May 2012 Conditions of Carriage

[whole diary]

[EBrown]

New CoC^▸ (Chamber of Commerce TBA) are out soon and I've found my favourite new bits:

Your Rights - A Summary
Give you, if you ask, a full refund, if you find out after you bought your ticket that your journey is going to be delayed, your train has been cancelled or that your seat reservation will not be honoured.

Oh, but then you look a little closer at 41.

41. Refund of reservation fees
The value of the compensation will be no more than the price of the full single fare for the journey.

Your Rights - A Summary
This includes making these Conditions and the Byelaws available wherever you can buy a ticket

Includes onboard - I'll have a PAN - RDG^‡(resolve) CDR^▸ (Off Peak Day Return [ticket type] (formerly 'Cheap Day')) and a copy of the CoC.

Your Rights - A Summary
Make clear to you when you buy your ticket any important restrictions on how you can use that ticket (such as when Off-Peak tickets can be used).

Give you, if you ask, information they have access to about:
      
-    timetables and fares appropriate for your needs; for example, by telling you about the lowest fare or fastest trip for the journey you describe;   
-    whether your intended route is valid with your ticket;   
-    the accessibility of rail services and facilities in trains if you are disabled or    have reduced mobility, for example the elderly and/or those travelling with    small children or heavy luggage;
-    whether buses are likely to replace trains for all or part of your journey; and/or
-    restrictions on carrying luggage, animals or cycles on your journey.

47. Accompanied luggage, articles and animals
You may take a single item of hand luggage that must be capable of being held in your lap if required, plus up to 2 items of luggage each not exceeding 30 x 70 x 90 cm in size. Unless you are disabled or have reduced mobility and have made arrangements in advance for assistance, you should be able to manage your luggage without additional help. Luggage is carried subject to sufficient space being available in the train service you wish to use. Luggage should not occupy seats intended for passengers; if it does so, it may be charged for as set out in Appendix B.

I quite like this new condition. Although the website /limits doesn't currently exist.

50. A Train Company^s liabilities
A Train Company will only be liable for any loss or damage to luggage, articles, animals or cycles in its trains or on its premises if the loss or damage was caused by the fault of a Train Company or a Rail Service Company staff or agents. A Train Company^s liability in respect of any item will not exceed the limit laid down in the EU^» (European Union - about) Rail Passengers^ Rights & Obligations Regulation (EC No. 1371/2007), or the item^s value, whichever is lower. The EU limit is based on a basket of currencies and is therefore subject to fluctuation. The current amount may be found at www.nationalrail.co.uk/limits

Condition 60 is interesting

60. Carriage by road vehicles
These Conditions apply to passengers travelling and luggage, articles, animals and cycles conveyed in road vehicles provided by a Train Company or its agents unless it is made clear to you when you buy your ticket that different conditions apply. The term ^train^ in this context includes any road vehicle owned or operated by a Train Company or on its behalf.
A Train Company may replace a train with a road vehicle at short notice or on a planned basis and your journey time may be extended. The Train Company may refuse to accept some types of luggage, articles, animals and cycles in accordance with Condition 49. The Ticket Seller must make clear if any planned replacements are likely to affect your journey when you buy your ticket, provided the information is available to them. If the replacement is at short notice and you cannot complete your journey because the Train Company is unable to transport your luggage, articles, animals and/or cycles by road vehicle, you will be entitled to compensation in line with Condition 42 as if your train had been cancelled.

New CoC available here.

[grahame]

The current amount may be found at www.nationalrail.co.uk/limits

Or it may not:

Sorry, something went wrong

There is a problem with the page you are trying to access.
It is possible that it was either moved, it doesn't exist or we are experiencing some technical difficulties.
We are sorry for the inconvenience.

(and, yes, I went back and followed the link from the original document too!)

[BerkshireBugsy]

Thanks for posting. As a regular traveler on the reading to Reigate service item 47 made me smile - and to be fair to TMs^‡(resolve) enforcing IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) would be virtually impossible .

[JayMac]

Interesting to note that the minimum levels of compensation following delays haven't been changed in the new NRCoC^▸ (National Rail Conditions of Carriage), despite the EU^» (European Union - about) legislation stating that the minimum compensation must be 25% of the ticket price for delays of 60-119 minutes and 50% of the ticket price for delays of 120 minutes or more.

Whilst all TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) currently offer more than this (except Virgin who only offer the EU minimum of 25% for 60-119 minute delays), it's a shame that the EU regulations have not yet been enacted to enforce the minimum.

The regulations also state that payment of compensation for delays should be made in cash if so requested by the passenger.

Looks like the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)'s rail industry continues to use exemption powers granted by the UK parliament from these articles of REGULATION (EC) No 1371/2007 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 23 October 2007 on rail passengers^ rights and obligations.

The exemptions were enacted by Statutory Instrument in December 2009. An exemption can run for 5 years and can be extended for two further periods of five years should the UK Government decide to exercise this right. So potentially 2024 before the UK rail industry has to comply fully with EU legislation.

The reason for the change to NRCoC with regard to compensation for loss or damage to luggage and personal belongings is because the article in the EU legislation referring to this is considered a 'core' article and cannot be exempted.

Further reading:

DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) Guidance Note Regulation No. 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council

[paul7575]

Is one of the main purposes of this 5 year delay to avoid or defer the requirement to change TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) franchises mid-term?  Basically for season compensation you have two parallel systems in place, the more modern being 'Delay Repay' which requires individual journeys to be claimed, but also allows claims for any reason.  Previously acts of third parties (such as bridge strikes) were not covered.

AFAICT^▸ (as far as I can tell), SWT^▸ (South West Trains)'s last franchise renewal may have been the last one NOT to require introduction of 'Delay Repay'.  Chiltern has quite a while to run, are they on the old or new system?   

Paul

[ChrisB]

Chiltern are on the old system, but discussion was had recently with management about which I thought the public would prefer - so they're obviously thinking about it....

[paul7575]

As soon as, or if there is any empirical evidence that Delay Repay is cheaper for TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) than the charter system and various discounts for seasons, I'd expect the remaining TOCs to propose the change anyway.

There's always going to be a certain amount of 'customer inertia' if season ticket holders have to claim for each individual delayed journey single leg, I wonder if any TOCs on Delay Repay have done a realistic before and after comparison?

Paul

[ChrisB]

Oh, I'm *sure* they have....