Train ticket seller responds after man gets just £3.90 refund for cancelled train

A train passenger has spoken of his frustration as he was offered a £3.90 refund for a cancelled train after paying £85.90 for the tickets.

X, formerly Twitter, user Harvey Brent shared a screenshot of his ‘Refund details’ with provider Trainline, after his train to Manchester was cancelled.

He paid £85.90 for the tickets but the ‘Refundable amount’ was just £12.90, and after a £9 admin charge was deducted, he was offered just £3.90 by the group.

He said: “Looking to refund my ticket because my train to Manchester is cancelled and this is what I get. This country is so unserious I hate it.”

Express.co.uk asked Trainline for comment about Mr Brent’s ticket and the group said Mr Brent will in fact be refunded £36.20 on this return ticket. The refund applies only to his return journey, as the outbound journey happened without issue.

A spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to hear about Mr Brent’s experience and have contacted him to arrange a fee-free refund for the return element of his journey.

“We aim to make it as simple as possible for customers to claim refunds but in this instance the train operator had not updated industry systems with details of the cancelled train.

“When this happens, customers can contact our customer service team to ensure they receive the refund they are entitled to in line with industry rules.”

According to Citizens Advice, anyone can get a full refund if their train was cancelled and you couldn’t take the next train or decided not to travel.

Several people responded to Mr Brent to encourage him to look into if the train operator is signed up to Delay Repay. This does not apply to Trainline, which is a third party ticket vendor.

Some train companies refer to this process as delay compensation. Under the scheme, a person can get 50 percent of their ticket price refunded if they get to their destination between 30 minutes and an hour late.

A passenger can also get a full refund if they arrive more than one hour late under the Delay Repay scheme.

Some train companies offer an extra scheme called ‘Delay Repay 15’. In these cases, a customer is entitled to 25 percent of their ticket price if they get to their destination between 15 and 29 minutes late.

If a train operator doesn’t offer Delay Repay, you can still get compensation under rules known as the ‘National Rail Conditions of Carriage’, but you won’t get as much.

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