Without Prejudice
Dear Sam,
Thank you for your swift reply.
I note that the train you refer to arrived at Shalford at 20.51.
That’s more than 2 and a half hours after leaving passengers on the 17.20 train from Reading at Shalford in very chilly conditions and nowhere warm to wait.
When we were left there, we were told that a bus replacement service would be provided to take us to our destination. It never arrived.
I was never told that a train would arrive at Shalford at 20.50
I’m in the middle of nowhere.
Sometime after 20.00, a kindly motorist offers me a lift to Guildford. I have to accept.
I do not arrive there in time to catch the 20.45
I decide to try getting to Clapham Junction in the hope of getting home from there. The first available train is the South western service at 21.04 I catch this. Its supposed to arrive at Clapham Junction at 21.58
I’ll have 3 mins in which to find and get to the platform from which the 22.01 Southern service to Eastbourne leaves. I wouldn’t make it.
This email proves to you that I did make every effort I could to get home to Eastbourne that evening.
And that my inability to do so rests entirely with GWR’s handling of the disruption to its 17.20 service from Reading to Gatwick Airport
Having received this additional information, I trust GWR will reconsider my claim.
And that I will hear from you again before the 10th May
On Wed, 17 Apr 2024 at 16:27, GWR Feedback <
[email protected]> wrote:
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Freepost GWR Customer Support
www.gwr.com
Ref: GWR-CR-[redated]
Dear [redacted],
Thank you for your response, and for providing the additional information.
I have escalated your claim for consideration, and it has been determined that no compensation can be provided in this instance.
Upon investigation, we can see that a service from Reading to Gatwick Airport did operate later that evening; it left Reading at 19:55, reaching Gatwick Airport by 21:39. I have provided a link to a historical departure board named Timetable History, which shows the full timetable of this service, below:
http://timetablehistory.com/times.aspx?uid=L65628&date=20240328
Your Off-Peak Day Single ticket would have been valid for travel on this service.
Travel from Gatwick Airport Station to Eastbourne would then have been possible on the 21:58 Southern Rail service, reaching Eastbourne by 22:50:
http://timetablehistory.com/times.aspx?uid=P15147&date=20240328
This means that you were not necessarily stranded without the ability to complete your onward/ticketed journey that same day.
I understand that this is likely not the answer you were hoping to receive, and offer my apologies.
Thanks again for your contact.
Yours sincerely,
Sam
Customer Support Advisor
If you have an enquiry about our service, you may be able to find the information on our website. You'll find answers to the questions we are most asked on our FAQs page. For information about refunds on unused tickets, go to our Refunds page.
With the Office of Rail and Road (the industry regulator), we're conducting joint research into passenger satisfaction with complaints handling. This involves a short online survey about how your complaint was handled, sent to you by the independent research agency MEL Research. Please click here if you don't wish to be contacted for this research.
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From:
Date: 22 April 2024 at 12:29:08 BST
To: GWR Feedback < [email protected]>
Subject: Re: Communication Related To GWR-CR-[redacted]
Without Prejudice
Dear Sam,
Thank you for your swift reply. I appreciate the efforts you’re making.
I remain dissatisfied.
Please explain to me how GWRs failure to let its passengers left at Shalford at approximately 18.17 on 28th March that it was 1) not going to provide them with a bus replacement service (as we were initially informed it would) and 2) that a train would be arriving there around with 20.51 enables any passenger left there to know what services GWR would be running that night. We’re not mind readers.
As previously mentioned I did not get to Guildford in time to catch the 20.45 to Gatwick. Therefore I had no idea that one had gone.
What I’ve subsequently found out is that the next train due to go there was cancelled. Had I waited at Guildford in the hope that that train would run, imagine how I’d feel when it didn’t. Not confident that GWR would provide a service to Gatwick that night in time for me to get a connection to Eastbourne.
It seems to me that those higher up than you in GWR are hoping to brush under the carpet its failings to adequately look after its passengers left at Shalford on 28th March at approx 18.17 in the hope that it will quietly go away.
I am sorry to have to tell you that it will not.
I am prepared to give GWR one final chance to make good these failings by reimbursing the costs I incurred as a result of not being given adequate information about 1) the whereabouts of bus replacement service that it said would provide and b) train journeys that GWR were running that evening.
Failure to do so will result in me taking my case to the Rail Ombudsman, other public bodies and, possibly my solicitor.
Yours sincerely
[redacted]
On Mon, 22 Apr 2024 at 11:46, GWR Feedback < [email protected]> wrote:
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| Freepost GWR Customer Support
www.gwr.com
Ref: GWR-CR-[redacted]
Dear Sheenah,
Thank you for your reply.
Upon receiving your further update on 17 April at 17:46, the case was escalated for review by a manager for a second time, in order to determine whether or not gesture-of-goodwill compensation would be a possibility.
Given the evidence that has been provided, and the investigation that has taken place, we are unable to provide compensation for the costs that you have listed. The reason for this remains the same as per my previous message on 17 April at 16:27 - there was a service in operation that would have enabled you to travel from Reading to Gatwick Airport that same evening, and then subsequently on from Gatwick Airport to Eastbourne. As a result, it has been determined that you were not stranded, and that the costs you incurred cannot be compensated for by Great Western Railway.
Once again, I understand that this is not the answer you were hoping to receive, and offer my apologies.
Thanks again for contacting Great Western Railway.
Yours sincerely,
Sam
Customer Support Advisor
If you have an enquiry about our service, you may be able to find the information on our website. You'll find answers to the questions we are most asked on our FAQs page. For information about refunds on unused tickets, go to our Refunds page.
With the Office of Rail and Road (the industry regulator), we're conducting joint research into passenger satisfaction with complaints handling. This involves a short online survey about how your complaint was handled, sent to you by the independent research agency MEL Research. Please click here if you don't wish to be contacted for this research.
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