Call is just the ticket

May 8 2011 by Mr Justice, Sunday Sun

FROM the industry which brought you the wrong type of leaves on the track, and then the wrong type of snow, comes ... the wrong type of ticket.

Train passenger Lynn Carr applied for a refund when her journey from Newcastle to Leeds was cancelled because of a signaling failure.

But TransPennine gave her half of what she wanted because she had the wrong type of ticket for a full refund.

The company gave Lynn a £15 voucher when she had paid £30 for tickets there and back.

Lynn, of Leam Lane Estate, Gateshead, told me what had happened.

She said: “I was on my way to a hen night but the train got no further than Durham.

“I was stuck in Durham for six hours before giving up and heading back home.

“I applied for a refund but all I got was a voucher for the price of a ticket to Leeds.

“There was nothing for the return journey, which seemed a strange decision.”

That’s exactly what I pointed out to TransPennine when I asked what was going on.

Lynn had a legitimate ticket to get back from Leeds, but could not use it when she couldn’t get there in the first place.

A spokesman for TransPennine said: “The reason we only gave a partial refund was because the customer had purchased two single tickets.

“According to our passenger charter we only have to recompense for the journey affected by delays.”

Got that, I could see where they were coming from, but could anything be done for a passenger who didn’t see eye-to-eye with the passenger charter?

He went on: “What we will do, as a gesture of good will, is send a cheque for £30 and she can keep the voucher.

“It is something above and beyond what we have to do.”

It was nice to put Lynn on the right track in her dispute over the rail company’s rules.