Virgin Trains red-faced after ‘incorrect’ ticket decision

Virgin Trains has apologised to a passenger who was told she had to buy a new ticket for her journey home, after the original had been left in her hotel when it was evacuated following a fire at Liverpool’s Echo Arena car park on December 31.

Joanne Gubb contacted Virgin West Coast’s Twitter team to say that her family’s train ticket was still in the hotel after she and fellow guests were evacuated. She said in her tweet that even though she had a proof of purchase, VT staff refused to let her travel unless she purchased a new ticket.

The VT Twitter team had responded: “Appreciate that Joanne. However, I’m afraid that if you have Advance tickets then a new ticket would need to be purchased today.”

A VT spokesman told RAIL that the decision was “incorrect” and was immediately rectified, with Gubb’s family able to travel on the next VT service from Liverpool Lime Street. He said that other passengers affected were advised to speak to staff at the station.

VT issued a statement on January 1 saying: “Our people at Liverpool station were aware of the unfortunate events of yesterday and assisted passengers on a case by case basis to help them get where they needed to go. For those who contacted us via social media, we dealt with most of these messages privately. With the case of @jogubb, our team resolved this as quickly as they could and she and her family travelled on the next train.”