• Luke Pollard MP welcomes move by Government and GWR to compensate passengers for delays of 15minutes and above
• Better compensation is long overdue says Luke
• Passengers in south west still suffering from poor connectivity, long journey times and cancellations

Yesterday, Ministers announced that Great Western Railway (GWR) passengers who have experienced delays of 15 minutes or more on their journey will be able to claim compensation from next month. This cuts the compensation threshold from an hour to 15 minutes and is a move that Luke Pollard has been leading calls for in recent months.

Operators such as Gatwick Express, Thameslink and West Midlands Railway already pay compensation for 15-minute delays. The far south west has suffered from poor connectivity and structural underfunding and under this government the funding gap has deepened. Luke Pollard had raised the need for lower thresholds for delay compensation in meetings with GWR and has called for it to be introduced swiftly.

The Labour MP for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport said that while the south west does not get its fair share of transport funding, the decision to compensate customers for delayed journeys in the south west is a step forward.  Customers will now be able to claim back 25% of the single fare for delays to journey by 15 to 29 minutes.

Luke has been campaigning on improvements to journey times, connectivity and customer experience for rail travel in the south west since his election in June 2017.

Luke Pollard MP said:

“I’m pleased that GWR passengers will now only have to wait 15 minutes to be eligible for compensation if their train is late. While other regions have had compensation at 15minutes for years, the south west has been stuck with the threshold being an hour. I don’t accept the south west getting a poor deal on transport and that goes from the funding we need to upgrade our railway to the service train operators provide.

 

“While this doesn’t take away from the disruption of the service, I’m glad to see steps being taken to improve customer experience. It’s a win for passengers in the south west.

 

“Our region suffers more than others from poor investment from this government. We don’t get our fair share and far too many train journeys are cancelled or delayed. I will continue to lobby Ministers for more funding and a faster, more resilient train line from Plymouth and the far south west.”