Transport User Voice January 2025 – Helping passengers

23 December 2024

Challenging denied refund requests 

This month we’ve been helping rail passengers across the country to find a solution to long standing problems. Find out how we supported a passenger who struggled with a refund request. 

Having purchased a ticket from the ticket website Trainpal for a return journey that was cancelled, Mr L travelled using alternative transport for part of the journey. Mr L then boarded a Great Western Railway (GWR) service for the next leg, scanning the ticket, before the train was cancelled part way due to bad weather. Mr L then sought a refund for this cancellation. 

Trainpal initially declined his refund request due to the tickets being scanned, so Mr L came to Transport Focus for help. Transport Focus took up the case and contacted GWR for help after initially communicating with Trainpal.  

We explained that Mr L had to scan his ticket to access part of the journey and that there had been no advance warning of the cancellation. We also highlighted the additional inconvenience of the passenger having to pay for a taxi to make up for the cancelled leg of the journey.  

GWR had recognised that this was a difficult journey for the passenger and decided to step outside of its usual procedures to offer help on this case. The operator confirmed that they had submitted a delay repay claim for Mr L and reimbursed him for the full cost of his alternative transport.  

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