How to complain
When things go wrong we aim to fix them as quickly as possible. You can complain:
- in person – to our staff at the station
- in writing – in a letter or on our online form
- by phone – by ringing our customer services team
Find out how to contact us or fill in the online form.
How we deal with your complaint
We aim to handle complaints quickly, so contact us as soon as you can.
We’ll investigate your complaint in full and will make sure it’s considered fairly. (Read our full complaints handling procedure for details of how we will do this.)
If we’re at fault we will apologise and try to resolve the problem.
Download our Complaints handling procedure (pdf)
If you’re unhappy with our response
Please give us the opportunity to try to resolve your complaint. If you’re unhappy with the response you receive, you have the right to appeal to the Rail Ombudsman. The Rail Ombudsman is there to help resolve on going complaints between us and our passengers. It’s free to use their services and they are independent of the rail industry. They don’t take sides, but just look at the evidence available. They will help us both to try to reach an agreement, but if this doesn’t happen, they will make a decision based on the evidence they’ve received. If you agree with their decision, then we have to act on what they say.
You can appeal to the Rail Ombudsman if:
- you’re unhappy with our final response to your complaint which will be contained in a letter or email (sometimes called a ‘deadlock letter’); or
- we haven’t resolved your complaint within 40 working days of receiving it; and
- no more than 12 months have passed since we sent you our final response
There are some complaints that the Rail Ombudsman won’t be able to look into, for example if it’s about the way one of our services has been designed, industry policy, or if your complaint relates to an event which took place before the Rail Ombudsman service was established. If that’s the case, then they’ll contact you to let you know. If possible, they will transfer your complaint to another organisation that may be able to help you further, such as Transport Focus or London TravelWatch – the independent consumer watchdogs for the rail industry. They will independently review your complaint and where appropriate, follow things up on your behalf.
The Rail Ombudsman contact details and hours of operation of their contact centre:
Website: (including online chat): www.railombudsman.org
Telephone: 0330 094 0362
Textphone: 0330 094 0363
Email: info@railombudsman.org
Twitter: @RailOmbudsman
Post: FREEPOST – RAIL OMBUDSMAN
The Contact Centre team are available:
Monday to Friday 09:00 - 17:00