Refunds on tickets not used today due to weather delays

[Essexman]

I cancelled a day trip from London to Shrewsbury today due to heavy delays caused by high winds. It was clear from information at Euston that I’d miss the connection at Birmingham and hence my meeting.

I had booked the following tickets –

Outward First class advance single which I’d booked with Virgin. They sent an email saying “If you want to cancel or postpone your journey, we’ll be happy to refund your ticket/s. Just log-in to your account. You’ll have 28 days to claim your refund.” I’ve logged in but it won’t refund as it was an advance ticket. The train was more than an hour late so I should get automatic delay repay anyway. I’ve never had this before but can I just assume they’ll credit the money back to me and I need do nothing or would it be best to try and get a refund on basis that I didn’t travel and their email says they will refund?

I then had an off peak day return from Birmingham to Shrewsbury which I didn’t use, booked through GWR. Firstly can I claim the full amount (£15.50) on the basis that all trains were heavily delayed, I’d have missed the connection, so didn’t travel? Or will I have to forfeit £10? And do I make this claim to GWR who I purchased it from?

The third ticket was a bargain £5.50 advance single from Moor St to Marylebone, which I’m happy to lose out on.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

I cancelled a day trip from London to Shrewsbury today due to heavy delays caused by high winds. It was clear from information at Euston that I’d miss the connection at Birmingham and hence my meeting.

I had booked the following tickets –

Outward First class advance single which I’d booked with Virgin. They sent an email saying “If you want to cancel or postpone your journey, we’ll be happy to refund your ticket/s. Just log-in to your account. You’ll have 28 days to claim your refund.” I’ve logged in but it won’t refund as it was an advance ticket. The train was more than an hour late so I should get automatic delay repay anyway. I’ve never had this before but can I just assume they’ll credit the money back to me and I need do nothing or would it be best to try and get a refund on basis that I didn’t travel and their email says they will refund?

I then had an off peak day return from Birmingham to Shrewsbury which I didn’t use, booked through GWR. Firstly can I claim the full amount (£15.50) on the basis that all trains were heavily delayed, I’d have missed the connection, so didn’t travel? Or will I have to forfeit £10? And do I make this claim to GWR who I purchased it from?

The third ticket was a bargain £5.50 advance single from Moor St to Marylebone, which I’m happy to lose out on.

You are entitled to a fee-free refund on all tickets. I wouldn't eschew any of them. Your journey was disrupted and hence you didn't travel - this is the one occasion on which all the usual rules about refunds are pretty much waived, and you can get a fee-free refund for any non-season ticket.

You'll unfortunately need to contact the retailer that sold you each ticket separately. However if Virgin, for example, award you automatic delay repay I would contact them to ensure that they process it correctly as a refund. Evidence of this may be needed for obtaining a refund on your other tickets.

 

[_toommm_]

I cancelled a day trip from London to Shrewsbury today due to heavy delays caused by high winds. It was clear from information at Euston that I’d miss the connection at Birmingham and hence my meeting.

I had booked the following tickets –

Outward First class advance single which I’d booked with Virgin. They sent an email saying “If you want to cancel or postpone your journey, we’ll be happy to refund your ticket/s. Just log-in to your account. You’ll have 28 days to claim your refund.” I’ve logged in but it won’t refund as it was an advance ticket. The train was more than an hour late so I should get automatic delay repay anyway. I’ve never had this before but can I just assume they’ll credit the money back to me and I need do nothing or would it be best to try and get a refund on basis that I didn’t travel and their email says they will refund?

I then had an off peak day return from Birmingham to Shrewsbury which I didn’t use, booked through GWR. Firstly can I claim the full amount (£15.50) on the basis that all trains were heavily delayed, I’d have missed the connection, so didn’t travel? Or will I have to forfeit £10? And do I make this claim to GWR who I purchased it from?

The third ticket was a bargain £5.50 advance single from Moor St to Marylebone, which I’m happy to lose out on.

You've been on the forum before so I'm sure you've seen all the arguments over whether multiple tickets constitutes one journey (a hypothesis I agree with). If you booked all the tickets with one operator or in one place , you'd probably be in better standing compared to if you booked them with separate operators.

I would still email about the rest because what's the harm in it. If you give your itinerary in a tabular format:

EUS xx:xx
SHR xx:xx

Next place xx:xx

This would leave no room for confusion over your planned journey. Just be polite, and you never know. I split my tickets between a flexi rover and an advance, and Virgin delayed me in the last storm. Initially they declined my claim and palmed me off to TPE. I phoned up and I had vouchers the next day, only three days after the initial delay

 

[Essexman]

Thanks to both the above.

 

[Haywain]

I believe that as you chose not to travel because of expected disruption, you should be entitled to a fee-free refund for each ticket from the respective retailers and it is to those retailers you should apply for the refunds. You are not entitled to Delay Repay compensation as you did not travel and you should therefore refuse or return any such payment unless, of course, you choose to accept such a payment as an alternative to a refund. However, such payment will only cover the cost of the Advance ticket purchased from Virgin.