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Winners and losers in delay-repay compensation

06.02.2009

Passenger Focus presses for more equitable assessment of refunds.

• Location:  London
• Train company:  London Midland

A feature of the new London Midland (LM) franchise is a change to the way passengers are compensated for lateness. Previously, many season ticket holders received a discount of five or 10% through Passenger Charter arrangements when renewing their tickets, because of poor train performance.

Research with passengers had indicated dissatisfaction with the Charter method of compensation,
because many passengers didn’t understand the Charter arrangements, so Passenger Focus had recommended the introduction of delay/repay-style compensation in the franchise. This directly links compensation to delays in individual passenger journeys. However, there are winners and losers in this change.

Charter compensation was restricted for some causes of delays whereas delay/repay pays out for all delays. Among those who lose out are commuters whose individual journey delays do not exceed 30 minutes but who regularly suffer delays of five minutes or more. Moreover, many passengers do not claim for small amounts to which they are entitled, and rail travel vouchers received as compensation cannot yet be offset against direct debit payments for their season ticket. In highlighting these concerns to the train company, Passenger Focus expects LM to take these issues into account and review its procedures to make the process of claiming and obtaining compensation for passengers easier and more equitable for passengers who suffer from sustained poor performance.