gray1404
Established Member
In April a friend of mine was left stranded in the early hours at Liverpool Lime Street. This was due to the cancellation of a LM train when he was traveling between Birmingham New Street and Formby. He was promised a taxi when the guard spoke to LM control but this failed to materialise.
Following several contacts with LM they eventually paid his delay repay and raised a cheque for a cost of the taxi. However, he feels there are some outstanding issues which I shall detail below with his permission. As customer relations failed to address these he asked for the case to be looked at again by a Manager.
- Failed to provide him with an explanation as to why I was left stranded on arrival at Liverpool Lime Street.
- He emailed Network Rail about this matter as they are the company who run Liverpool Lime Street. When they replied they advised that Northern would be the company who, having a member of staff on duty 24 hours at that location, would be responsible to assist stranded passengers.
- He contacted Northern who said: "It is the responsibility of London Midland to ensure that passengers can complete their journey because of disruption caused by them."
- LM first sent the letter to friend to the wrong address, his old address, even though he put his new address on the delay repay form. They totally ignored the fact he had to pay for a taxi in their first reply and enclosed RTVs for a delay, even though he'd requested a cheque (over £30 in line with their passengers charter)
- Several more phone calls had to be made to LM following up this matter.
- failure to address any of the detailed points he made in the detailed complaint sent with the delay repay form.
- he has asked what measures they have put in place to make sure this doesn't happen again. i.e. passengers been left stranded at LIV.
In the letter sent with the cheque it was stated: "...although it is prudent for me to point out that the latter [taxi fare] would ordinarily be deemed as a consequential loss, which a train company would not ordinarily refund."
This is unacceptable given the contract formed under the National Rail Conditions of Carriage (NRCoC) states that train companies are to assist customers who are left stranded when it is reasonable for them to do so. He therefore asked why they have classed this as a consequential and what steps he should take in future to avoid such when travelling on their services.
This was all sent a month ago and no reply received until he queried the matter on the LM Twitter.
He has just emailed me today (he's currently away) to say that he has received an email from a Supervisor asking if he could give him a call to discuss the matter. My friend has asked for my take on the matter.
I am not sure if I should tell him that it is no problem for him to have a phone call (although difficult as he's away on business right now abroad) or do insist that, given he's written a detailed letter, to insist on a written reply and maybe invite the person to email him if they have any questions or with to clarify anything.
Or should I tell him to take the matter to Transport Focus already and offer to help him complete the online form?
Following several contacts with LM they eventually paid his delay repay and raised a cheque for a cost of the taxi. However, he feels there are some outstanding issues which I shall detail below with his permission. As customer relations failed to address these he asked for the case to be looked at again by a Manager.
- Failed to provide him with an explanation as to why I was left stranded on arrival at Liverpool Lime Street.
- He emailed Network Rail about this matter as they are the company who run Liverpool Lime Street. When they replied they advised that Northern would be the company who, having a member of staff on duty 24 hours at that location, would be responsible to assist stranded passengers.
- He contacted Northern who said: "It is the responsibility of London Midland to ensure that passengers can complete their journey because of disruption caused by them."
- LM first sent the letter to friend to the wrong address, his old address, even though he put his new address on the delay repay form. They totally ignored the fact he had to pay for a taxi in their first reply and enclosed RTVs for a delay, even though he'd requested a cheque (over £30 in line with their passengers charter)
- Several more phone calls had to be made to LM following up this matter.
- failure to address any of the detailed points he made in the detailed complaint sent with the delay repay form.
- he has asked what measures they have put in place to make sure this doesn't happen again. i.e. passengers been left stranded at LIV.
In the letter sent with the cheque it was stated: "...although it is prudent for me to point out that the latter [taxi fare] would ordinarily be deemed as a consequential loss, which a train company would not ordinarily refund."
This is unacceptable given the contract formed under the National Rail Conditions of Carriage (NRCoC) states that train companies are to assist customers who are left stranded when it is reasonable for them to do so. He therefore asked why they have classed this as a consequential and what steps he should take in future to avoid such when travelling on their services.
This was all sent a month ago and no reply received until he queried the matter on the LM Twitter.
He has just emailed me today (he's currently away) to say that he has received an email from a Supervisor asking if he could give him a call to discuss the matter. My friend has asked for my take on the matter.
I am not sure if I should tell him that it is no problem for him to have a phone call (although difficult as he's away on business right now abroad) or do insist that, given he's written a detailed letter, to insist on a written reply and maybe invite the person to email him if they have any questions or with to clarify anything.
Or should I tell him to take the matter to Transport Focus already and offer to help him complete the online form?
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