Form-filling ‘maze’ hits claims for rail delays

DELAYED rail passengers are being forced to provide up to 24 pieces of information to qualify for compensation.

A report by consumer group Which? has accused rail operators of trying to deter customers by making them ‘navigate a compensation maze’.

The group said passengers claimed for only 34 per cent of journeys where money is owed for delays or cancellations. Official figures show train punctuality fell to a 13-year low last year.

Most companies have ‘delay repay’ schemes where passengers can claim for delays of more than a set time.

But in the worst cases, Which? discovered that five companies – Greater Anglia, London Northwestern, ScotRail, Transport for Wales and West Midlands Trains

‘Information is on the ticket’

– are requiring passengers to submit 13 different pieces of information about their ticket in this part of the form.

This includes cost, class, how it was paid for, whether it was peak time and dates – even though most of this information is displayed on a photo of the paper ticket which passengers must upload as proof of purchase.

The same five firms also ask for seven pieces of information about the journey including the departure time, length of delay and reason for the delay, which Which? says they should already know.

As many as 14 of the 24 train companies asked passengers for more detailed information such as the ticket reference number.

Industry body the Rail Delivery Group said such questions ensured passengers were compensated as quickly as possible while guarding against fraudulent claims. It said there had been an 80 per cent increase in compensation over the past two years to £81million a year.