Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi,

The above train was delayed due to problems with one of the engines.  By my reckoning it arrived into paddington around 59 minutes 45 seconds late  >:(

Does anyone know the official arrival time?  As the train was all but 1 hour late, what do you reckon are my chances of getting a refund on my fare if I write a nice letter?  ::)

Jon

I suspect one of our insiders on here would probably be able to look that one up for you and confirm the actual arrival time. Always worth writing a polite letter (in my experience just setting out the facts without angry frothing, which will just tend to elicit bland standard paragraphs in the reply letter) just to see what happens - Customer Services is a freepost address anyway. If the train is indeed shown as arriving 1 hour late, you'll receive a full refund for that portion of the journey in travel vouchers. If it's 58/59 minutes then I'm not really sure - FGW have had a reputation in the past for sticking rigidly to the 60-minute rule but they may give you vouchers out of good grace. What's certain is that you definitely won't get anything unless you write in!

Good luck  :)

I agree: it's worth just writing to FGW Customer Services - you never know what might happen!

See http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=2507.msg19184#msg19184  ;D

 ;D

Thanks for the replies.  I'll send off a nice letter and see what happens

I find being convenient with the truth is good, who's to know that my watch isn't 2 minutes fast!

officially.. 59 late

Won't help you that much, given that customer services will generally check the records and make sure that the train in question really was as late as you claim. That's one of the reasons why conductors (at least when they're using the Zifa equipment to mark tickets, which they're supposed to) stamp the train reporting number on there as well.

Cant remember the last time a FGW TM actually stamped my ticket.  If you are lucky you may get a scribble

Then there was the day THREE arriva guards stamped the same ticket!  Well actually one was FTP from liverpool to manchester then one from manc to crewe and after another full ticket check from crewe to ludlow

Interestingly enough - Lud to liverpool via manchester is not technically a valid route but not one guard, TM, platform gestapo or anyone has ever picked me up on it.  And the only reason I go that way is because there are two stations I hate in this world - Shrewsbury and Crewe - I'll do anything to avoid changing at them

If the train is cancelled or delayed for over 60 mins you can have a refund in the form of Rail Travel Vouchers if you write a letter and enclose the original tickets (no photocopies) and post it to FGW.

Quick update....got a full refund of my ticket in rail vouchers  ;D

Glad to hear that FGW customer relations looked on your case sympathetically! After all, 59 min 45 s rounded to the nearest minute is an hour... ;)

And would have been rounded accordingly on railway systems ;)