How Are We Performing?

Rail Passenger Rights and Obligations Regulations – Article 28

Hull Trains Quality Standards – Rail Service Quality Report for Financial Year 2022/23

Contents

1) Information and tickets
2) Punctuality and general principles to cope with disruption to services
3) Cancellation of services
4) Cleanliness of rolling stock and station facilities
5) Customer satisfaction survey
6) Complaint handling refunds and compensation
7) Assistance 

1.Information and ticket sales

Before travel
Information about our travel classes and availability of onboard services is available at Your Experience and from our Customer Services team.

Provision of information during the journey
All of our trains have clear signage throughout, giving information about the location and availability of onboard toilets and priority seating. Customers can also ask any member of the Hull Trains onboard team for this information.

Information regarding the next station will be announced onboard by our On Board Managers.

In the case of delays the On Board Manager will announce information at appropriate intervals.

The On Board Manager will also make announcements about main connecting services.

Information about incidents which cause significant disruption is available from our Customer Services team and on our Live Disruption webpage.

Safety information can be found onboard, and the On Board Manager will also make announcements shortly before departure. Further announcements are made shortly after departure.
How requests for information are handled at the station
As we do not operate any stations, requests for information are handled by the station operator who provides staff or Help Points to assist with any queries.
How information about train schedules, tariffs and platforms is provided
Our train timetables are available on our Timetables webpage or through our app which can be downloaded from your local app store.

Information about train platforms can be found on our app in the ‘live trains’ section, on the National Rail website and on customer information screens at stations.

Ticket buying facilities
Customers can buy tickets for travel in advance or on the day of travel using our app or our website.
Availability of staff at the station for information provision and ticket sales
Although we do not operate any stations there are staff at most stations at which we call.  Details of the staffing provision for each station can be found on our Station Information webpage.
Where there are no staff, Help Points are provided to allow customers to gain further information about services.

There are ticket selling facilities, be it a staffed booking office or ticket vending machine at each station at which we call.  Details of these can be found on our Station Information webpage.
How information to disabled people and persons with reduced mobility is provided
Information on accessibility, access conditions and availability of onboard facilities for disabled people, people with reduced mobility and older people, is available on request from all staffed stations at which we call, our Passenger Assist team on 0800 316 1323, the Passenger Assist webpage or through the Passenger Assist app.

2. Punctuality and general principles to cope with disruption to services

Delays
At Hull Trains we set ourselves high standards of train punctuality and make every effort to get passengers to their destination on time. 

The table below shows our performance relating to delays from the start of Period 01 (01/04/22) 2022/23 to the end of Period 13 (31/03/23) 2022/23.
 
Our on board teams will provide updated announcements will be made onboard the affected within two minutes of being notified of disruption or the train having come to a stand out of course, then at least every 10 minutes (or if the situation changes, whichever is soonest).

The 10 minute timescale is adhered to even if no new information has been received and the disruption has reached a steady state.

Information about connections and onward travel will be available from the On Board Manager.  They will also make an announcement regarding whether compensation is applicable.

We will make every effort to give customers a refreshments (not including alcohol) appropriate to the circumstances, location and duration of the delay.

Where a delay or cancellation of a Hull Trains service means that you have missed the last connection of the day or that you will not reach your destination at a reasonable time, we will either arrange for transport back to where you started your journey (and then allow you to travel the next day) or to your destination.  If this is not possible, we will provide overnight accommodation so that you can travel the next day.  We will not pay for accommodation which has not been authorised by ourselves.  If you decide not to travel as a result of a delay or cancellation of your service, and if we sold you the ticket, we will give you a full refund; otherwise, you should seek a refund from the point of purchase (unless this is the return portion of your ticket, in which case we will refund this).
Disruptions
When services are disrupted, we will aim to issue information through travel bulletins on local radio and television, and also through social media such as Twitter. Live travel information is also available on our Live Disruption webpage. 
Delay Compensation Policy
For delays to our services we will make the following compensation available to customers:
 
All ticket holders may apply for compensation. The level of compensation is outlined below:
For journey delays* of between: 

To apply for Delay Repay compensation please visit our online Delay Repay webpage or collect a form from one of the stations at which we call.

To apply for a refund, customers should go back to their point of purchase to obtain this.  If you bought through the Hull Trains website, app or via our Telesales team, please visit our Refund webpage.

3. Cancellation of services

When trains are cancelled, we provide the same information and help we give to customers affected by delays, and the same compensation policy applies.

The table below shows our performance relating to cancellations from the start of Period 1 (01/04/22) 2022/23 to the end of Period 13 (31/03/23) 2022/23.  We improved performance relating to cancellations compared to the previous year, despite some significant disruptions.

4. Cleanliness of rolling stock and station facilities

Train Cleaning and Cleaning Intervals
Our trains are cleaned after each commercial service and we also undertake periodic deep cleaning operations. On all services we have in journey cleaners that focus on maintaining the overall level of cleanliness en-route. 
Air conditioning and air quality
All of our trains are equipped with air conditioning. Should this fail our On Board Manager will do everything they can to move customers to an alternative carriage.

