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What Happens When Things Go Wrong
All our people involved in running Virgin Trains will do their best to ensure that the service meets and, we hope, surpasses expectations and Passenger's Charter standards. We realise, however, that things do occasionally go wrong. When they do we will do our best to put things right. While it is appropriate that we outline the specific commitments below, most importantly we promise always to treat all our customers with care and respect.
5.1 Looking After You When Services Are Delayed
Our people are trained to identify and resolve any journey difficulties you may have. Sometimes problems occur outside our control that affect your journey. We will do our best to advise you of any delays as they occur before you join one of our trains. If you are travelling with Virgin Trains and are delayed for more than one hour waiting for a train at a station, we will, where possible, provide you with vouchers for free non-alcoholic drinks. If your train is cancelled and the subsequent train is two or more hours later, transport will be provided to the nearest railway station that can conveniently be used to enable you to reach your destination station, or, at our discretion, your actual destination. Where onward travel on the same day is not possible (either by train or by suitable alternative transport) we will provide overnight hotel accommodation. We will make every effort to ensure your comfort as soon as we are aware of any problems, and will keep you informed of developments. Where facilities are available, we will provide you with a covered waiting area with seats and refreshments. If you have already joined our train and it is delayed for more than 30 minutes we will provide complimentary non-alcoholic drinks until stocks are exhausted, and keep you informed of developments. We will give you full information about any delay to your train at regular intervals during your journey, as well as regular announcements giving the planned station stops and approaching stations. Our onboard Customer Service team will help you with onward journey planning. Announcements of the delay will be made at staffed stations along the route. We will pass information to people meeting our customers where possible. In the event that disruption to the service causes delay, we will get you to your destination station or arrange alternative transport where this is not practical and appropriate or, if your onward journey is not possible, get you back to your originating station or make appropriate arrangements for stranded passengers.
5.2 Compensation
If your train is delayed or cancelled, or a delay or cancellation of a Virgin train causes a delay to your overall journey, you may be entitled to claim compensation. If not, we will consider claims on an ex-gratia basis. We do not normally accept claims in cases where trains are delayed if you were notified of the delay before you purchased your ticket and you still decide to travel. We will, however, consider each case on its own merits. If a delay to a Virgin train causes an hour or more delay to your journey (45 minutes in the case of a train on the London -Birmingham/Wolverhampton services) we will reimburse you with National Rail vouchers equal to 25% of the total fare paid for the affected portion (outwards/return) of the journey. Alternatively, if you are delayed on a Virgin train by more than 2 hours we will reimburse you with National Rail vouchers equal to the full price paid for the affected portion (outwards/return) of the journey. All we ask is that you provide us with your name, address and fare paid, on a Virgin Trains postage-paid claim form provided and validated by our onboard people at the time of the delay. If this is not possible, please write to us at the address shown in section 6 of this Charter. Please include your ticket as proof of purchase. National Rail vouchers, which can be redeemed against journeys on Virgin Trains, or on other Train Operating Companies’ services will then be sent to you. This applies to holders of all tickets, including season ticket holders.
5.3 Refunds
5.3.1 Immediate Refund:
If the train you planned to catch is delayed or cancelled and you decide not to travel, we will, where possible, give you a full refund if you return your ticket to any ticket office. Alternatively you may claim a refund by writing to our Customer Relations Manager.
5.3.2 Refund Later:
(This is not applicable to Virgin Value, APEX and certain other advanced purchase tickets).If you decide for some reason other than train cancellation or delay not to use ticket you have bought, you can apply for a refund at any staffed station. In this case, we may charge an administration fee.
5.3.3 Travel Agents:
If you bought your ticket through a travel agent, you should return it to the agent, who will arrange a refund.
5.4 Claiming a Discount on Your Season Ticket:
We intend to achieve standards set for punctuality and reliability for our Cross Country trains and for our three West Coast service groups - Euston to Birmingham/Wolverhampton, Euston to the North West and Euston to Scotland. Should we fail by more than a small margin, as detailed below, we will offer discounts to passengers holding monthly and longer period season tickets on the group of services affected, when they renew their tickets. To claim a discount you will need to buy your new ticket within four weeks of the expiry of the old one. The new ticket must be for the same journey and for a period that is the same or shorter than your original season ticket. If you are not renewing your season ticket, we will give you an equivalent value of National Rail vouchers, or a cash refund. The following will be excluded from performance statistics: Sundays, Bank Holidays, days when season tickets have been extended because delays and cancellations meant no effective service was provided, and delays and cancellations when disruption was caused by matters outside the control of the rail industry (such as vandalism, security alerts or extreme weather affecting all modes of transport).
5.4.1 5% Discounts:
If, on average over the previous 12 months, either punctuality has been more than 3percentage points below the 90% target, or reliability more than 1 percentage point below the 99% target, we will give a discount of 5%.
5.4.2 10% Discounts:
If both punctuality and reliability are below these thresholds we will give a discount of 10%.
5.5 Season Ticket Extensions or Refunds:
We will extend the validity of your season ticket, or give a refund, for the days when we are unable to offer an effective train service and no alternative service, such as a bus link, was offered. These days, which we call 'void days', are shown on the posters on which we publish our performance results(see 2.1). These days are excluded from our performance statistics.
5.6 Weekly Season Tickets:
If you have a weekly season ticket, or weekly or daily Travelcard, the schemes for season ticket discounts extensions and refunds do not apply to you. If your train is delayed for more than one hour (45 minutes in the case of a train on the London -Birmingham/Wolverhampton services) we will offer you National Rail vouchers for future rail travel on the same basis as someone who buys a daily ticket.
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