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Strains |
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to get a
twenty-year franchise while refusing to abide by the rules of the existing
one (and running
those cramped, claustrophobic, toilet-smelling trains on the “West Coast Main
Line”) |
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Correspondence With Virgin What follows immediately below is the complaint that was made on the
same day as the incident where travel was refused. It was written hurriedly and angrily, but
is completely unambiguous with respect to describing exactly what tickets
were held. Note that no refund has yet
been received, months after the incident. Virgin Trains Customer Services had six weeks to read this before
bothering to respond, and when they are forced to admit that they are in the
wrong, any of defence of “misunderstanding” will be implausible. Complaint Made 18 March 2009 I was
in possession of a zones 1 - 2 travelcard season ticket stored on Oyster. I
purchased, from the <local station> ticket office, an Anytime return
ticket from Boundary Zone 2 to Milton Keynes. This
was a valid combination of National Rail season ticket and extension for any
train departing from Euston. On 18 March 2009 at Euston I attempted to board
the 0843 departure from platform 3. Virgin staff who I think were called
Frank and Ade (from what I saw of their badges) refused to let me get the
train and accused me of trying to travel without a ticket. They
didn't have any Oyster readers with which to prove their allegation. They
should have allowed me on the train, given that the lack of equipment was their
problem, or at least found a colleague with a reader. Instead, they took away
both my ticket and my Oyster card and took me to the other side of the
station, causing me to miss a number of subsequent trains and making my
journey pointless. During
the walk, although they knew perfectly well that I had a valid ticket
combination, they laughed and smirked and said "you are not going to get
that train". It was clear that they were enjoying abusing their power by
preventing me from travelling. They
made a number of statements. · ·
"We don't
accept Oyster." (Irrelevant, because I had a travelcard.) · ·
"You should
have used London Midland." (False. It was the most expensive possible
ticket, valid on any train.) · ·
"You will have
to get another ticket." (False. They knew perfectly well that I had a
valid ticket.) For
some reason they approached a Police CLO, and told him the same lies. There
was nothing he could do. Then they introduced me to a supervisor called John,
who simply backed up everything that they had said. In
the end I realised that it was a waste of time, because it was too late to
travel, and asked for a refund, and they took me to the ticket office and
left me there. At no
time did they make any attempt to use an Oyster reader to confirm that I had
a valid travelcard (surely there must be one on Euston Station somewhere). Please explain to me Virgin's policy of abuse of power over customers with valid tickets. Response from Virgin After More Than Six Weeks,
Dated 4 May 2009 Thank you for your correspondence which was received
in this office on 20 March 2009. Unfortunately Virgin trains [sic] do not participate
in the Oyster Scheme as we are primarily a long distance train operator. The National rail website shows which train
operating companies running from London participate in the Oyster scheme [false: the information relates only to Pay As You
Go]. The website states that if
you have a Travelcard on your Oyster card
[note that there is no doubt that they were aware that this related to
a travelcard season ticket] you can use it on any National Rail, or Transport
for London service within the Fare Zones for which it is valid. The website offers you to view a London
Connection Map showing that London Midland is the participating Operating
Company available for the route on which your ticket would have been valid [blatant lie: the
map shows only where the zones are, and the TfL site states that travelcards
are valid on ALL National Rail services in the relevant zones, except to
Heathrow Airport]. This
information is also conveyed on the Transport of London [sic] website [another lie: there is no such information there]. The ticket you held was, therefore, not valid for
travel on our services [blatant lie: see sections 19 and 9 of the National Rail Conditions of Carriage]. Understandably, this response caused a lot of anger and upset. First Telephone Call to Virgin Trains Customer
Services, 8 May 2009 A conversation took place with a Customer Services Assistant and
subsequently a manager, with the purpose of pointing out their mistake with
respect to the National Rail Conditions of Carriage. The manager was asked to get a copy of the
Conditions. After a lot of
obfuscation, he stated categorically that Virgin Trains has its own rule not
to apply the National Rail Conditions of Carriage with respect to valid
season ticket/extension combinations if the season ticket is stored on
Oyster, and this rule was on the Virgin Trains website. This statement was requested in writing, but has not been
received. Not surprising, because it
is a lie. There is no such rule on the
Virgin Trains website (and if there was, it would be a breach of the National
Rail Conditions of Carriage). Second Telephone Call to Virgin Trains Customer
Services, 8 May 2009 A second call was made to Virgin Trains Customer Services to ascertain
where the rule was on the Virgin Trains website. This time the Assistant admitted that no
such rule exists on the site. When
asked how a customer could know which of the Conditions of Carriage don’t
apply, given that there is no information, the Assistant claimed that there
is nothing in the Conditions of Carriage to say that Virgin has to accept
valid tickets on Oyster. This is false. See section 9 of
the National Rail Conditions of Carriage. The Assistant likened the hundreds of thousands of valid National Rail
season tickets stored on Oyster to someone printing a ticket on tissue paper,
which they wouldn’t have to accept.
