Seeks feedback on new guidance on rail retailing which aims to assist rail retailers in meeting their consumer law obligations regarding the provision of information to passengers.
This consultation will be of interest to:
- retailers of rail tickets, products and services (including train operators and third-party retailers)
- industry stakeholders with an interest or involvement in rail retailing
- passenger representative organisations
We also welcome views from other interested parties such as:
- interested passengers
- devolved governments
Key points
We committed in our Business Plan 2025/26 to undertake and publish the outcome of a review of the 2015 Code of Practice on Retail Information for Rail Tickets and Services. The primary purpose of this document is to assist rail retailers in meeting their consumer law obligations regarding the provision of information to passengers.
Passengers must be able to quickly and easily access relevant, accurate, complete and timely information during the ticket buying process. This is a legal requirement and a fundamental component of informed passenger decision-making.
The changes we propose include:
- rebranding the 2015 Code to better reflect the intent of the document by renaming it ‘Guidance on rail retailing'
- modifying the style of the Guidance to make it accessible and useable for both passengers and industry to help inform them of their respective rights and obligations
- updated content to account for new consumer law since the 2015 Code was published
- more general content updates to ensure better accuracy and relevance of some sections, alongside deletion of some obsolete information
- addition of new case studies to help inform and guide retailers towards best practice to support their compliance and continuous improvement
How to submit your response
Please submit your response by Tuesday 11 November 2025. You can choose to:
- respond via our online form
- send an email to consumer@orr.gov.uk
- write to us at: Rail Retailing Guidance Consultation, Office of Rail and Road, 25 Cabot Square, London, E14 4QZ
Accessible formats
This consultation is available in the following accessible formats: HTML.
If you need this consultation document in a different format, such as Easy Read, large print, audio recording or braille, please contact us via:
Email: webteam@orr.gov.uk
Telephone: 0207 282 2000 [select option 3]
Post:
Public Correspondence Team
Office of Rail and Road
25 Cabot Square
London
E14 4QZ
We will consider your request and will endeavour to get back to you with the accessible format within 10 working days.
Consultation document and draft guidance for consultation
Publishing your response Collapse accordion Open accordion
We plan to publish all responses to this consultation on our website.
If you want any information in your response to be treated as confidential, please state this clearly and explain the reasons why, for us to consider. If your response does contain information you would like to be treated as confidential, please include it separately where possible or provide a summary that does not contain confidential details so that we can publish the non-confidential parts.
Please be aware that all information sent to us may still be subject to disclosure in accordance with the information access rights granted by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).
If we receive a request for the disclosure of information you have sent us that we have not published, we will aim to contact you so that we can take your views into account, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on ORR.
Use of your personal data
The legal basis for processing your personal data is that it is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the exercise of an official function vested in ORR.
Any personal data you provide to us will be used for the purposes of this consultation and will be handled in accordance with our privacy notice which sets out how we comply with the UK GDPR and the DPA.
We will publish your consultation response, withholding or redacting confidential information where appropriate. We will not publish your personal data.
ORR staff may have access to your information for the duration of the consultation process. This will be no longer than a year’s duration and all information submitted in response to a consultation which has not been published on our website, will be deleted.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
We may use AI to analyse consultation responses and identify key themes. Your name and contact details will be removed prior to the use of AI. The data will not be used to train or improve third party AI models and will remain under the control of ORR.