Travel plans derailed in lost tickets row

READER JIM TAKES THE PLANE AFTER VIRGIN REJECT

REGULAR reader Jim Aitken was left high and dry by a rail firm. Jim, from Glasgow, told me that Virgin Trains rejected his pleas for help after he lost his tickets a week before he was due to travel to London.

Jim, a regular user of Richard Branson’s company, was planning to use return tickets which cost him more than £200.

It’s a journey he has done many times with the train operator. He booked his tickets online and then printed them from a machine at Glasgow Central.

But before making his business trip to London, Jim flew to Barcelona to watch Celtic at the Camp Nou.

While there he lost his phone and wallet, with his tickets inside.

Jim assumed that if he visited the Virgin ticket office he would be able to have a new set issued. But this wasn’t the case.

Virgin were quite clear they were not going to issue replacements as the old tickets could still be used by anyone who found them.

Jim told me: “I could understand it if the tickets had been lost in Glasgow or even somewhere in the UK, but they were lost in Spain.

“There was very little chance of them ever being used, plus I had reserved seating. But Virgin wasn’t even prepared to hear my story.

“It seems they have rules to protect profits and not the customer. I use Virgin quite a lot, but on this occasion I had to make alternative arrangements. It turned out to be cheaper and quicker for me to fly than to replace the tickets.”

I contacted Virgin to see if they would be willing to help Jim out, given the circumstances around the loss of the tickets.

It seemed to me that there could be some flexibility.

Sadly, the person I got in their Glasgow press office was totally uninterested.

They only gave what I consider is a pathetic response: “We’re clear with our customers about which tickets can and can’t be refunded and follow best industry practice as laid out in the Conditions of Carriage.” The fact of the matter is that tickets which have been printed over the counter or at a machine in the station are not replaceable.

So if you lose them you will need to buy a new set of tickets.

On the back of this cautionary tale, my advice to Virgin customers is to use the E Ticket option.

That means the tickets are emailed to you, so if you lose them you can print off a new set.