The conversation had become ridiculous and clearly a different tack
had to be taken. Letter to Joan Ruddock MP, dated 29 April 2009 In the meantime, my MP had written to the Chief Executive of Virgin
Trains, and then very disappointingly allowed herself to be fobbed of with
some ludicrous obfuscation. A letter
came from Alan Robey in the Chief Executive’s office, accompanied by an
irrelevant map of routes on which Pay As You Go is accepted. Initially, one might have put this down to
incompetence and not reading things properly, but by this time there was no
doubt about the fact that the complaint related to a travelcard season ticket
and extension. This was either total idiocy or very deliberate and blatant obfuscation,
as follows. Thank you for your letter dated 25 March concerning
correspondence from Mr <complainant>, Tony Collins has asked me to
reply. I note the difficulties Mr <complainant>
encountered but the conditions relating to the Oyster Card are clear in
respect to what services may be used. For your information, I have enclosed the relevant
information. The information enclosed related to Pay As You Go, and was clearly
totally irrelevant. Virgin is deliberately stonewalling on this issue at the highest
level. How can they possibly think
that they are going to get away with it?
They will not. Update: Letter from Sarah Brassington, Virgin
Customer Relations, dated 11 May 2009 Thank you for your telephone call received on 8 May
2009. I am sorry to learn that you were dissatisfied with
our previous response but can confirm that we do not accept Oyster cards or
any travelcards held on those cards at all on our services. [a confession in writing that they are in
breach of contract] It does state on the section on the site
[what site?] relating to the use of Oyster cards on National Rail services that
between London Euston and Watford Junction, the service provider is London
Midland. The last sentence is gibberish.
In any case, it was established in the second telephone conversation
that there is no such statement on the Virgin website, and it certainly isn’t
on the Transport for London website.
However, with this written confession, the legal case against them is
complete. Update: Letter from Alan Robey, Chief Executive's
Office, dated 23 October 2009 Further to previous correspondence regarding
acceptance of Oyster Cards on our services from London to Milton Keynes. I am now in a position to confirm that Oyster Card
Season tickets will now be accepted on our services, in conjunction with an
add on "paper ticket", which, when necessary, will be issued by
ticket office staff, all relevant staff have been briefed on the aforementioned
arrangements. May I take this opportunity to apologise on behalf
of Virgin Trains for any misleading information you received, and for the
length of time taken to bring the matter to a conclusion. I remain confident that the information you
originally received was given in good faith but we got it wrong and very much
regret the unnecessary hassle we caused you. [an offer of complimentary tickets follows] Judge for yourself whether the previous communications, listed above,
could conceivably have been in "good faith", given that attention
had been drawn to the Conditions of Carriage, which are unambiguous. Consider the time taken and the blatant
lies about websites and other nonsense.
More likely the grudging acceptance of the rules in this letter is the
result of political pressure. The
implication that there was ever any choice in the matter is disconcerting. |
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