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The last year has undoubtedly been extremely tough for the travel industry. Generally speaking though, most companies have been pretty good when it came to extending points/status/vouchers/etc, for future use. One big exception has been the train companies.
For months, I’ve personally been chasing an extension of £100+ worth of LNER vouchers that were due to expire at the end of 2020. I was repeatedly told that there was absolutely nothing that could be done – despite the fact I had no way to use the vouchers while adhering to the lockdown rules.
Anyway, the situation has now changed for the better. The Ministry of Transport put out a press release earlier stating the following:
“Rail passengers with unused travel vouchers have been given extra time to redeem them to ensure they are not left out of pocket from COVID-19 related restrictions.
Thousands of passengers with rail travel vouchers, which have expired or are due to expire between 20 October 2020 and 30 June 2021 will get an additional 6 months after their original expiry date to redeem them to recognise the fact that most passengers had been unable to use them during the second and third national lockdowns.”
Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, explained:
“This extension ensures that passengers with travel vouchers are not penalised for following government advice.
By offering people more time to redeem their vouchers, we are ensuring that passengers will not be left out of pocket as they come back to the railways.”
Have the vouchers been reissued yet?
I’m not sure.
LNER, for example, don’t seem to have have put out a statement yet. However, when I checked my account, the vouchers have been reissued with a new expiry date in April 2022
I did contact LNER (again) last week, but haven’t had a response yet, so I’m not quite sure if my vouchers are back due to that, or because of today’s announcement.
Bottom line
If you have had rail vouchers expire (or have some that are due to expire before 30th June 2021), contact the company again and ask them to take another look. Feel free to link to this article and/or the Ministry of Transport press release if you encounter any pushback.
Have your expired vouchers been reissued yet?
Images: LNER
This is good news for holders of vouchers, I wonder when railcard holders will get a similar extension? Very unfair to extend validity of vouchers but not railcards.
Completely agree – I certainly hope so! Now that the principle of people not being out of pocket through no fault of their own has been established,perhaps we’ll see some movement there.