MyLondon meets the team who resolve thousands of the most difficult transport-related appeals every year
08:00, 29 May 2023
“I remember the very first email I opened up. It said ‘Tube drivers are so overweight and the public shouldn’t have to pay for them’. That’s when I knew in this job, we really do have to deal with every possible scenario,” says Susan James, head of casework at London’s public transport watchdog, London TravelWatch (LTW).
Her team of five are tasked with resolving thousands of the most challenging appeals about London’s public transport providers, notably TfL. They do not have regulatory powers, but have a statutory remit and mandate from the Greater London Authority Act, and negotiate with each operator to do the best for the passengers who contact them.
The bulk of contact the team gets is around penalty fares/fines and customer service ‘super complaints’. Susan explains that a combination of high cost-of-living and changes to the reasons people travel after the pandemic more complainants “want more financial outcomes, like refunds and goodwill gestures, rather than a particular policy being changed".
Balancing the needs of each case is tricky. When the price of a particular fare is disputed, Susan has to ensure that if an anomaly in a fare system, such as a super off peak promotional ticket, is ‘rectified’ then it doesn’t inadvertently impact other passengers negatively. As a result, the team use their contacts at each operator to negotiate bespoke outcomes rather than adhere to a blanket process.
Last week, Sean Goss, one of LTW’s caseworker officers managed to persuade a train operator to halt a prosecution for a passenger who misplaced their railcard. He tells MyLondon: “Compared to when I used to work on TfL’s own team, here [at LTW] because of the relationships we have with the industry, I can go that extra mile for that desired outcome. I have more responsibility and time to handle every passenger.”
Susan warns they aren’t miracle workers - you can only contact LTW’s casework team as an appeal after contacting the initial transport provider first. Recently, a bus passenger requested £60,000 compensation for a complaint about TfL. Other unsuccessful requests the team have seen include a request to introduce refreshment trolleys on long Tube journeys and a demand for better mushrooms on the Eurostar as the current ones are "very soggy."
Currently 84 per cent of people who contact Susan’s team say they have received a successful outcome. Each win has a wider impact, as other passengers usually benefit from them too. Earlier this year, the team persuaded TfL to add a new bus stop flag after bus drivers kept missing a stop which was obscured by trees. A big win was getting Gatwick Airport added into the London contactless fare zone after a swathe of confused passengers contacting them over penalty fares.
Susan says the challenge of her 13 years at LTW has been when people “can come across as shouty and upset, but that’s because they’re frustrated and feel they’ve been treated unfairly - and we listen to them.” Her team do not tolerate anything that gets ‘personal’ when a desired outcome isn’t reached. The team does enjoy the emails of thanks, with recent comments including, “It’s a real privilege that you’ve been able to help” and “Thank you for all the work you do!”
Recent trends have seen the team receive an uptick in contact over Santander Cycles and Eurostar. The former is a result of the permanent increase in cycling across the capital induced by the pandemic, and the latter due to a huge backlog of customer service issues stemming from Eurostar’s complicated international travel situation over the past three years.
“People were waiting three hours to get through [to Eurostar] and just hanging up, so we sae a huge uplift in contact,” Susan explains. She adds: “There were also some travel agents being naughty who were getting refunds from Eurostar but not passing them onto the passenger.” Following pressure from LTW and the public, Eurostar re-opened its phone lines which had been suspended for months.
There are some “do’s and don’ts” which are important to consider before contacting the LTW team. The most pressing is that you must try to resolve the issue via the transport provider (usually whoever you paid your fare to - as usually they hold the terms and conditions) before contacting LTW, otherwise your claim will be rejected. It also cannot offer legal advice on prosecutions, and does not handle Dartford Crossing toll complaints nor airports, taxis, e-scooters, shared bikes, shared car schemes or pedicabs. There is no watchdog for most of those modes of transport.
“I never thought I’d spend so much time in this career talking about toilets!” Susan concludes. Her team is often the final call for those desperate to spend a penny without spending all their pennies. Last year, it persuaded Chiltern Railways to make the station toilets free at Marylebone. There is one area she suspects passengers may be underreporting their concerns or suggestions - buses - although they are the most popular mode of public transport in the capital, the casework team doesn't see a correspondingly high volume of contact. With upcoming TfL plans to speed up buses, introduce a network of 'Superloop' express buses, and a raft of recent bus route changes, this may be subject to change soon.
If you have a transport-related story you think MyLondon should be covering, email callum.marius@reachplc.com
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