A Better, Reliable Train Service?
Claim compensation from Arriva Trains Wales for delayed services on the Cambrian Line from Aber towards Wolverhampton/Birmingham New Street - how?
If your journey is delayed by more than 30 minutes due to 'a fault of Arriva Train Wales', you can claim compension in the form of travel vouchers - i.e. so instead of paying cash for your next journey you can use these vouchers for some of the value. You need to pick up a Customer Comments Form, available at train stations or probably onboard from the ticket inspector, fill it out and detail the delays you experienced, include your train tickets, and send it back to the Freepost address provided. You need to do so within 28 days of travel.
I can't believe it took me two and a half years to realize this - I've complained via the website before but nothing came of it then. The Customer Comments Form doesn't say 'compensation' anywhere on the front of the leaflet - you have to flip it open and read the notes to realize that you can claim compensation.
I was travelling from Aber to Birmingham NS at the end of term in December. The train service stopped at Wolverhampton and I missed the Virgin service that I was supposed to be on that would take me onwards to London. In the end, I arrived in London an hour later than I was supposed to - which has become an expectation in my time here in Aber. I spotted the comments form while waiting at Wolverhampton, filled it in, and when I returned to Aber four weeks later, a letter of apology was waiting for me, and £4 of travel vouchers. That's right, a whole £4. I don't know if that's a standard amount, or calculated by the value of my ticket - which was only £8.25 anyway for the one-way trip - and it probably won't put too much of a dent in Arriva's bottom line, but if more and more people claim compensation, and Arriva end up having to pay out more for a shoddy, perpetually-delayed service - that might just be the incentive to get the trains rolling on time.
posted by Aber Environment and Ethics @ 12:18 pm
11 Comments:
i complained for my journey before christmas too. it wasnt even really a fault of arriva... but they sent me £15 vouchers for a £23.50 journey... but i agree.. keep complainin guys.. cus they are pretty rubbish... there used to be a coastline train that went to cardiff and swansea a taxi driver was telling me the other day. but they closed it years and years ago.. but the tracks still there by all accounts. maybe if enough people requested it they might re-open? means better connections to the south of wales and the devon/cornwall part of england too :)
Thanks for the information!
I should have known this, even when the trains from or to Aber were (almost!) always on time and arriving in Birmingham NS whenever I had to use them...
Gartenkralle
Definatly the way forward - have a friend who came from Bath to visit me here in Aber and was delayed by about 40mins. Ticket price was around £30 for the single trip (bought on the platform that day - book in advance people!!!) He got a lot of this back because of the delay, Just under £20 of it!!!
Yes. Claim back your fares. In my experience it's worked like this...: if the train arrives more than half an hour late, you're entitled to 50% of your fare back. more than 1 hour late, you can get the whole one-way (or half of the return) fare back.
In Brum, the issue seems to be that if the train is late coming from aber, it turns around at wolverhampton to get back on time. This is apparently because hitting performance targets for stations in wales is more important than those in England due to assembly funding.
The problem then with this is that those turning up in Birmingham on time, find their train cancelled, and a 2 hour wait for the next one. Pretty unacceptable if you ask me. However, if you find yourself in that situation (like I have done over 5 times), go to the subcontracted virgin trains customer services desk and use their phones to lodge a complaint with Arriva and, more importantly, the rail passengers council.
May as well make some use of the 2 hour wait. Alternatively, you could revise.........
You are a god! It's about time we got our dues.
the £4 would have been a % of the cost of travel depending on the time of the delay as well, they will only count the time of delay for their trains and not the overall delay to your journey, Arriva areone of the worse ones for giving out when they mess up, it would have been taken for a single journey to wolves which cost £10.45 with a rail card and £15 without, so it will be a percentage of that rather then the total amount you spent as the money for the journey from Wolves to London would have been passed over the Virgin as they are the ones that carried you for that part of your journey. it is a shame you didnt no about this before, i have known about it for some time but i only use it if they casue major delays as you can only claim on cash sales, so if the next ticket you buy is with the travel vouchers and that is delayed you are unable to claim any money from them.
(got the link by the weekly e-mail of the faculty) Thanks a lot for the info, i'll use it as soon as possible!! I wish i had known that earlier
Good idea, Nick. Will try it next time. -Your Housemate
I got my full £40 back from ATW when it took me 9 hours to get back here from Cardiff
The first time I came to Aber was for an interview at the University - the Virgin train from London was a few minutes late in and so I missed the connection. I had to wait two hours for the next one and so I moaned that I was missing my Uni interview and kicked up a fuss and they put me in the 1st class lounge and refunded the whole £25 of the ticket.
I stole many tiny jams from the lounge and just made it to the interview on time (but missed the tour, oh well). Aber was paying for my train travel anyway so I actually made £25 profit!!
Once took me 11 hours to get from Plymouth to Aber once. I always seem to get stuck in between Shrewsbury and Aber. One time the train was so full i had to get a coach which added an extra 3 hours to my journey. Love Aber hate trains! Wish i'd know about refunds, it cost me £100 return to Aber
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