Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has been urged to guarantee that anyone who has to cancel their travel plans because of the change in Government advice for Christmas gets a refund.
The Liberal Democrats pressed ministers “to do the right thing” by ensuring people do not lose out financially on non-refundable tickets if they follow new guidance for the festive period.
People across the UK were last month told that COVID-19 laws would be relaxed to allow the mixing of up to three households between December 23 and 27, and encouraged to book advance train tickets.
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But after rising concerns that the move would lead to a surge of new infections and deaths, Boris Johnson urged people to scale down their plans to have “short” and “small” Christmases.
He warned Britons against travelling between areas of high and low prevalence, while Wales is going as far as changing the law to limit mixing to two households.
In a letter to Mr Shapps and the Prime Minister, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey and his transport spokeswoman Sarah Olney said: “It is only right for you to guarantee that full refunds of train fares paid in advance will be available if people cancel their rail tickets for travel over Christmas.
“People booked these tickets in good faith, following your advice, and now that advice has changed it must be right for you to ensure they will receive their money back. We hope you will do the right thing.”
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