The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has made it mandatory for all
rail operators to assess redress claims from passengers whose
booked assistance failed, on a case-by-case basis. The change is
detailed in an update to the regulator's Accessible Travel Policy
(ATP) Guidance.
Redress is a way that operators can seek to put things right for
a passenger where they have failed to deliver booked assistance.
It is not always or necessarily a form of financial compensation.
It could be an apology, a gesture of goodwill, and/or a
compensatory payment.
Whatever form it may take, redress is a way in which passengers
can receive assurance that failures are being acted upon, and for
operators to recognise the impact of the failure on
passengers.
The change follows a consultation prompted by concerns that some
operators' policies could appear to restrict compensation to the
ticket price.
ORR will shortly be requesting relevant train companies make any
necessary amendments to implement the case-by-case
approach.
A number of wider issues were raised during the consultation,
including whether there is a need for further guidance to support
decision-making on redress, as well as questions around the scope
of redress policy and the way claims are owned and managed. ORR
is committed to carrying out further work on these areas and will
publish an update in spring 2026.
Stephanie Tobyn, ORR's director of strategy, policy and
reform, said:
“The impact on passengers when an operator fails to deliver
assistance can vary greatly, so it's right that claims for
redress are considered on a case-by-case basis. This ensures
operators properly assess each passenger's experience and provide
redress that appropriately reflects the impact of what went
wrong.”
Notes to editors
-
Consultation on
Accessible Travel Policy (ATP) Guidance redress requirements:
Decision document
- The consultation sought views on a specific proposal to
require operators to determine appropriate redress on a
case-by-case basis, which is currently recommended as good
practice, and ran from 30 May to 11 July 2025. It received 30
responses from members of the public, train operators, passenger
groups, disabled passenger organisations, Transport Focus,
Transport for Greater Manchester, the Equality and Human Rights
Commission and the Rail Ombudsman.
- ORR will implement the proposed case-by-case change to the
ATP Guidance and has published updated ATP Guidance alongside
this decision document. In practice this means a one-word change
to paragraph A8.1 so that the form and, where appropriate, value
of redress “must” be determined on a
case-by-case basis, rather than “may”.
- All train and station operators must establish and comply
with an Accessible Travel Policy (ATP) as a condition of their
licence, setting out their provision for disabled people.
Operators must secure ORR approval for their ATP, and ORR has
issued guidance that defines minimum requirements, covering areas
such as provision of assistance, staff training, redress and
passenger information.
