Londoners - claim back fares for Tube delays

[Stillborn Crisps]

If you ever experience delays of 15+ minutes on the Tube you can use a claim form to get back the full single fare of your delayed journey.

 

Few people bother because of the hassle of getting the form, remembering the details, filling it out and posting it off etc... but now TFL have made it soooo much easier by putting the claim for online:

https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/contacts/refunds.asp

 

Bookmark the link so you can fill it out as soon as you finally get to your desk after delays, and whilst you're still fired up enough to do it. I bet most commuters could get at least a month's worth of travel refunded over the course of a year.

 

And if enough people make it a habit to claim, with all the extra paperwork LU might think about running a proper service. ;-)

[dw190]

If you ever experience delays of 15+ minutes on the Tube you can use a claim form to get back the full single fare of your delayed journey.

 

Few people bother because of the hassle of getting the form, remembering the details, filling it out and posting it off etc... but now TFL have made it soooo much easier by putting the claim for online:

https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/contacts/refunds.asp

 

Bookmark the link so you can fill it out as soon as you finally get to your desk after delays, and whilst you're still fired up enough to do it. I bet most commuters could get at least a month's worth of travel refunded over the course of a year.

 

And if enough people make it a habit to claim, with all the extra paperwork LU might think about running a proper service. ;-)

 

Anyone who travels regular would be wise to fill in all their details excluding the dates of the delay and keep a couple of photocopies that just need finishing when a delay occurs.

[RichK]

I don't supose there is anything like this with regards to other tain operators is there?

[blueskies]

There is a similar system in place for all train operators, if you search their website for 'passengers charter' it will tell you what they are for that operator.

 

For example, on Southeastern, if you are delayed 30 minutes then you will get 50% back and for an hour you will get 100% back.

 

 

On all railway companies if you have already bought your ticket and, because of a delay, you decide not to travel then you can claim back your fare (without any admin charges).

 

edit: This doesn't apply to season ticket holders, they will get discount on renewal if average punctuality or reliability has been below a set figure over a period of time (they will display details of their figures, and eligability for discount, at all main stations)

[Stillborn Crisps]

Anyone who travels regular would be wise to fill in all their details excluding the dates of the delay and keep a couple of photocopies that just need finishing when a delay occurs.

 

The beauty of the London Underground form is you can fill it all out and submit it online - no need for photocopies or handing in, and if you have Auto-fill enabled in your browser it makes completing the form a doddle.

 

I've submited four forms in 5 days! And then I had the genius idea of getting all my travel data from LU that's been logged with my Oyster Card and claiming for all other late journeys.

 

Unfortunately LU rekon they only hold data for the last two months of travel, but I rekon they must hold it for a lot longer so they can analyse how well they're doing year on year, and in which areas they need to improve the service(!).

 

Anyone know of any way I can find out what data they hold??? I could write and ask exactly that, but given that half the banks don't really know the intricacies of the Data Protection Act I'm sure they'd fob me off with their 'two month' statement unless I knew what I was talking about.

[blueskies]

Unfortunately LU rekon they only hold data for the last two months of travel, but I rekon they must hold it for a lot longer so they can analyse how well they're doing year on year, and in which areas they need to improve the service(!).

 

You may well find that individual journeys are stored for a limited time and then the data is collated into numbers of people on which journeys etc.

Anyone know of any way I can find out what data they hold??? I could write and ask exactly that, but given that half the banks don't really know the intricacies of the Data Protection Act I'm sure they'd fob me off with their 'two month' statement unless I knew what I was talking about.

 

The same way as you would find any personal information, using a Data Protection Act S.A.R - (Subject Access Request). If the data held can identify you (as it would almost certainly would, given that you fill in an application form for an oyster card). You could get details of delays using a Freedom of Information Act request.

 

I really doubt that this would be worth doing though.

[blueskies]

I have just heard on Radio 4 an article on terrorism. In it they said that the journey details of all Londoners are kept for 2 months by LU.

 

Looks like you will not be able to go back through this method

[Stillborn Crisps]

Hmmm... I made a request over a week ago on the phone for the last 2 months travel details and they said they'd email them to me within 4 to 5 days. Nothing's shown up. :-/

 

I think I will send some sort of DPA/SAR/FOI letter though just to find out what they hold about a person.

 

In the meantime, 4 of my 5 refund claims popped through the door the other day! That's £12. If it were to carry on at this rate I'd have nearly £400 in refunds by this time next year.

 

However, the refunds are in the form of vouchers for purchasing future tickets and are valid for 13 months. I don't know what use they think this is to me, having just bought an annual card with 11.5 months left to run on it.

 

Could I force them to give me the money back properly as cash? Otherwise they're technically sitting on my money for nearly a year. Or is the whole refund system likely to be at their discretion????

