Third of passengers who applied for season ticket refund still waiting for cash

One in three rail passengers who requested a season ticket refund due to the coronavirus pandemic are still waiting for a payout, a watchdog has claimed.

A Transport Focus survey indicated that 36% of claimants have not been told if they will receive a payout, while some travellers have been left waiting for at least six weeks to get their money back.

Fewer than half (49%) of passengers were satisfied with how their claim was handled, the poll suggested.

Transport Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said: “While the majority of passengers have received a refund, six weeks on from applying others are still out of pocket and in the dark.

Around 700 people were surveyed from May 6-13.

The coronavirus lockdown led to a surge in requests for season ticket refunds as many people started working from home.

Transport Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said: “While the majority of passengers have received a refund, six weeks on from applying others are still out of pocket and in the dark.

“Operators must reassure passengers on how long they can expect their refund to take and when they can realistically expect to see the money back in their bank account.”

Jacqueline Starr, chief operating officer for industry body the Rail Delivery Group, said: “Train operators are working hard to process an unprecedented number of refunds as quickly as possible – and in the last two months over 109,000 season tickets have been refunded, which is more than the entirety of last year.

“We thank people for their patience as refunds are processed during these exceptional times and we have doubled the number of staff processing refund claims, extended the claims period to eight weeks and are backdating refunds.”