‘Rigged rail refund system costs passengers £100m’

Delays: Commuters wait for service updates at the station Picture: Nigel Howard

Dick Murray16 September 2013

Train operators are “short-changing” passengers by more than £100 million over ticket refunds for late and cancelled services, it was claimed today. The refund system was said to be “blatantly rigged” against the passenger.

Operators get a refund from Network Rail (NR) when a train is five minutes late — but passengers only get some money back if delayed 30 minutes or more. Passengers trying to get a refund were likened to roulette players.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of rail watchdog Passenger Focus, demanded easier ways for passengers to claim refunds, and called for train chiefs to be more “generous” with payouts.

Mr Smith said: “Passengers find it very difficult to understand why there is such a big difference between the amount paid to train companies and the amount paid to them.”

The 18 franchised rail companies were paid £136 million by NR last year when infrastructure failings, including bad flooding during a winter wetter and colder than average, caused late and cancelled services.

The train companies, however, paid out less than £30 million in ticket refunds to passengers.

Under current franchise rules, only eight companies are required to give details of how much they refunded passengers; the remainder will have to do so under new rules. Those eight paid out £12,595,000, according to official Department for Transport (DfT) figures obtained by the Evening Standard.

NR’s Regulatory Financial Statements for the last financial year confirm “not all the performance targets are being met. As a result payments of £136 million — up from £82 million the year before — were made to operators in respect of unplanned delays and cancellations to services”. The TSSA transport union said the total NR gave to operators last year was £163 million, once a further £27 million paid for timetable changes and other reasons was included.

TSSA leader Manuel Cortes said the two-tier refund system was “blatantly rigged against the passenger” and called for a government investigation: “There are high-speed refunds for rail firms but long-suffering passengers are firmly on the slow branch line when they try to claim for delays.

“These firms get paid full compensation when a train is five minutes late, but passengers only get a partial refund after their train is 30 minutes late.

“Passengers seeking refunds are in a casino where they find the roulette wheel has already been fixed and the only winners are the train firms.

A spokeswoman for the Association of Train Operating Companies said: “Train companies paid out over £3 million more to passengers under the Delay Repay scheme in 2012/13 than in the previous year. This reflects how compensation for delays is increasingly generous and easy to apply for.”

How to get your money back

Train firms pay out under the National Rail Conditions of Carriage. How and what you get varies according to operator, ticket type, and length of delay.

Usually, claim forms can be collected at stations, requested in writing from the customer relations manager, or downloaded online. If you decide not to travel because of disruption different rules apply.

Those with single, return or monthly tickets tend to get more back than annual season ticket holders because of the way refunds are calculated.

Claims must be made within 28 days. The regulations set out a minimum 20 per cent refund of a single ticket, but most operators give 50 per cent of the ticket value for delays of 30 minutes, and a full refund for 60 minutes or more. For more information visit atoc.org