Capita Travel and Events has become the first intermediary to partner with Railguard, a start-up business providing delay repay compensation claim services for rail travel.
Current legislation sets out rules that make it possible for passengers to claim compensation if their train is delayed or cancelled.
Through the partnership, Capita Travel and Events and its customers can benefit from proactive identification of eligible claims, alerting travellers that compensation is due. The TMC claims this will make company travel budgets stretch further as a result.
Railguard won the GTMC Entrepreneurs in Business Travel Awards at this year’s GTMC Overseas Conference in Ireland.
The service will be integrated with Capita Travel and Events’ specialist managed rail service, and the TMC says it will deliver a user-friendly mobile app and timely communications to motivate travellers into the action required to activate the claim. The service will also reconcile and report delays and successful claims, with monies credited back to the traveller’s organisation.
Capita Travel and Events and Railguard researched anonymised live bookings in 2017, finding that around 2.5 per cent of the rail spend was eligible for delay repay compensation.
With planned changes in regulation, Railguard anticipates average claim eligibility could see this number rise to 7 per cent by 2025.
Trevor Elswood, CCO of Capita Travel and Events, said: “As specialists in UK business rail travel, we recognise the benefits of innovations such as Railguard’s. By putting a service and technology wrapper around it, we can provide our customers with opportunities to save money and improve value. This is another example of a Capita Travel and Events market-first which benefits our customers, our future growth, and in this case, an innovative new start-up.”
Matt Freckelton, MD of Railguard Limited, added: “We’re really excited to be working with Capita Travel and Events. Their name is synonymous with rail in the business travel world, and to work with such a forward-thinking company will also help validate our proposition in the eyes of our target market – TMCs.”
Capita Travel and Events will pilot the service with several customers in the coming months.
capitatravelandevents.co.uk; railguard.co.uk