[Stillborn Crisps]

I've had a reply from LU regarding how long customers' details are stored for and what happens to it afterwards, and so thought I'd post it for anyone curious:

 

Journey history can only be accessed for upto 8 weeks from the date of the request and no longer, the decision was agreed in early consultation with the Data Protection officer and was widely seen as the longest possible period for customers to raise any concerns they may have, without holding personal journey details longer than necessary in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

Once Journey history has been de-personalized after the 8 week period it cannot be re-personalized, ever. There are two systems, one for the Oyster card and one for journey data, both are linked by the Oyster card number. After 8 weeks the link is broken and the Oyster card number encrypted, it can never be reconfigured with past journey history once encryption has occurred.

 

So there you go.

 

Does anyone have any advice regarding my previous post about making them give me proper refunds in the form of cash not vouchers?

[Movingon]

I would think that any refund would have to be of value to the refundee - however if their published policy states that all refunds will be in vouchers then you're knackered. You could always return your travel card for a full refund on that and use your vouchers to travel until they run out? Or you could insist on them sending you cash refunds and pobably end up in Small Claims Court chasing the bloody thing...

[Stillborn Crisps]

Just thought I'd give an update on this, and bump it at the same time for anyone who'd not seen it.

 

To date I have acrued £35 in refunds, which is more than the cost of a weekly travelcard for me, and that's just in 4.5 months.

 

At this rate I'd be in line for £100 total refund over the course of a year.

 

Anyone else been going for these refunds and keeping a total?

 

Regarding the question about TfL giving voucher refunds instead of cash - I have asked at a station if money put on an Oyster card can be refunded back later, and have been told yes. So hopefully I can use all the vouchers I've received to put money on my card and then immediately ask for a refund.

[Stillborn Crisps]

Well it's 9 months since I religously started applying for refunds for every 15 minute (or longer) delay on the Underground.

 

My grand total now stands at a pleasing £79.

 

I have every confidence it will grow to over £100 come the 15 November 2007 (exactly one year since I started claiming).

 

My mate started claiming about the same time as me and is already near the big £100 (uses an even more unreliable tube line than me!).

 

Remember - any unforeseen delay of more than 15 minutes gets you a full single fare refunded (£5 a time now for my journey) - just click here to make your claim:

https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/tickets/refunds/tuberefund/default.asp

[rocky2005]

What about the DLR they have delays hourly lol

 

I was hour late to work today because of there shi te service

[Stillborn Crisps]

'fraid it doesn't cover DLR, Buses, Tramlink or National Rail.

[pobat]

That is good stuff. I was late for work on monday cos central line train i was broke down or something. To top it off, it was my first day of a new job!:o Manager wasn't very happy.

[Stillborn Crisps]

What about the DLR they have delays hourly lol

 

I was hour late to work today because of there shi te service

 

Rocky - just noticed on the Transport For London site you can claim for Docklands Light Railway delays - it's just on a different form to the main tube form.

 

The date field goes back to 2006 so if you can remember any from last year you should be able to get them (maybe you have a clocking in system at work, or 'late book' ;-) or it's something you mentioned in old emails if you use email at work).

 

Claim away.....!

https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/tickets/refunds/dlrrefund/

[Stillborn Crisps]

Today marks a year to the day since I started claiming back for delayed London Underground journeys.

 

I thought I'd give one final update - my total in refunds for 1 whole year stands at £107!

 

All those £3 & £4s soon add up! My only regret is that I didn't start sooner. Remember you get a FULL SINGLE FARE refunded (£3-£4) even though on a Travelcard you pay much less than that for your journey. You're quids in from the get go!

 

An unexpected bonus was the look on the woman's face when I went to redeem them all against my travel card - quite a picture as she processed each one.

 

I urge everyone to vigilantly make your claims for all delays of 15 minutes or more. Bookmark these links and let the money roll back in to your pocket:

 

London Underground delays: https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/tickets/refunds/tuberefund/

Docklands Light Railway delays: https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/tickets/refunds/dlrrefund/

 

:)

[steve165]

You gain get a print out of your oyster card usage from any LU ticket office, it takes about 30secs to print out.

I rarely use my oyster card as I don't regularily travel in thecity, but I had four months the last time I checked it.

[demon_x_slash]

OH claims back every time he's delayed now - we've had about £18 (£3 a pop) in the past two weeks

[Stillborn Crisps]

Just thought Id give this another bump.

 

In the year after my previous post I racked up £80 in refunds. But LU have since got a bit wise, and have reduced each refund to the price of a single Oyster fare (average for me £2.70) rather than a full fare of £4.

 

Last year I still managed to clock up £35 - the price of a weekly pass for me, so still deffo worth doing.