2015
Messages
76
Location
Derbyshire
Thank you both for your advice

For future reference what should I have expected if the cancelled trains meant I couldn't get home? Since Workington - Chesterfield is a lengthy and messy journey could I have expected then to get me on the train as near to home as they could (which would probably have been Manchester) and then either get me a taxi for the last 50 miles or put me up in a hotel and get the train on Monday morning? In fact, could I have insisted on a taxi?

I ask because, fool that I am, I might do this journey again in a few weeks

This site is so informative, I've only started travelling a lot by train in the last year and I'm still learning. I don't want to beat the system, just understand it
 
ForTheLoveOf

ForTheLoveOf

Established Member
Joined
7 Oct 2017
Messages
6,416
SirAlf said:
Thank you both for your advice

For future reference what should I have expected if the cancelled trains meant I couldn't get home? Since Workington - Chesterfield is a lengthy and messy journey could I have expected then to get me on the train as near to home as they could (which would probably have been Manchester) and then either get me a taxi for the last 50 miles or put me up in a hotel and get the train on Monday morning? In fact, could I have insisted on a taxi?

I ask because, fool that I am, I might do this journey again in a few weeks

This site is so informative, I've only started travelling a lot by train in the last year and I'm still learning. I don't want to beat the system, just understand it
Click to expand...
They're under an obligation to either get you to your ticketed destination then and there, or to provide you with overnight accommodation. How they do it is down to them; there's no right to insist on a particular method of transport and if they decide to choose a slow method then you are 'only' entitled to delay compensation.
 
Haywain

Haywain

Veteran Member
Joined
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15,030
SirAlf said:
Since Workington - Chesterfield is a lengthy and messy journey could I have expected then to get me on the train as near to home as they could (which would probably have been Manchester) and then either get me a taxi for the last 50 miles or put me up in a hotel and get the train on Monday morning? In fact, could I have insisted on a taxi?
Click to expand...
It would usually be the case that they will get you as far as possible by train - after all, it's usually quicker - and then get you the rest of the way by taxi, but they could decide on a taxi all the way. Realistically, you wouldn't often get put in a hotel. You can insist on being given assistance, but you have no right to specify what form that assistance comes in.
 
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