Is there a duty of care with train cancellations?

A family member has got caught up in the 'Storm Doris' debacle and their train from London to Birmingham has stopped in Milton Keynes.

Apparently the options are to stay in Milton Keynes or to go back to London. Unfortunately, they've already got a hotel booked in Birmingham.

Does the train company have a duty of care (like an airline would) in these circumstances, or do they need to fork out for a hotel in MK/London themselves?

Many thanks for any assistance!

 

(To clarify, they don't live in London and would need a hotel there too)

 

From the October 2016 onwards version of the National Rail Conditions of travel, page 21, available at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/Conditions of Travel 2016.pdf

28. What happens when things go wrong?
28.1 If disruption prevents you from completing the journey shown on your Ticket, any Train Company will, where it reasonably can, provide you with
alternative means of travel to your destination, or if necessary provide
overnight accommodation for you
​

I suspect they may answer that a major weather incident means they can claim it isn't reasonable for them to offer a hotel, but I'm not sure what would happen if you challenged that hard afterwards...

 

Did the train companies say tickets could be used on other services?

It's too late now, but if so, they could have gone back to London, hopped over to Marylebone on the tube and caught a direct train to Birmingham on Chiltern services.

 

Cheers!

it worked out ok for them in the end because the train started moving again, but not before half the passengers had got off and with no announcement apparently!

Yeah, I think the train company would almost definitely say they aren't responsible for weather related stuff.

It all seems to have been very confused in terms of communication etc to be honest so I'm not sure if rerouting was an option (clearly it should have been if that line was still working).

 

Yes, there never is much communication when our railways have a problem. I saw the pictures of people inside Euston, Kings Cross and Liverpool Street the other day. Rammed full.

 

Yeh looked (and sounded like) a real mess!

 

From MK, if you're sure Chiltern are running, and it isn't past about 7pm, the quickest and easiest option is probably to take the X5 bus (from outside the station) towards Oxford, and get off in Bicester. There's a stop almost outside Bicester North station, ask the driver for details on the best one to be sure.

During engineering works around Oxford, you sometimes get directed to take a train to MK, then use the X5 as a rail-replacement service, so the drivers ought to be used to taking train tickets during disruptions