Northern Rail has extended a scheme to compensate passengers for disruption caused by changes to timetables.
The initiative enables passengers who travelled with Northern from 20 May to claim for additional payouts that go beyond the regular Delay Repay scheme.
The refund scheme was previously only available to season ticket holders but now, anyone who has evidence of travelling on at least 12 days in a 28-day window for the most disrupted routes, or three days in a seven-day window for “second tier” routes, can claim money back.
The amount of cash passengers are entitled to varies depending on which route they travelled on. Claims can be submitted from 20 October and more information will be available on Northern Rail’s website.
Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council, has welcomed the news, but warns: “While this extension is a positive step, compensation is only useful if it gets to the people who need it.
“Given the existing scheme has received less than half the applications expected, it is clear the rail industry needs to work much harder to make sure passengers know what and how they can claim,” she says.
“Although the compensation on offer is still not as comprehensive as I and other North leaders have been demanding, I would urge all regular rail users to find out if they can make a claim.”
When the new train timetables were introduced on 20 May, Northern Rail cancelled up to 310 trains a day.
Timetable changes are routinely made twice a year, but the most recent alterations were the biggest in decades and in June, Northern Rail customers were warned that they could see issues continuing until Christmas.