Unhappy?
This is what you need to do
If you have a complaint
Rail services
If you have a complaint about the railway or the service you have received from a train company then you should complain to the service provider involved. Most complaints can be resolved in the first instance by dealing directly with the company responsible.
We cannot become involved until the train company has had a chance to resolve the matter for you, but we are happy to give you advice about the best way to make your complaint.
If you are unhappy with the outcome of your complaint or you do not feel the train company handled it appropriately you can ask us to follow it up.
British Transport Police
If your complaint is about the British Transport Police or the conduct of its Officers or Staff then you should complain directly to the British Transport Police.
Use these templates to help you make a complaint
We've put together the following Microsoft Word templates to help you make a complaint.
You can also open these templates in the free-of-charge OpenOffice Writer if you don't have Microsoft Word. You can download the OpenOffice software by following the link below:
Download OpenOffice
To use the templates, fill in the grey boxes with the details of your individual complaint.
To download them follow the links below:
Case of the week
Each week we will feature a new case where Passenger Focus has been contacted by a passenger who has already been turned away or given an unsatisfactory response from a train operating company.
Sometimes these cases will be successes where we have managed to get the passenger their money back or even compensation. However, we will also highlight cases where we have not been successful and detail the reasons behind this.
Each month on average we get over £4800 back for passengers who have already been turned down by the train company.
The Case:
Four passengers will receive a refund of £544 from Virgin Trains after being issued Unpaid Fares Notices (UFN).
The passengers had Advance tickets for the Manchester Piccadilly-Euston 11.15 service on 12 December. Upon arrival, they asked a member of staff on platform if the waiting train was the Euston train which they were informed it was. They boarded the train and waited for it to depart.
However, at 11.20 they noticed there cleaners onboard and started to worry as there was no announcement about the train being delayed. They also asked the cleaners if this was the Euston train. When the train departed at 11.35, they were informed by the train manager that they were on the wrong train and that the 11.15 train departed from platform 5. They were on platform 6 on the later service. As a result they were issued with UFNs of £123.50 each.
The fact that information about the trains departing from the platforms was not sufficiently announced was escalated to Virgin Trains. Passenger Focus deemed it unfair to charge the passengers an additional charge of £123.50 as they had already purchased valid tickets on the previous service. The revenue for the incorrect train was taken unfairly.
As a result, Passenger Focus has reminded Virgin Trains that timely and accurate information should be provided to all passengers about platform alterations to avoid confusion.