On 25th April I travelled from Chester to Wokingham. Due to shenanigans at Stafford I arrived in Wokingham at 2103 rather than the expected 2003. I would like some help knowing what I should be claiming and how to do it please.
The proposed journey was:
1632 Avanti Chester to Stafford ar. 1713
1721 XC Stafford to Reading ar. 1941
1957 GWR Reading to Wokingham ar. 2003
For this I had 3 tickets from the forum’s trainsplit service:
Chester to Birmingham International, Anytime Single 1st, 1 adult @ £58.60
Birmingham International to Banbury, Anytime Day Single 1st, 1 adult @ £29.30
Banbury to Wokingham, Anytime Day Single 1st, 1 adult @ £55.00
Total £142.90 (+ additional £21.51 savings fee)
At Stafford,
Had I managed to get on it the 1721 would have got me to Wokingham as expected.
Given the train was not delayed but I was (the advertised first class was not available for the majority of the journey and I could not get on it in Standard) could you please advise me what I should be claiming for? I suspect the delay repay online system would tell me that the trains ran and there was no delay, if so, where should I direct the claim please?
Thanks in advance for all help.
The proposed journey was:
1632 Avanti Chester to Stafford ar. 1713
1721 XC Stafford to Reading ar. 1941
1957 GWR Reading to Wokingham ar. 2003
For this I had 3 tickets from the forum’s trainsplit service:
Chester to Birmingham International, Anytime Single 1st, 1 adult @ £58.60
Birmingham International to Banbury, Anytime Day Single 1st, 1 adult @ £29.30
Banbury to Wokingham, Anytime Day Single 1st, 1 adult @ £55.00
Total £142.90 (+ additional £21.51 savings fee)
At Stafford,
- the 1721 (Manchester to Reading XC service) came in crowded - I subsequently learnt that the 1700 Manchester to Bristol Temple Meads XC service had been cancelled between Manchester and Birmingham which explains the severe crowding.
- First Class was advertised as being at the front of the train. When it arrived, First Class was not at the front but at the back, so I went along the platform to board First only to find that the main door was locked out of use
- I went to the guard’s door to ask if I could board First there. He informed me that the First class carriage was out of operation and I should board Standard Class and claim a refund
- By this time it was impossible to enter Standard as we now had 10 carriages worth of people crowded into 4 carriages. Some others were also left behind.
- I went to see the ticket office to enquire about re-routing via London. With split tickets she claimed it was difficult and would need to sell me a new ticket and then I could claim a refund on the existing one. Looking at the times, going via Euston would have got me in at 20:53, only 10 minutes earlier than the 21:03 of waiting for a connection via Birmingham and Banbury. Given the hassle of refunding tickets was likely to take more than the 10 mins saved, I decided not to bother
- I then took the following trains:
1801 Stafford to Birmingham New Street ar. 1839 [so I could buy food at BHM]
1901 Birmingham New Street to Reading ar. 2040
2054 Reading to Wokingham ar. 2103
Had I managed to get on it the 1721 would have got me to Wokingham as expected.
Given the train was not delayed but I was (the advertised first class was not available for the majority of the journey and I could not get on it in Standard) could you please advise me what I should be claiming for? I suspect the delay repay online system would tell me that the trains ran and there was no delay, if so, where should I direct the claim please?
Thanks in advance for all help.