Rail Passenger Rights and Obligations

We provide information to help keep you updated before, during and after your journey.

• You can buy tickets, check prices and find out departure times from our website. This covers all rail journeys in the UK, not just on c2c. The information is also available on the c2c Train Travel app
• Our Service Alterations page provides detail on future planned engineering work or any other changes before you travel
• During your journey, our Live Travel Information page can keep you updated on any disruption and service alterations in real time. This covers both c2c trains and London Underground.
• If you travel regularly with c2c, you can set up a Travel Alert that proactively notifies you of any disruption to your journey
• We provide live travel information through Twitter, where our team can also provide advice and answer your questions
• For commuters, our online tool provides information on how busy each peak-time train normally is, to help you choose the service that suits you best

At our stations, our team will endeavour to help you with any questions you have. We publish information about normal ticket office opening times on our website, along with a guide to the facilities available such as toilets, waiting rooms and onward travel information. When no staff are available at a station, you can use the Help Point function to speak to a member of our team.

If you want any assistance with your journey, our Passenger Assist page provides a full guide to the support we offer and how you can book guaranteed assistance with your journey.

We understand how important it is that we give you a punctual and reliable service that you can depend on.

To help build that confidence, every weekday we publish a summary of the previous day’s punctuality results. This page also provides information on overall performance in recent months.

Here is a summary of c2c’s punctuality performance in 2020/21:

Live travel information during disruption is available on our website or from our social media team on Twitter.

When there is disruption, we follow the processes set out in our Passenger Information During Disruption report.

When there is significant disruption during rush hour, which affects a large number of customers, we publish an Incident Review summarising what happened, what the impact was, and what we did to manage the situation. These are published in our Latest News section, and are typically available for two months following the event.

The independent National Rail Passenger Survey is normally undertaken twice a year by Transport Focus, the passenger watchdog. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the last NRPS survey was published in July 2020.

• In this survey, 89% of c2c customers said they were satisfied with the punctuality of our services.
• This compares to 74% average satisfaction among all London commuters

We know that a clean train and station is one of the most important standards our customers expect from us. In the past year, this has been more important than ever. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we introduced additional cleaning procedures to disinfect all touch points, both on-train and at stations.

Station cleaning is continuous. At busy stations, we have cleaners permanently on site. At quieter stations, our cleaners visit 2-3 times a day. Touch points at the station are disinfected each time a cleaner visits, as well as cleaning of toilets and litter picking. Stations are deep-cleaned at least every 8 weeks, with a full clean of platforms, furniture, railings, stairs and shelters

Trains are disinfected each time they enter the depot. This includes using specialist “fogging” equipment that can reach every surface. Litter is picked from the train at the end of each journey, and train toilets are also steam cleaned at least once a day.

We are currently undertaking a refurbishment programme of our train toilets.

The independent National Rail Passenger Survey is normally undertaken twice a year by Transport Focus, the passenger watchdog. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the last NRPS survey was published in July 2020. Here are the key results on cleanliness and toilet facilities from this survey:

The independent National Rail Passenger Survey is normally undertaken twice a year by Transport Focus, the passenger watchdog. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the last NRPS survey was published in July 2020.

The full report is published on the Transport Focus website. Here are the key c2c customer satisfaction results from this survey:

We appreciate that sometimes things go wrong, or you are unhappy with the service you have received. We aim to make it simple for you to contact us, and we strive to resolve your concerns quickly and effectively.

Our contact details, including a simple form you can use to make a complaint or enquiry, is available on our website.

In 2020/21, our Customer Relations team received 3,087 complaints, and closed 3,442 complaints (including cases that were initially received the previous year). The team also handled a further 19,775 customer enquiries.

On average, complaints were closed in 6.37 working days. 91.7% of complaints were addressed within our target response time of 20 working days.

These results were a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the restrictions it imposed on the c2c Customer Relations team. Since the start of July 2020, 100% of complaints have received an initial response within 20 working days, at an average response time of 3.48 days.

The main categories of complaint received in 2020/21 were:

• Ticketing and refunds policy: 1,188 complaints received in 2020/21
• Smartcards: 798 complaints received in 2020/21
• Performance: 268 complaints received in 2020/21
• Online ticket buying: 225 complaints received in 2020/21
• Personal security onboard: 117 complaints received in 2020/21

During the year we made a number of changes to address some of the issues that were most-complained about. This included:

• Creating a new online form, to make it easier for customers to submit their ticket for a refund during the Covid-19 pandemic
• Introducing a new payment system that enables us to make secure direct payments to customers’ bank accounts
• Changing our card acquirer, a key supplier within the banking system, who had been underperforming which led to unacceptable delays for some customers awaiting refunds
• Launching the new c2c Train Travel app, which allows customers to fulfill tickets purchased online onto their Smartcard, using their mobile phone. This has reduced the number of failed ticket transactions
• Publishing FAQs and customer-friendly guides to address common issues

We have a dedicated section on our website. This includes details of the support we can provide, contact information and advice on how to book assistance.

In 2020/21, we received 33 bookings requesting assistance. This was down significantly on the previous year, due to the impact of Covid-19 reducing the number of people travelling.

We received 30 complaints about accessibility issues and facilities. This included two complaints about pre-booked assistance not being delivered.