Special compensation for Northern passengers

11 July 2018

Responding to the announcement of special compensation for Northern rail passengers, Anthony Smith, chief executive of the independent watchdog Transport Focus, said:

“Rail passengers in the north of England have suffered months of cancellations and delays followed by the chaos of the May timetable change. While services have now stabilised, punctuality remains unacceptable and passengers will still be feeling raw.

“Passengers with season tickets in the areas covered by this scheme will welcome this long overdue cash compensation.

“It’s now vital that the train companies actively encourage passengers to claim, make it easy for them to do so, and process these swiftly once claims open.

“We still want to see meaningful compensation for regular passengers who don’t use a season ticket – such as part-time workers. We urge the Department for Transport, Transport for the North and train operators to recognise that unreliable timetables affect everyone, not just season ticket holders.

“While compensation is vital, it’s no substitute for the restoration of a full, reliable service as promised from the end of July. Since punctuality remains poor under the temporary timetable, we continue to press Northern and TransPennine Express to reduce the trigger for delay compensation from 30 to 15 minutes.”