Bury St Edmunds commuter angry after Greater Anglia refuses refund or extend her rail delay vouchers

An angry commuter has slammed a rail service after it refused to refund or extend her travel vouchers.

Tina Stiff collected £250 in vouchers paid for train delays during her daily commute from Bury St Edmunds to London between January and March 2020 with Greater Anglia.

The IT manager has been collecting the vouchers every year, sometimes amounting to more than £700, and puts the money towards her season ticket, which costs more than £7,000 a year.

But since lockdown started last March, she had to work from home instead.

“As there is no sign on the horizon whether I will be returning any time soon, I asked if the money could be refunded for the vouchers or extended - but they refused,” said Tina, 55, who lives in Bury St Edmunds.

I have been a loyal customer of the rail service between Bury and London for 35 years and I have spent an enormous amount of money Greater Anglia.

“I do not call this customer service whatsoever and I am sure many of their customers are in the same situation as myself.”

It was announced last week that rail commuters will pay 2.6 per cent more for tickets from March this year with the government raising prices beyond inflation for the first time since 2013.

The Department for Transport has put back the rise from its usual January rise. Rail usage has slumped during Covid-19 and the Government is still advising people not to use networks unless necessary.

A spokesman for Greater Anglia, said after being called by the Bury Free Press: “We apologise to the customer for any inconvenience this issue has caused. A member of the Greater Anglia team will be contacting her direct to help reach a resolution.

“We know Covid-19 has changed people’s travel plans considerably. Throughout the pandemic we have worked hard to ensure passengers could either change their date of travel or receive refunds – including redeploying staff to process over 58,000 refunds in the first lockdown.

“Ticket terms and conditions have changed in response to lockdowns and national restrictions. We’re currently working in line with a revised national policy regarding Rail Travel Vouchers.”

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