Cancelled train / no staff to be seen. What to do / claim for taxi?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Advise sought ... from passenger on train (or rather "Wannabe" passenger).

Got to Chippenham for the 17:53 (to Melksham) ... cancelled.  "No staff to be seen - had to get a taxi again!"

Next train not scheduled until 19:05.

Unfortunately, with a junction at both ends and lots of complicated signals, there's two ends to go wrong not one, so the nature of the TransWilts service is that it will be a bit harder to keep reliable.   And with the infrequency of services, the next one (actually the same train next time) won't come round for a long time.

I'm suggesting the passenger should not be out of pocket for a taxi ... and not sure what to do is staff not obviously around.   For tonight, testing out the principle because (honestly) I don't know the full details having never been one to claim over the years, but rather sit down with my laptop and work.   You see, we're empty nesters ...

[ChrisB]

Use the help point for assistance/advice.

Very unlikely to get refunded unless the advice is so. A taxi can be ordered by the help point staff (in fact, they would contact Swindon Control who would organise this)

BUT I suspect with the next train only just over an hour away (72 mins), it'd be a wait & claim compensation for over an hour's delay (assuming canx reason is within control of the railway (out of luck if its been involved in a fatality for example)

[John R]

I'm a little surprised that there weren't any staff available at Chippenham at that time in the evening. And what were the other 50 or so people doing who normally catch that service at Chippenham?

[JayMac]

Points failure at Westbury North Junction.

This affected the northbound TransWilts at 1621 from Westbury. This was also cancelled throughout. That provides the return working from Swindon.

Surely that was time enough to get the message out and have staff at Chippenham on hand with information.