I have to admit that change feels sensible - in that we have manoeuvred ourselves into a cancellation and compensation culture.  At the same time, this is just replacing the treatment with another one, and the best solution would be to fix the malaise in the first place - they should be able to reduce the number of claims by running most / more / a higher proportion of trains and connections on time.

 
Fortunately DfT/GBR have plans in place to ensure that the number of claims for GWR services reduces dramatically*.

* By removing the ability to claim for 15-29 minute delays, á la Cross Country.   

 
Thanks for those insights. For a while, my go-to check on the performance of the online booking engines was a quick search for rooms in the closed and derelict for some time Glenfield Hotel in Ullapool. Some site or other would usually have something on offer even after its site was redeveloped for housing.

Mark

 
That dog loves you. Or, you're the source of food. Or both. In any case, looks to be well grounded.

Mark

 
ORR has just released Delay Repay report for first four 4 weekly periods this year (1 April - 22 July)

GWR 549,707 claims, second highest volume by Operator after Avanti, and up hefty 52% on same periods previous year

Cross Country 202,954 claims, up 59% on year before

https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/52abf1ay/delay-compensation-claims-factsheet-2026-27-rail-periods-01-04.pdf

These increases seem huge to me, although possibly claiming is bit easier, but it clearly reflects the shoddiness of the service.

 
From The Rotherham Bugle on Facebook

 

Booking Agency Commissions ... indeed, that 9% quoted was low, and the 22% is high from my (historic) memory. Sounds a lot - ranging from "high" to "profiteering" perhaps?   But yet, I'll give you a modified view, increasingly historic but not totally replaced.  We paid, in commission, somewhere between those quoted figures when we ran Well House Manor. We did so with full prior knowledge, and willingly. How do you reach people from far, far away to come to your little B&B in an obscure town in Wiltshire? 

The days are gone of advertising in magazines and holiday brochures, the walk ins to the TIC have faded to zero, and money spent on advertising and a commission to the TIC are no longer paid.  So the move to the online booking agencies can be viewed as a changed cost and not a new one. 

Whilst we preferred the commission rates to be lower rather than higher (who wouldn't?) we did not resent the agency payments.  Worth it for a good, easy to use and secure service that sold rooms only at times we otherwise had a surplus without having to field loads of enquires for rooms when they aren't available (negative marketing effect). We had control over what and when we offered, and indeed "Late Rooms" only offered them quite close to the date, required payment up front / not cancellable, and sometimes applied a minimum stay; Saturday night only available as part of a stay of 2 or more nights.

Potential direct customer question "We know you pay a commission to Late Rooms - will you take our booking, please, at a slightly lower rate than is offered there?"  Suprisingly, no, not if you're looking for just a night or two as a first time guest.  Our agreement with Late Rooms was that we had to offer the lowest rate there. But there was much more to it; the agency booking with "no cancels" reduced our no-shows and late drop outs.  And it secured payment ahead of time and saved us the admin that was done by the central agency.  And a "can you do it cheaper / direct" request was a flag of a potentially "squeaky wheel" customer - double edges sword there, since it could also indicate a thoughfulness on the part of the potential guest.

Are there are parallels, these days, in taxi bookings and Uber, and in split ticketing, where the obvious / rack rate price can be bargained for / undercut as we look to save money?

 
A day later ... here are the loadings



Here is an example report


an example of the sort of visitors we have


and here is the webmaster team working on it this morning



No big panics, by the way - ongoing stuff that needs ongoing watching

 

 
From SERUG


https://youtu.be/sk6TYNy8qH0?si=9r55a533zLh_Md4_

 
I’m afraid I still refer to the 50p coin as a ‘ten bob bit’, much to the annoyance of my kids.

 
Delays due to [checks magic 8-ball] safety inspection of the track.

 
The 50 new pence coin was introduced well before decimalisation,  in place of, and having the same value as a ten shilling note.
Within memory they were sometimes known as "ten bob coins"

 
Another bluddy train strike, then. 

 
Decimalisation brought an end to many a child’s hobby.  I used to enjoy collecting coins with monarchs’ heads going back to Queen Victoria.  Of course all the new coins were solely Queen Elizabeth II.  It is only now we are starting to see a second monarch’s image slowly appearing in our change. 

 
How things have changed / improved since those days, eh? 

 

It made me think of the Battle of the Somme, frankly. 

CfN. 

 
My paternal great grandmother (who had remarkable facial hair, which rather spooked me ) had a tradition of sending me a five-shilling postal order on my birthdays. That would have been in the 1960s. 

 
Another update, from the BBC:

 

I stand corrected! The half crown ceased to be legal tender on 1st Jan 1970, over a year before decimalisation.


I too used to get half a crown pocket money from my Gran, but I don’t remember being similarly swizzled!

The florin was part of an earlier abortive attempt at decimalisation, which led to the two coins with similar values - 2/- and 2/6 - coexisting. All a bit silly really, but fun.

 
Probably said before, but my largest saving was possibly reducing a £137 fare to £37.

Split ticketing is now a well-known technique, but there are others that can sometimes be useful:

• Buying a ticket for a longer journey (where break-of-journey ticket conditions allow starting or stopping at an intermediate station)
• Buying a London Travelcard that you don't intend to use, instead of a ticket to London Terminals

The opportunities are not as widespread as with split ticketing, but they do exist.

 
Hmm.

I am reminded of my excellent Economics teacher, Mr Stone, at my school in Plymouth over 50 years ago, who introduced us to the concept of 'supply and demand' on a simple two-dimensional chart drawn on the blackboard.

It seems to me that nothing much has changed since then. That is not, however, intended to detract from grahame's valid point.

CfN. 

 
Several posts subsequent to the above have now been split off (NOT deleted - we don't do that on this forum!) and moved to form a new topic of their own, at https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=32623.0

They relate particularly to the decimalisation of the UK currency in February 1971, rather than split ticketing: hence their move.

CfN.