Claim now and claim often for delays on trains. Too many commuters and other passengers are letting the rail companies get away with running late trains without claiming what they can. The companies still do not make it easy but money is available for delays of 15 minutes.
The companies are saving £100m a year because travelers do not claim what they can. With fares up 2.3% this year the compensation can help. Southern Rail claims it is running a normal service from today, even though ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, and the RMT union is still banning overtime.
Southern will be paying annual season ticker holders a refund equal to one month’s travel, but the trains will continue to be late and cancelled for random reasons.
Claim compensation or inflate rail company profits
To claim you must be vigilant. Scan season tickets into your computer and make sure you do not allow one-off tickets to be swallowed by the barriers. You need proof to make a claim. You also need time. For regular travelers it is worth putting one evening a month in the diary for making claims. You only have 28 days to claim. And if you don’t you are inflating the profits of the rail companies.
Case law will help rail travelers with their compensation claims
At the moment you have to be made of sterner stuff to make a claim for not getting a seat, but the Consumer Rights Act will eventually have case law that we can use to support our claims. So far one commuter has had a 50% refund of his fare for the problems on Southern, but it did not come from the rail company. He made a claim under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 because he did not receive the service that he was due when he paid for his annual season ticket.