Yes I agree with your reasoning, but just expecting them to respond from quite a different perspective. But I'll push for full reimbursement and see. Thanks.
Ah OK, yes that sounds like a situation where they could have argued more strongly that it wasn't within their responsibility. I'll push for full reimbursement.
NRCoT already states that cycles are generally permitted to be carried. Therefore the carriage of any bicycle is part of the contract subject to the usual cycle restrictions.
I made a claim today saying everything I said here. Will see what happens and let you know!
I would love to see more clarity on cycle carriage and more and better carriage facilities. Sometimes in the morning there are 4 or 5 bikes on the train even though officially, I think, the train can carry up to 3 bikes. So if you happen to be the 4th person, then it's up to whoever is there to let you on or not. This kind of uncertainty is stressful. You could book a space for the bike, but this isn't always there as an option on the app. But what if I absolutely have to be at the destination and the best way to get there for me is to take the train and cycle? Train plus bike is an absolutely amazing combined mode of transport that can get you pretty much anywhere in the country (well, if you're prepared to cycle moderately long distances!), but train companies are not always great at encouraging people to do that. Take a look at these strange bars on a Crosscountry train, meant to be for cycle storage. It makes me wonder if they've seen a bicycle at all!
Completely agree - it’s how I get about without a car (the Brompton plus bus option is great too). Other countries are much better at this, notably Denmark who have entire carriages for bikes on many trains. To be fair to TfW, they have been experimenting with “active travel” carriages on the Heart of Wales line. There’s a long way to go though, and it of course requires public investment, which always seems to be in short supply in Britain.
To be fair, bike storage on the new South Wales Metro trains are far simpler and better than the nonsense above on CrossCountry or on GWR. See what can happen when someone actually looks at a bike first?
Just to clarify, is that the storage area for bicycles on the CrossCountry train in question, or is it maybe intended for use by wheelchair users?
I believe it's meant to be used like this:
Didn't know that!
the usefulness of help points can be highly variable, in many cases they patch through to an offshore contact centre with little to no local knowledge.
They could also be swapped with a payphone when first introduced on MML, though those didn't last very long.
Goodness no.
Excellent. Good to know that this is the likely outcome if stranded with a bike. Was never quite sure.
Bear in mind that their response was typically non-comittal:
The only response to that sort of duplicitous BS is County Court action. They'll settle every time because it costs them more to defend it and the absolute last thing that they want is a case to go to a Court of record and set a binding precedent.
Surprise, surprise....
Are they heck as like.... and if they are it's often a call centre in India (judging by the accents)
Yes, and even County Court judgements can be persuasive with respect to matters on which no court of record has ruled, so I assume they wouldn't particularly want a County Court ruling to go against them either, as that would rather force them into a position where they either have to take it to a more senior court or else accept that other District Judges are likely to be persuaded by the earlier ruling. Even if a County Court ruling goes for them, if the passenger stumps up the fee to lodge an appeal with a court of record, they could still end up having to settle if they wanted the appeal to go away, or else they risk an adverse and binding precedent should the passenger win the appeal.
Yes, the Indian call centre were you have to spell out some station names - especially some of the Welsh ones….!
They say this to try and imply that you "can't" refer back to it if this happens again in the future. But you weren't asking for a gesture of goodwill; rather you were making a claim for their failure to provide alternative transport that accepted your cycle. They were quite clearly liable given the circumstances.
This bit is just plain wrong. The only clause that even purports to limit claims to the amount paid is NRCoT 32.2, in respect of the maximum amount of Delay Repay (or equivalent) you can claim.
