New rail ombudsman to handle passenger complaints

[superalbs]

Found some posters at Reading station too.

 

[Haywain]

the service provider has to pay quite a high fee for it to be looked it by them. If so, this could cost the TOCs a lot of money

The TOCs are paying for the ombudsman service to start with, so any punitive charging regime would seem pointless.

 

[Mag_seven]

Presumably its this leaflet which is on the Greater Anglia website website https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/sit...dsman_quick_start_guide_-_final_-_english.pdf

I find it somewhat ironic that there appears to be a picture of an ever so reliable Class 180 on the front.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

I find it somewhat ironic that there appears to be a picture of an ever so reliable Class 180 on the front.

I noticed that too... Although I can't quite tell whether it's a picture of an old FGW liveried 180, or a Hull Trains one. The fact that it's on an unelectrified double track railway leads me to think it's probably FGW, but it would be doubly ironic if it were a Hull Trains 180...

 

[Bletchleyite]

Leaflets about it are now out on public display at Birmingham New St, with the usual who we are, what we do, how to use us etc. It gives their website as railombudsman.org

Good to see that they, like Northern Rail in its previous guise, have international aspirations.

Oh, no they don't? Why not .org.uk then? Misuse of the namespace makes organisations look incredibly sloppy to those in the know.

 

[superalbs]

The website is now available at:
https://www.railombudsman.org/

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Presumably its this leaflet which is on the Greater Anglia website website https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/sit...dsman_quick_start_guide_-_final_-_english.pdf

It is indeed.

 

[Deerfold]

The website is now available at:
https://www.railombudsman.org/

Whilst not as strict as @Bletchleyite about these things, I am surprised they have a .org address and no mention of which country they are aimed at on the front page of their website unless you scroll right down to their registered address.

 

[superalbs]

Complaints can begin for events starting from tomorrow.

 

[Starmill]

Hm, why aren't London Overground or TfL Rail included? There is no mention of them at https://www.railombudsman.org/about-us/participating-service-providers/

Hopefully this is an error. The London Northwestern Railway logo is also missing at 0228, even though West Midlands Railway's is there, and West Midlands Trains clearly are covered.

Seperate logos are shown for Gatwick Express, Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern, but South Western Railway is shown without Island Line. Greater Anglia is shown without Stansted Express. Great Western Railway is shown too, but not Heathrow Express. Now that GWR operate Heathrow Express, will the Ombudsman cover them?

Presumably London Underground, Tyne & Wear Metro and other railway operators that lie outside of 'National Rail' will be excluded by design.

 

[Starmill]

Well this seems concerning:

What sort of complaints do we not cover?
...
-Strike action

https://www.railombudsman.org/resource-area/faq/#toggle-id-13

Hopefully they mean that they don't cover complaints that strikes happen, and not anything more than that. For example I would hope they would cover complaints where strikes cause delays and train companies refuse to pay compensation.

 

[yorksrob]

The set up should be a statutory ombudsman, with statutory powers, not some private outfit dealing with dodgy sofas in its spare time.

 

[717001]

Launch covered on the BBC website this morning:
Independent rail complaints service is launched: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46338581

 

[Bantamzen]

Good to see that they, like Northern Rail in its previous guise, have international aspirations.

Oh, no they don't? Why not .org.uk then? Misuse of the namespace makes organisations look incredibly sloppy to those in the know.

Whilst not as strict as @Bletchleyite about these things, I am surprised they have a .org address and no mention of which country they are aimed at on the front page of their website unless you scroll right down to their registered address.

It looks like the org.uk domain name had already been registered, such is the peril of domain ownership these days.

Domain name:
railombudsman.org.uk

Registrant:
TRAIN INFORMATION SERVICES LIMITED

Registrant type:
UK Limited Company, (Company number: 7258491)

Registrant's address:
200-202 PART SECOND FLOOR
ALDERSGATE STREET
London
EC1A 4HD
United Kingdom

Data validation:
Nominet was able to match the registrant's name and address against a 3rd party data source on 01-Oct-2018

Registrar:
Corporation Service Company (UK) Limited [Tag = CSC-CORP-DOMAINS]
URL: http://www.cscprotectsbrands.com

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 17-Mar-2017
Expiry date: 17-Mar-2019
Last updated: 01-Oct-2018

https://www.nominet.uk/whois/?query=railombudsman.org.uk

 

[greatkingrat]

That address in Aldersgate Street is the address of the Rail Delivery Group, not some cybersquatter.

 

[Bantamzen]

That address in Aldersgate Street is the address of the Rail Delivery Group, not some cybersquatter.

It does, but I imagine they would have liked to have sold the domain name but the ombudsman opted not to buy it.

 

[gray1404]

Does this mean that from today Transport Focus no longer will deal with rail passenger complaints?

 

[superalbs]

Does this mean that from today Transport Focus no longer will deal with rail passenger complaints?

No, because the ombudsman only accepts cases for events starting from today.

However, I would presume that Transport Focus would not accept a case for events that took place today and onwards.

 

[gray1404]

So the date of travel or date of initial incident must be from today onwards. Anything regarding any journeys that were before today's date or existing complaints with a TOC will not be considered by them.

So assuming that a customer can (for anything today onwards) no longer go to Transport Focus i.e they couldn't go to both bodies and over time the department at Transport Focus that formally dealt with rail complaints will close.

Just searched on Google and the RO website does not come up in a search result.

 

[Starmill]

No, because the ombudsman only accepts cases for events starting from today.

However, I would presume that Transport Focus would not accept a case for events that took place today and onwards.

Transport Focus is going nowhere. It looks like there are rail related matters which you can refer to them which you cannot use this Ombudsman for, e.g. if your complaint is against a retailer, Tyne & Wear Metro or Eurostar, or if the Ombudsman have decided they cannot accept your case for one of their get-out clauses e.g. you are claiming more than £2,500. Transport Focus also have responsibility beyond railways.