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TOC plans regarding advance tickets if destinations become no-go (Coronavirus)?

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westv

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I have tickets booked up to the beginning of May but I'm going to have to decide on a weekly basis whether I'll need to cancel and them and get a credit from LNER.
 
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Wuffle

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I think a lot of companies will be getting some well deserved stick over their actions in this crisis

We have advance tickets on the Lowestoft to Ipswich line then into London Liverpool St with tube across to London Paddington to Bath - waiting to see which trains are cancelled on Monday

Bought through Trainpal and their site is not over helpful - see how the phone call goes and yes I do remember how I'm treated

https://www.mytrainpal.com/web-pages/2020notice/index.html?time=1584512820000



fwiw The hotel have offered to postpone our booking to any new date
 

Wallsendmag

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The important thing to remember that we are in uncharted territory, the position is changing by the minute. I'd hang on as long as possible as the situation with refunds may well change several times.
 

OldBloke

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I'd planned to travel down from Scotland to Bournemouth and made 5 Advance 1st Class bookings via the Chiltern Rail website for trains run by Scotrail, LNER and South Western. My outward journey was planned for Friday 27th March and the return leg was scheduled for Monday 30th March.

At present, Chiltern Rail are only offering to change ticket dates. Their website FAQS states:
'Please contact the original point of sale, or ask at any station ticket office, for information on how to amend a First or Standard Advance ticket.' My local station is Pitlochry (Scotrail).

Should I hold fire on this until, say, Wednesday 25th March, in the hope that all retailers (or at least TOCS selling tickets) are told by DFT to offer uniform terms for cancellation or deferral of Advance tickets?

If I need to change the dates on tickets, can anyone tell me the best way to proceed?

Does the fact that my tickets were all with companies other than Chiltern Railways affect my position?

Many thanks. I'm hope that the reply will help other people in a similar position with Advance tickets purchased from a geographically distant TOC for use on other TOC services.
 

Hadders

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For any Advance ticket (if I held any) I would wait until 1-2 days before travel to decide what to do.

That's my strategy. I'm due to travel to Exeter on 4th April to see a rugby match (which has been postponed but in reality I doubt will be played now). Advance ticket booked through Chiltern for travel with GWR (& connections).

A refund or evoucher would be preferable but if necessary I'll kick the can down the road and change the date to a date in the future.
 

Haywain

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For any Advance ticket (if I held any) I would wait until 1-2 days before travel to decide what to do.
Maybe, but I think most people will find that the situation becomes much clearer in the next few days.
 

krus_aragon

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Should I hold fire on this until, say, Wednesday 25th March, in the hope that all retailers (or at least TOCS selling tickets) are told by DFT to offer uniform terms for cancellation or deferral of Advance tickets?
I'd certainly suggest waiting until Monday, at the very earliest. That's when the reduced timetable is due to kick in nationwide, and booking systems (plus NRE, RTT and similar sites) should be updated by then.

Remember, if any of your booked trains have been cancelled or delayed in this reduced timetable, you already have a right to refund your Advance ticket from your retailer, as is stated in the National Rail Conditions of Travel.
 

Adam Williams

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I think a lot of companies will be getting some well deserved stick over their actions in this crisis

Do you think the stick will be aimed in the right direction? Is it "well-deserved" if it's directed at the retailer?
 

alex17595

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I'm travelling however my first train has been cancelled so there is going to be a delay of just over an hour which is not a problem.
 

alistairlees

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If you get to your destination and are later than your original itinerary then you are entitled to delay repay compensation (if you are sufficiently late). It doesn’t matter when the train was cancelled.
 

MKB

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Is the Consumer Rights Act 2015 of any use here to force the hands of retailers? When you buy a train ticket, you enter into a contract to travel, and a reasonable expectation is that you will be done so safely. The Government is now telling us it is no longer safe to be travelling on non-essential journeys as we could catch or spread a potentially deadly virus.

Their get-out maybe that they are allowing changes, but no-one knows yet when safety levels will return to normal and that assumes the journey is one you need to do again at some point. It's not reasonable to expect you to take the same journey at some point in the future if the reason for that journey has passed.
 

dvboy

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TfL are telling people not to drive into central London and not to use public transport for anything other than essential journeys, so how can TOCs that terminate in London still justify not refunding advance tickets on their services?
 

alistairlees

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TfL are telling people not to drive into central London and not to use public transport for anything other than essential journeys, so how can TOCs that terminate in London still justify not refunding advance tickets on their services?
A very good point. To the rest of the world anyway.
 

Devonman2014

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I'd certainly suggest waiting until Monday, at the very earliest. That's when the reduced timetable is due to kick in nationwide, and booking systems (plus NRE, RTT and similar sites) should be updated by then.

Remember, if any of your booked trains have been cancelled or delayed in this reduced timetable, you already have a right to refund your Advance ticket from your retailer, as is stated in the National Rail Conditions of Travel.

good evening- so to clarify if I have a 6:52 train to London on an advance ticket and it’s cancelled, but theres a retimed train 20 min later can I get a refund and not travel ?

to clarify further I don’t want to travel but been refused a refund by GWR.
 

Wuffle

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Do you think the stick will be aimed in the right direction? Is it "well-deserved" if it's directed at the retailer?

Should start with the minister responsible for not giving explicit instructions to the TOC and resellers
Resellers and TOC should coordinate their actions and look after the customer

Personally I would be happy to accept a credit note with good expiry date on it
 

hkstudent

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good evening- so to clarify if I have a 6:52 train to London on an advance ticket and it’s cancelled, but theres a retimed train 20 min later can I get a refund and not travel ?

to clarify further I don’t want to travel but been refused a refund by GWR.
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46546.aspx

If your train is cancelled or delayed, you are entitled to a refund if you planned not to travel or unable to continue the journey due to cancellation and delays and return back to the origin point. Was the refusal be an automatic response or manual response?

Support clause:
NRCOT 30.1
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/National Rail Conditions of Travel.pdf
 

Devonman2014

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cslogg

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Cross Country Trains have issued a reduced timetable today but my train on Thursday is still running.
Would I get a refund if the govt. orders a complete lockdown or has the train company got small print somewhere to prevent it ?
 

Haywain

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I thought I heard that on the 0700 news. Looks like a few providers need to update their information still.
I suspect this is a case of the government announcing this before the retailers are aware of it.
 
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