Great Western Coffee Shop

A friend has asked me this question:

The train journey to and from Crewkerne was a nightmare! On Tuesday I went from Cam and Dursley at 7.20 am and should have arrived at Crewkerne at 10.48 am. I eventually got there by 13.10.
The journey was meant to be Cam  and Dursley to Temple Meads, then Salisbury, then Crewkerne. What happened was that I got as far as Temple Meads only to discover that the Salisbury train was cancelled. I was told by the staff to catch the Reading train, change at Basingstoke and onwards to Crewkerne via Yeovil junction.
Then the journey back was a farce. It was meant to be Crewkerne to Yeovil Junction, then to Westbury, then onto Cam and Dursley. What happened was the train arrived late at Crewkerne but arrived just in time to catch the train to Westbury. Unfortunately the Westbury train had been cancelled so a taxi was arranged to take me to Westbury. The taxi didn't make it in time to catch my connecting train so I had to wait for the next one. This made me an hour late getting back to Cam and Dursley. These are the two worst train journeys I have ever had.
I have been told that I can claim my fare back as the train was late, is this true? If so how do I do this?

SWT for sure for the outward. cancelled train being the cause.

Yeovil-Westbury cancellation cause of the return. So claim on whoever was the operator of that train

However, submission to any of the operators will work (eventually) as they will work out who was to blame & pass on your claim where necessary

Thanks for that helpful and quick response.

If there is a next time for this trip you might try going via Exeter Chuffed  ;).

Three and a half hours to get to Crewkerne if on time! Being late for that is really rubbing one's nose in it.

Can I ask about a similar situation that happened last week. I was travelling from Bath to Gloucester, where I needed to be at 11am, but the 09.15 train was cancelled, so i caught the next train to Temple Meads where I was told I could catch the 10.00 train to Cheltenham and then the 10.45 train from there to Gloucester. However, the train to Cheltenham arrived 5 minutes late just as the Gloucester train was leaving. In situations like that, can a claim be made because of a small delay in a connecting service that doesn't connect? (and in that situation the main problem was the first cancellation, which was GWR, but the slight delay actually caused me to be late, which was XC)

I often travel between Bristol Temple Meads and Gloucester. My disabled off peak day return has always been accepted on the Cheltenham bound XC  xx00 xx30  trains doubling back to Gloucester by XC or GWR as well as the xx41 GWR stoppers to Gloucester/Great Malvern.

Yes the tickets are accepted, it was the delay caused by missing a connection that was the problem that made me late.

My question was also more general - how are claims made when a problem arises due to a cancellation by one train company, but what actually makes you late is a small delay in another company's train (that you wouldn't have been using if there hadn't been a cancellation) just missing a connection to a third company's train (that you also wouldn't have been using if there hadn't been the original cancellation)?

No. GWR for sure. Leaving Cam & Dursley at 0722 and due to arrive at Crewkerne at 1048, The connection at Bristol TM should have been onto the 0822 service to Salisbury (a Cardiff-Portsmouth train). This train, a GWR service, was cancelled.

The passenger should submit the outward portion of the ticket to GWR for Passenger Charter compensation. As the passenger arrived more than two hours late at the destination then compensation equal to the full price of the fare paid is due.

https://www.gwr.com/about-us/our-business/passengers-charter

Now, compensation is paid for the delays experienced. So, even though the full fare is due to be compensated for the outward journey, there's an argument to say that further compensation is due for the delay to the return journey. Nothing in Train Company Passenger Charters or the National Rail Conditions of Travel says you cannot claim compensation for both outward and return journeys when a return ticket is held and both journeys were delayed.  

It's a bit hard to decipher the return journey as no times are given. What precisely was the departure time from Crewkerne and what changes were due to be made? It reads as though the once a day direct train from Yeovil Junction to Westbury at 1648 was due to be taken. This should have offered a connection at Westbury onto the 1738 to Cam & Dursley. (Although, on the day in question, late running made that connection very tight). I can't work out why a taxi was taken from Yeovil Junction to Westbury as, as far as I can tell, the 1648 from Yeovil Junction ran on Tuesday 15th November. However, if there was a delay of 60 minutes or more arriving at Cam & Dursley then compensation is due. If that delay was down to a train from Yeovil Junction being cancelled then the return portion of the ticket needs to be submitted to South West Trains. Same applies if the taxi was ordered by SWT and the passenger missed onward connections.

How late would you have been if you had caught the Cheltenham-Gloucester connection?

The cancellation of the first train was the root cause of your delayed arrival at your destination. Your claim therefore should be submitted to the operator of the cancelled train - GWR.

BNM, you are right. I thought that cancelled train was a SWT service, and I did comment that is was due to the operator of that cancelled service, whuch you correctly IDd as GWR