Each of our 5 trains has 5 air condition units on board. Our performance for these in the 2022/23 financial year was: Availability of toilets
Our trains are fitted with 5 toilets, of which 2 are accessible toilets (1 in First Class and 1 in Standard Class).  Our performance for the 2022/23 financial year was:

Performance area	Actual
Number of toilets out of service	7
Performance area	Actual (Days)
Length of time that these toilets were out of service	7

5. Customer satisfaction survey

Historically we have monitored customer satisfaction using the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) provided by Transport Focus and information obtained through the Wavelength system operated by the Rail Delivery Group. Since the pandemic NRPS surveys have been suspended, and wavelength feedback has been negligible, therefore we will provide further information when a larger sample of passengers is available.

We also survey customers who have contacted us both pre and post journey using our contact centre.

All this customer feedback is used across the business by senior management to direct long term strategy, and tactically by customer-facing teams to help improve customer service.

6. Complaint handling refunds and compensation

Our Customer Services team is here to correspond with customers who are unhappy with their experience of the service that we provide. Appropriate compensation will be considered on a case by case basis.

We will use the customer’s preferred contact method when responding to a complaint.
Information on how to submit a complaint regarding our services is available on our Feedback webpage and in our Complaints Handling Procedure which can be found on our Support & Contact webpage.

This team also responds in cases where customers praise our service and also passes on suggestions for changes to services as well as complaints and requests for compensation due to delays.
Total number of complaints
The number of complaints received from the start of Period 1 (01/04/22) 2022/23 to the end of Period 13 (31/03/23) 2022/23, was 1991 of which 1708 were closed during this period. It should be noted that some complaints are closed after the reporting year has ended, hence the difference in the figure between those received and closed. Top 5 categories of complaint
The top 5 complaints categories from the start of Period 1 (01/04/22) 2022/23 to the end of Period 13 (31/03/23) 2022/23, are displayed in the table below:

Complaints processing
Of the complaints received in the 2022/23 financial year: 
• 52.2% were closed in 5 working days, against a target of 90%.
• 99.6% closure rate within 20 working days, against a target of 95%.
Our average response time for the approximate calendar year was 6.24 days per complaint.
Improvement Actions Undertaken
In response to the top 5 complaints, we’ve listened to what our customers have said with complaints relating to ticketing and refunds being primarily driven by strike action across the railway network and our ability to manage refunds within the confines of our systems.  We have undertaken a thorough review of processes with our supplier and instituted a number of changes to make the return of monies to customers quicker and in the manner that the customer requires.  There have been a number of complaints about the removal of the 'Book With Confidence' scheme, but these have diminished in recent months as passengers adapt back to the pre-pandemic ticketing terms and conditions.

In terms of punctuality and reliability, our train fleet is the most reliable of its class within the rail industry.  Whilst our performance has improved compared to previous years, there have been a number of events, be it disruptive weather, strikes or other external forces, which have impacted on our ability to operate fully.  Our Performance team are working closely with Network Rail to highlight key areas of concern and plan ahead to improve capacity constraints.  

For the category ‘Sufficient room to stand/sit’ the root cause of complaints in this area has been driven by short notice disruption and overcrowding when there have been major events in London.  Hull Trains has also been notably affected by the engineering works taking place to electrify the Midland Mainline and the subsequent displacement of customers from there to services on the East Coast Mainline.  We have increased our 10 carriage trains at certain peak times and are trialling a further increase in service in order to be able to create additional capacity at busy times.  Throughout the year we have responded to key events by putting on additional services at short notice, i.e. the Queen's funeral, and we are the only rail company to have recovered passenger numbers to pre pandemic levels.  We have also continued to inform passengers about busy services using a variety of mediums and made some services ‘reservation only’ to try to manage demand and ensure enough seating is available.  In addition we have issued busy service 'heat maps' at weekends where most issues have been apparent, again to manage demand.

Complaints in the ‘Facilities on Board’ category have largely been driven by the fact we have no Standard Class catering, which is an area we are continuing to review.  We withdrew Standard Class catering during the pandemic and have not been able to justify a return for this service due to resourcing costs and the financial losses associated with it.  We are examining alternatives and will update customers with any actions relating to this as soon as we can.

For those complaints relating to ‘Claim Rejected’, this category of complaint should be seen against the context of the other compensation categories and largely relates to an error by the customer in the processing of their Delay Repay claim.  We have been working with our supplier recently to review the claim process and are awaiting a number of changes to the website and information linked to this to be change.  This will make it clearer and simpler as to what information is required from a passenger to be able to process a Delay Repay claim.

We continuously review key areas of concern voiced by our passengers and this drives investment for improvement as part of our ongoing business planning process.

7. Assistance

There are 2 options for booking assistance:
1. Pre booking
You can book assistance by either using the online booking form on our Passenger Assist webpage, or by calling our dedicated Passenger Assist line on 0800 316 1323.

For the most effective service, we recommend booking and reserving assistance (by the online booking form or phone) 2 hours before you travel.

Customers who are deaf or hard of hearing can use the Text Relay service by adding the prefix 18001 in front of the Passenger Assist line number. A relay assistant will translate your call to text with the Next Generation Text service. To find out more about this service, visit ngts.org.uk
2. Turn-up-and-go
If pre booking 2 hours in advance is not possible, we ask our customers to arrive at least 20 minutes before departure – this is a non-guaranteed assistance booking.

Comprehensive information about the assistance services we provide and what to expect when travelling with us can be found on our Passenger Assist webpage in our Accessible Travel Policy Passenger Leaflet: Making Rail Accessible.
Assistances Completed
In the 2022/23 financial year we carried out approximately 2083 booked assistances and 88 unbooked assistances for passengers.