Cancellation of trains booked in adance

Sat 17 Feb 2018, 15:25

Yep I use Banbury for going up north and drive to Cheltenham for the south and west.

Sat 17 Feb 2018, 15:18

It's happened to me three times over the past six months. On each occasion my train that was booked from Charlbury was cancelled, which threw out all my other reservations. You can , as I did, then use any other trains that day without penalty. Also, do claim compensation. Since last October I have received £133 from GWR, but do claim on-line, not by post.

Sat 17 Feb 2018, 14:22

If going north it can make sense to pick up trains at Banbury. Often drop my wife there for train to B'ham airport.

Sat 17 Feb 2018, 11:39

Does that apply to journeys with multiple connections? When my daughter goes back to York sometimes she needs to change at Oxford and Birmingham. If the train from here is late, and she misses the other two do they let her travel all the way to York from Oxford without having to buy additional tickets provided she goes the same route?

Sat 17 Feb 2018, 10:09

Section 9.4 of the National Rail Conditions of Travel is clear on the issue of advance tickets and connecting trains:
Notwithstanding Condition 9.2 (b) above, if you are using an advance Ticket and
you miss your booked train because a previous connecting train service was
delayed, you will be able to travel on the next train service provided by the Train Company with whom you were booked without penalty.

Fri 16 Feb 2018, 20:03

My son was going to get the 7.31am train to Reading to change for Guildford.

Fri 16 Feb 2018, 19:39 (last edited on Fri 16 Feb 2018, 19:45)

Richard's analysis for January is on the Great Western Failway thread (Feb. 8th). The 10.08 was actually worse than the 9.41 that month; it was cancelled 14% of the time, and arrived in Paddington (when it ran) on average 7 minutes late.

But now the pattern seems to be reversed, with the 10.08 running more frequently than the 9.41. If there was only some way of predicting cancellations (i.e. a revised timetable), we would know what best to do!

You can keep up with the pattern on the Great Western Coffee Shop website, or click on the link in Richard's reply below here & do a search there. Also, I suggest looking each morning at the top right of this website to see if anything is improving.

For Brighton there are so many alternative trains, I don't think you need to worry too much, even if you are changing at Reading - as opposed to London - where your choices will be more limited.

Fri 16 Feb 2018, 17:57

Thanks very much Christine its very clear
We are going on the 10.08 how reliable is that?

Fri 16 Feb 2018, 17:45

Twice this year, though on average it's arrived 12 minutes late at Paddington: tinyurl.com/yd7gkftj . It has however repeatedly been replaced with a two or three coach train (it should be eight). It might be worth aiming for the 7.12 instead.

Fri 16 Feb 2018, 17:22

Does anyone know if the 7.31am train from Charlbury has been cancelled much this year?

Fri 16 Feb 2018, 16:12

Tony, The National Rail page for this is here: www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46546.aspx

And here is the one for GWR: https://www.gwr.com/help-and-support/refunds-and-compensation/unused-ticket-refunds This also gives a link to the refund form.

As I understand it, you can use the tickets on a later train if the first one is cancelled or delayed. You can also change the time of travel on the first train, as long as you do this in advance of the departure date. If the first train is cancelled or delayed for so long that you decide not to travel, you can claim for a refund for the whole journey.

I'm also wondering about a trip to Scotland that I have booked for March, & will probably set out for Oxford earlier than I had planned, given that the 9.41 seems to be cancelled on such a regular basis. Such a nuisance!

Fri 16 Feb 2018, 12:21

We have bought advanced rail tickets from Charlbury to Brighton in March. We are now wondering what the position is if GWR cancel the Charlbury to London leg of the journey?
Can we travel on a later train or would we need to buy new tickets at full price?