My friend and I suffered the Eurostar journey from hell on a two-day trip to Amsterdam in March. It started when we crossed the Belgian border and were told problems on the line required the power to be switched off. We sat motionless for four hours, then the train returned to Lille and were told that when the line reopened, the service would terminate in Brussels and passengers for Amsterdam would have to take an inter-city train unless they preferred to return to London.
At Brussels, we were held for another hour and, when we were finally allowed to disembark, there was utter chaos, with no Eurostar officials present. We eventually reached our hotel eight hours later than scheduled. Eurostar says the only compensation we are entitled to is 50% of the cost of the ticket or an e-voucher worth 75%. This is the same compensation offered to a passenger delayed by no more than two hours, and is entirely inadequate.
JS, London
Rail passengers are classed by EU regulators as second-class citizens compared with air travellers. European regulations allow the latter to claim £220 compensation if a short-haul flight arrives more than two hours late, unless the delay was caused by an “extraordinary circumstance” outside the airline’s control. The sum is sometimes several times the value of the ticket.
EU train operators only have to refund half the ticket cost for the same delay, except in extraordinary circumstances. Now, major faults on the line would count as an extraordinary circumstance, so Eurostar could have refused you any compensation. It says its booking terms and conditions explain all this and points out it goes beyond EU regulations by offering 75% in the form of vouchers against future travel.
However, train operators, like airlines, are obliged to offer food and drink during severe delays and you say none was provided. And the fact remains that if Eurostar had been to blame for the delays you would have been entitled to far less than an air passenger.
According to consumer group Which?, weak protection could harm the drive towards sustainable travel. “The EU has ambitions to encourage more people to travel by train, but, to be successful, protections must be strengthened to offer at least the same level of cover as flights,” says Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel.
“Not only do train passengers often receive lower levels of compensation, potentially leaving them out of pocket for disruption, but rules on assistance and rerouting are often poorly understood, or ignored, leaving customers stranded, and so rail is likely to continue to be a less attractive prospect.”
In the UK, most operators have signed up to the Delay Repay scheme, which pays 50% of the ticket price for delays of half an hour, and a full refund for journeys delayed by an hour or more, regardless of the cause.
Email your.problems@observer.co.uk. Include an address and phone number. Submission and publication are subject to our terms and conditions
