Am I entitled to anything?

[Darandio]

If the Std off-peak would have cost more than the Advance First Class, you can send them a cheque, postal order or Credit/Debit card details to cover the shortfall, no cash!

So your take is, despite gaining permission to board, I could possibly owe them something?

I may have found this easier if I had just boarded, grabbed a free journey without asking then got off and walked out of the station!

 

[Flamingo]

So your take is, despite gaining permission to board, I could possibly owe them something?

I may have found this easier if I had just boarded, grabbed a free journey without asking then got off and walked out of the station!

Just looking at it from the other side. It would be funny if the TOC sent that letter back in some cases, though!

 

[SS4]

If the Std off-peak would have cost more than the Advance First Class, you can send them a cheque, postal order or Credit/Debit card details to cover the shortfall, no cash!

That being said I did manage to get a £13 voucher from XC when there was no first class from Birmingham to Paignton despite first class advances (what I had) being cheaper than their standard class equivalents

 

[blacknight]

Today I did a trip from Darlington to Doncaster, first class on East Coast.

My first journey this morning was on the 08:00 from Darlington, all went swimmingly.

However, on the return I was due to catch the 16:34 from Doncaster back to Darlington, again first class. Now, as per other threads on the forum, there were OHLE issues this afternoon and on arrival at the station at around 16:15, all services northbound were shown as delayed, presumably indefinetely at that point.

Fortunately, a XC service was due, heading to Newcastle which arrived and I asked the EC guard on the platform what the situation was with northbound traffic. He replied that the wires were down. I asked whether I could get on the service with an EC advance and he said they were still clarifying exactly what was going on, it was all a bit of a panic. At the front of the train were the driver and a member of train staff so I approached and asked if I could use the EC advance given the situation and was given the go ahead, the member of staff said I might not get home otherwise!

Now, during the journey, my ticket wasn't checked so I am querying what I can get back from EC (if anything) with regards to my journey with them not being fulfilled despite the kind effort of XC and the fact I stood the hour or so in the vestibule when I should have been comfortable in first class with my advance ticket!

Should I have gained proof of some sort from a guard on the XC train, or would that get somebody into trouble as at that point, there was no official take on whether tickets were accepted by other TOC's. I have the unused/unstamped tickets.

Also, I have checked and it seems they started the service I was due to get on at Newcastle so its pretty obvious I didnt make the journey on the intended train.

Thanks in advance.

IMO I think you are wanting your cake & to eat it aswell. You could have waited for an EC service & travelled first but you decided to travel with another operator at no extra cost to you & get home.
What is your financial loss bearing in mind it was a first class AP ticket valid only on train shown.

 

[Darandio]

IMO I think you are wanting your cake & to eat it aswell. You could have waited for an EC service & travelled first but you decided to travel with another operator at no extra cost to you & get home.
What is your financial loss bearing in mind it was a first class AP ticket valid only on train shown.

Fair enough.

Quite possibly I could not have waited for an EC service though as there were none coming through! I still haven't found out whether some sort of contingency ended up in operation either by trains eventually being allowed through or whether southbound trains terminated and returned north. It's possible that only moments after I asked and boarded, that the tickets were relaxed and people were allowed to board the next XC service, whenever that was.

As I said earlier, the difference is probably buttons and not worth pursuing whether it is moral or not but there was no harm in asking.

 

[alloneword100]

First, apart from John@home, no-one has mentioned the Seat Guarantee section of the EC passengers' charter. This specifically says that if they don't give you the seat that you reserved, you can get a refund equivalent to the one-way journey. So providing the details of what happened and submitting the form as a seat guarantee claim (with the appropriate explanation of why the ticket is not endorsed) will surely allow EC to counter, if it was true, that by that time they had agreed with XC that tickets would be accepted, including their validity in 1st class. If they hadn't, then they should pay up, regardless of the fact that there was 'no delay'.

But even without that issue, I would have claimed in full. The contract is with EC, who have failed to deliver, and one of the points of compensation is to make it financially worthwhile for TOCs to spend money where necessary to ensure that delays don't occur (or to pressure others to do so when it is not in their direct control). In recognition of the totally separate goodwill gesture from XC, I might then have spent some of the voucher buying a XC ticket which I then didn't use, but I see no reason why EC should be let off because XC have been so helpful.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

EC could argue that they were not given the chance to deliver, or find an agreeable alternative though. The Op persued his own course of action before the fate of his train was actually known and before any agreements could be made.

 

[alloneword100]

EC could argue that they were not given the chance to deliver, or find an agreeable alternative though. The Op persued his own course of action before the fate of his train was actually known and before any agreements could be made.

With respect, can I ask if you have actually read the seat guarantee in the EC passenger charter? Given that we know the train was cancelled, as john@home explained, he clearly didn't get the seat he reserved, and therefore he's entitled to the refund. I can't see how the wording of the charter can be stretched to cover talk of agreeable alternatives, it talks only of an alternative seat on 'our' train.

Too many of the posts on this thread seem to want to substitute what they think should be the right level of compensation for the comparatively clear provisions set out in the charter.

 

[Flamingo]

Well, he probably should write in, just to settle the argument, and let us know what happens.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

With respect, can I ask if you have actually read the seat guarantee in the EC passenger charter? Given that we know the train was cancelled, as john@home explained, he clearly didn't get the seat he reserved, and therefore he's entitled to the refund. I can't see how the wording of the charter can be stretched to cover talk of agreeable alternatives, it talks only of an alternative seat on 'our' train....

My point was that, from the posts in this thread, it appears that the op was unaware the train was cancelled until john@home's post, therefore EC didn't have the opportunity to provide the seat.

I didn't say in that post that EC won't pay out, but that if so inclined they could easily say that they were not given the opportunity to provide it for him as he took that out of their hands. If they have a record of when the train was cancelled they might even be able to prove that.

 

[John @ home]

My point was that, from the posts in this thread, it appears that the op was unaware the train was cancelled until john@home's post

I don't agree. In post ¤1 the OP states that they (EC) started the train at Newcastle.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Ah, okay, I missed that bit, but it doesn't alter the fact that he didn't know at the time he boarded the train.