Train delay repay rule changes to make claims easier

Train travellers who buy discounted tickets using railcards will face additional checks, as part of a trial to crack down on ticketing fraud starting in April.

If the trial is successful, the plan will save £20m a year in lost revenue, while preventing confused passengers from being prosecuted for fare evasion, the Department for Transport says

A separate scheme will also make it easier for passengers who buy their tickets from third-party retailers such as Trainline to claim compensation for late or cancelled services under the Delay Repay scheme.

This plan is expected to come into force when the new national rail operator Great British Railways is up and running.

Currently, all compensation claims have to be made directly with the train operator responsible for each service. According to the DfT says this "creates confusion and frustration".

In future, passengers will be able to request money back directly from whoever sold them their ticket, bringing third party retailers such as Trainline into the scheme.

Last year, the Office for Rail and Road (ORR) completed a review of rail companies' tactics for dealing with fare evasion.

It concluded that while train companies had been taking more robust action to counter an increase in fare evasion, passenger safeguards had not kept pace with the changes.

It said ticket rules and restrictions could be complex, poorly explained and not widely understood, leading to passengers being penalised for genuine mistakes.

The new system for checking railcards comes in response to several cases where the ORR said passengers appeared to have made genuine mistakes when using a railcard, yet were still pursued for fare evasion.

In future, railcard users will have to complete what is described as a "simple verification step", whether they buy their ticket online, at a machine or in a ticket office.

Once verified, passengers will automatically see the correct discount they are entitled to. Trials are due to begin later this year, on the Greater Anglia and C2C networks.

The government says the new scheme will help passengers feel confident they were purchasing valid tickets, as well as preventing fraudulent use.

The Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the changes would ensure people could claim compensation more easily, while ensuring taxpayers' money was invested in freezing fares and paying for train and station upgrades, rather than being lost to fare dodgers and fraud.