The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is inviting passenger groups to comment on the regulator’s new proposals to help ensure fairer redress when booked rail passenger assistance is not provided.
With passenger rail journeys steadily increasing, demand for pre-booked passenger assistance is also rising, with the ORR stating that new statistics show that requests for assistance have reached their highest since the time series began in 2012.
A newly-proposed framework, developed in collaboration with passenger and industry representatives including train operators, aims to set out factors that operators should consider when deciding what redress is appropriate, including the the nature and extent of the failure, the impact on the passenger’s journey, personal and emotional impacts, and whether the failure reflects repeated issues.
Potential redress may include financial remedies, such as compensation or reimbursement of additional costs, as well as non-financial solutions.
The implementation of the framework follows the ORR’s previous decision to tighten its Accessible Travel Policy redress rules by making it mandatory for all rail operators to assess redress claims on a case-by-case basis where booked assistance has failed in October 2025.
Stephanie Tobyn, ORR’s Director of Strategy, Policy and Reform, said:The impact on passengers when booked assistance fails can be significant and can vary greatly depending on the circumstances, and that is why we have already made it mandatory for operators to assess redress claims case by case.
This proposed framework helping them to do that is the next step. We want to hear from passengers, representative groups, operators and other stakeholders on whether the framework captures the right considerations and how it can best support improved outcomes.
The consultation is now live and closes at 17:00 on Friday 11 September 2026. It can be accessed via the ORR website, here.
