Clarity on CIV and compensation for continental travellers

A reader brought a very interesting case to me, where I had to seek clarification from colleagues at the Rail Delivery Group.

She had booked (from Eurostar) tickets for several people from Leeds to Paris, made up of Leeds to London International plus London to Paris tickets. This is the best way of buying the fare as it allows maximum protection should things go wrong.

On the outward journey, there was an East Coast fatality leading to huge delays and they missed their Eurostar train. Under the rules for international journeys she was automatically put onto the next Paris service.

Her question was: did she have a right to compensation from Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) for the domestic leg of the journey to London, just as would have applied had she bought normal Leeds-London tickets?

Now, when you buy a ticket to London International it gives you the valuable rights of transfers onto the next international train. But the ticket is not covered in any way by National Conditions of Travel (which, incidentally, is the correct title since the previous National Conditions of Carriage were superseded in October 2016).

Indeed, the National Conditions do say: “For international rail journeys to or from continental Europe and Ireland, a different set of conditions apply. These are called the ‘Uniform Rules concerning the Contract for International Carriage of Passengers and Luggage by Rail’ ( commonly known as ‘CIV’).”

The RDG explained to me that CIV rules provide specific and important protections for international through ticketing, while the Passengers’ Charter for compensation is an arrangement funded by UK government for the domestic rail network.

However, its view was that in such cases, the operator that caused the delay should consider a case on its merits and make an exgratia payment that is appropriate to the circumstances.

It would apply only to the domestic leg, and not cover the entire fare to Paris. RDG emphasised that it was not suggesting that the customer should get nothing at all, but simply that in legal terms passengers cannot demand domestic rights because they are making a wholly international journey covered by CIV rights instead.

Our reader applied to VTEC and received the same compensation as she would have done with a domestic Leeds-London fare of the same price - and note that it made no difference that she had bought her tickets from Eurostar.

She was pleased, but I thought it worth spelling out the facts so readers are fully informed for future journeys.