SWR Longest Strike - December 2019

I don't suppose this incident at Woking helped matters

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-50627294

After the incident in London on Friday, you would have thought that some people would be a bit more careful.

 

Awful so far. Various reports of cancelled and short trains. Short trains should not be happening. All trains should be max length. Signal failure (again) in Wokingham area. Us fare paying passengers/customers being treated like dirt yet again. Most of what I want to say is unprintable.

 

Live departure boards on National Rail Enquiries don't show anything cancelled. Is this because they show a reduced timetable and actually many normal services have béen cancelled?

 

Just glad at the end of last year I refused to continue to be forced to have to cart myself to Guildford from Hull every Monday and Friday.

 

This morning wasn't too bad in terms of crowding on the fast line; I got on at Basingstoke. I had a seat (from being at the end of the platform; I can never fathom why people want to play sardines for an hour just to be in the front), and generally the travelling public were good natured and calm. But for the suburban lines it looked a lot more chaotic.

The train was late however (by the magic 14 minutes and 45 seconds off the amended timetable), and given my normal service was cancelled, I arrived 33 minutes later than I normally do. But SWR are giving out diddlysquit for season ticket holders with these kind of inconveniences, so this will grate with me as the month goes on. I'm certainly going to pull a Section 75 on them after this has all finished, especially as some of my planned evenings in London over the Christimas period are going to be ruined by their early final services.

 

The 0510 from Exeter was cancelled as far as Salisbury, but it's ok as the next train was in FOUR hours! Stagecoach appear to be running some/all of the strike buses in Exeter this time (first Kernow did last time) which, given they have been struggling with driver availability for weeks in Exeter, with numerous cancellations, doesn't bode well for our local bus service.

 

I'm not sure that's quite accurate, if people have booked ahead of time and have an itinerary that's what they should be claiming against.

 

indeed, surely compensation should be made against the time of trains advertised at the time of purchase as a basic tenant of consumer law?


People have been querying compensation due to season ticket holders on Twitter and they are being advised it will be down to delays against the “amended timetable”. I have explicitly queried this but not had a reply.

 

It does seem ridiculous not to maximise the lengths of all trains running.

Any idea what the reasoning behind the short forming is (if any!)?

 

A lengthier commute for me from Ashford as the only trains stopping are all stations from Windsor to Waterloo, but overall I don't have it too bad as I still get a seat. The train was full and standing by Isleworth and leaving people behind after Brentford.

In my case it was already 11 minutes late at Ashford and lost a further 10 minutes before Waterloo due to the extended dwell times.

 

I travelled from Overton to Waterloo on the 0955. This train had started at Salisbury at 0921. Normally it would have started from Exeter at 0725 and would not have stopped at Overton. It had 8 coaches. Some people were standing but I found a seat without difficulty. It arrived at Waterloo one minute later than scheduled. I returned on the 14.20 which had 9 coaches. I was in coach 2 which had plenty of unoccupied seats. But I'd expect peak hour trains to be much busier.

 

Could you elaborate as to what a Section 75 is, please?

 

Possibly a claim under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

Although that only covers purchases over £100.

 

I seem to remember a story of a successful S75 claim during the Southern strikes a couple of years ago - American Express were the card issuer in that case I think.

 

Thanks.

 

I think that was more about Amex and their generous approach to customer service rather than an acceptance that a S75 claim was valid in such circumstances. Despite much talk, I don't think it was repeated elsewhere with other card issuers (i.e. other than Amex).

 

It might be in the mind of SWR, but I would be quite surprised if a Judge, of they were ever asked, came to this view.

 

I think so too... however.

Claims made under the Consumer Credit Act, where there is strong supporting evidence that the service isn't being delivered and the customer is eligible (that is they paid by credit card for a service worth a qualifying amount) are a matter of law rather than of customer service.

If a proper claim is made to the card issuer and the consumer does not like their decision, they could complain to the Financial Ombudsman. Of course, the Ombudsman cannot change any card scheme rules or make enforcement of them, but they can look at:
- Has the card issuer complied with the law?
- Has the card issuer treated the customer fairly at every stage of the process?
- What is standard industry practice?

The American Express case can therefore become relevant to the third point.

I do not know how much exactly could be claimed back, but there is solid evidence to go in support of any claim, not least SWR's website which admits that almost half of all services are not running.

Others will know more than me about the role of the Financial Ombudsman and the Consumer Credit Act.

Anyone who is unhappy with the service who was lucky enough to have bought a season ticket using a credit card has at least four bites of the cherry that come at no cost:

1. Complain to SWR claiming a partial refund, and exhaust their normal complaints procedure.
2. Complain to the Rail Ombudsman about the claim you made if SWR wouldn't pay.
3. Make a claim under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act to your card issuer.
4. Complain to the Financial Ombudsman about the decision made by your card issuer if you don't like it.

Even if all four opportunities failed, you could still I believe make a claim at the County Court. You might like to think carefully about doing that though after going through all of the above.

If the season ticket is for a journey where there are no trains, or next to no trains (e.g. If it is a season ticket from Wanborough or Chandlers Ford) then the case for a claim under Section 75 would become overwhelming. If a season ticket is bought for travel from a particular station which then doesn't have any trains for a whole month, meaning that the ticket cannot be used, it shouldn't be too difficult to get a judgement either.

 

The Financial Ombudsman are generally pretty pro-consumer as well and their decisions are binding. I could only find one decision that has been published where they ordered a bank to repay 50% of the prorata season ticket cost due to the industrial action - link here: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/237638/DRN9994576.pdf - they have probably dealt with similar cases but only cases which are appealed by either party are published.

I would encourage anyone who has paid with a credit card to make a section 75 claim with their credit card provider, and to make a formal complaint if this is not successful. Each complaint costs the credit card issuer around £550 just to be dealt with (free to the consumer) and as such, they will likely pay up quickly if they think it is due.

I would also imagine that given the number of city professionals who commute into London, there will be some sort of test case through the courts before long.

 

I'm looking to get home to family after my shift on Christmas Eve and am not looking forward to that at all.

 

Second day of the strike and second day the 06.48 has left Windsor over 10 minutes late and the following 07.18 has started short at Staines. Looks like something has done wrong with planning the ECS moves to form these services.

 

Both the 06.34 and the 07.04 from Epsom to Waterloo were cancelled this morning. Shortage of train crew was the reason. People from Epsom itself have an alternative (Southern to Victoria or London Bridge), but people in some of the stations further down, such as Worcester Park, do not.

 

does anyone but me find it funny that the bloke in the story is called mr bangs??