East Coast Trains says sorry for 27 December in a ‘phishing’-style email

My husband and I were among the thousands of rail travellers on 27 December who faced disruption with cancelled trains into London, and the resulting mayhem at Finsbury Park. On Sunday 28 December I applied for delay repayments for both our tickets. I have now received an email purportedly from East Coast Trains, but I am wondering if it is genuine?

I have contacted East Coast’s customer relations but have had no reply. The email claims to be from Michael Ross. It states that “as a gesture of goodwill for the disruption and inconvenience to your travel plans, your claim will, on this occasion only, be paid in cash by Bacs transfer.”

The letter goes on to ask us to provide our bank account number and sort code by return to disruption2712@eastcoast.co.uk and “your payment will then be made as quickly as possible although, in view of the holiday period, please allow 14 working days for the transfer to be made”.

Is this for real or another clever scam? CC, Newcastle

We can see why you were concerned that this was a phishing scam – it has all the hallmarks of one – but this email was sent out by East Coast Trains. The company has confirmed that Michael Ross does exist and that the emails are a genuine attempt to compensate passengers quickly – albeit one carried out in a rather cack-handed way. East Coast has since apologised for both the problems that occurred and this email.

It is repaying those caught up in the disruption 50% of the cost of a single ticket for delays of more than 30 minutes, the full cost of a single ticket for delays of over one hour and the full cost of a return ticket for delays of two hours or more.

If you don’t want to send your bank details by email – and who can blame you – you can file the traditional way. East Coast has an online form that does not require you to send your bank details, although you may be sent rail vouchers instead of the cash offered.

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