Transport User Voice – February 2023 – Helping passengers

30 January 2023

Sorting Railcards and refunds

Exemption perception

Mr H applied for a Disabled Persons Railcard (DPRC) but it was rejected as he couldn’t provide an prescription payment exemption certificate. Mr H is over 60 and has epilepsy, so no longer pays for prescriptions, and couldn’t provide a certificate. Railcard refunded the money when Mr H appealed. The Railcard team was alerted to the issue and agreed to change the wording around having to provide an exemption certificate when applying for a DPRC. The information on the website was changed to say that people living in England and over 60 no longer have to send an exemption form. The team also offered to contact Mr H to help him buy a DPRC and with this assistance Mr H now has a DPRC.

Cancellation consternation

Part of Mr I’s journey was cancelled so he decided to cancel his whole journey. He was able to get a refund on the disrupted booking and later requested a full refund on the additional two bookings from Trainline. This was declined in line with industry rules as the request was made beyond the 28 day limit. Transport Focus challenged this as policy states if any part of a journey was disrupted it is likely that a person would not wish to or be able to travel. Trainline agreed and provided a full refund as a goodwill gesture.

 

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