Cancelled train - advance ticket (partial) refund?

[whole diary]

[chrisr_75]

I've tried searching FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website and also this forum and have not found any particularly useful info on how to claim a refund on an advance ticket when the booked train was cancelled (technical fault with train). Can anyone offer any advice on how to go about asking for a part refund? Thanks in advance!

[ChrisB]

I'm not aware that you can - travel being permitted on the next available train, means you could only claim for lateness delay in the usual manner.

If you were travelling at that time for a specific reason & chose not to travel as you'd miss whatever you were travelling for - say a show that would be over by the time the next train got you there - I think you can put in for a refund the same way as for any ticket (choosing not to travel after a cancellation) - but that's the only refund reason I believe.

[paul7575]

As per Chris B's second paragraph, this is the supporting evidence for a full refund if you don't travel. 

The Advance Fares internal FAQs^▸ (Frequently Asked Questions) that were doing the rounds a couple of years ago included this:

Q06 - Are refunds or changes allowed with these tickets?

A: Once booked, the ticket is not refundable. Customers will still be entitled to a refund in the event of a delay or cancellation as per conditions 25(a), 42 and 43 of the National Rail Conditions of Carriage.

NRCofC has been renumbered since, and condition 25 (a) is now 26 (a):

if the train you intended to use is cancelled, delayed or your reservation will not be honoured, you decide not to travel and at that time you return the unused ticket to any ticket office, the Train Company responsible for that ticket office will, wherever possible, give you an immediate full refund as shown in Condition 27;

Clearly you must theoretically ask for this 'full refund' at the appropriate time you decide not to travel, I reckon you'd get no joy a few hours later, or the next day...

(There follows various caveats where the ticket has been bought online, or from another TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) etc etc, but that only affects how the 'full refund' is processed and paid, not the basic entitlement.

Paul

[chrisr_75]

Hmm, looks like I've found a murky area of the t&c's!! It's not clear what, if anything, you are entitled to if your booked (advance ticket) train is cancelled and you subsequently travel on the next available service which gets you to your destination albeit later than if the booked train had run as advertised...

[ChrisB]

Delay/Repay or the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) delay compensation kicks in, just like any other ticket....not murky at all.

[chrisr_75]

Murky only in that it isn't particularly easy to find out info on how to claim...

I have googled for delay/repay and successfully located the correct form, thanks for the advice provided

[ChrisB]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) don't operate DElay/repay, so forget filling that in....

As I said, charter discounts at time of renewal should be automatic at the ticket office or after renewing online

[thetrout]

Clearly you must theoretically ask for this 'full refund' at the appropriate time you decide not to travel, I reckon you'd get no joy a few hours later, or the next day...

And if your advance ticket starts from an unstaffed station or a station where the ticket office is closed..?

OP^▸ (Original Poster / topic starter) making a claim for an advance purchase fare in the case of a delay longer than 59 minutes (as is the case with FGW^▸ (First Great Western) anyway) will get you a 100% compensation in Rail Travel Vouchers to the value of the fare paid for an Advance Ticket. (From experience and relatively straight forward. Can take a while though)

I believe the same applies if you abort travel due to a cancellation of a service and have not made any part of your journey. E.g. Westbury - Bath Spa is cancelled and you choose not to travel, you would eligible for a refund. Mid journey it becomes more difficult.

I am still disputing an aborted mid journey on an Advance ticket for a journey made in December last year. Southern have done a very good job of trying to ignore the complaint. They have promised to return correspondence within specific timeframes (e.g. next 10 days or next 7 days) and then not delivering. I have escalated the complaint to passenger focus who have taken up the complaint after Southern missed 4 specific timeframes. When Southern said reply in 10 days. I waited 4 weeks and then chased again. The third time I chased I threatened to refer to the ombudsman and was promised a full response within a week. 3 weeks letter Passenger Focus got an email...

(I'll update that thread once PassengerFocus get back to me)