New body will ensure train firms pay up for poor service
Ombudsman to handle complaints in attempt to raise satisfaction levels
TRAIN companies will be forced to pay compensation to passengers who have received poor service when a rail ombudsman is established later this year.
All train companies will have to sign up to the rail ombudsman scheme, which will handle complaints from passengers, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has announced.
More than half of all passengers who complain to a train company are unsatisfied with the resolution, official figures show. If they are unhappy with the outcome of a dispute passengers can contact Transport Focus, the transport watchdog, or take the company to a small claims court.
The ORR said the change
‘Surveys show that passengers are often dissatisfied with the way complaints are handled’
was necessary to assure passengers that complaints would have independent scrutiny, with the hope that satisfaction levels would rise as a result. The ombudsman will be “free and independent” and able to make decisions that are binding for rail companies.
Stephanie Tobyn, the ORR’S deputy director of consumers, said: “Our surveys show that passengers are often dissatisfied with the way complaints are handled, and this damages their trust in rail companies and the industry in general.
“An ombudsman scheme will give passengers real certainty, consistency and clarity in how their complaints are handled; that is why we want every rail company to be required to join it.”
A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group said: “The partnership railway, in its recently published longterm plan, has committed to increase customer satisfaction by improving the railway to remain the top-rated major railway in Europe. The creation of a new ombudsman, supported by the industry, will help build confidence in our services and we are pleased that the rail regulator supports this.”
Anthony Smith, the chief executive of Transport Focus, said: “Passengers will welcome the consistency that comes with all train companies becoming members of the new rail ombudsman scheme. The rail network needs to work as just that with no gaps in consumer protection coverage.”
Last year, rail watchdogs and MPS threatened to investigate train operators that were flouting consumer laws by failing to tell passengers about their new powers to gain compensation.
On Oct 1 2016 the Consumer Rights Act was extended to cover the rail industry, allowing passengers to claim back money for issues other than delays.
However, an investigation by The Daily Telegraph, conducted a day after the change, found that three quarters of operators had not updated their websites with details of how passengers could claim refunds.
At the time, Paul Maynard, the rail minister, urged companies to make sure their websites were updated to reflect the change in the law.
Last February, a study by Which?, the consumer body, revealed that five months later there had been virtually no improvement.
In December, the Department for Transport admitted that rail ticket machines were ripping off customers in seven out of 10 cases. The admission came a year after joint action was launched by the Government, the rail industry and consumer groups to prevent ticket machines overcharging passengers.
After The Daily Telegraph called for an end to the scandal, operators said they would ensure that machines would tell passengers if they could buy a cheaper ticket by waiting a few minutes.