Delayed by 29 minutes... Worth a delay repay form?

[Trainfan344]

Went for a trip yesterday and was delayed on arrival by 29 minutes. I presume I claim from Virgin as it was there train that was delayed first?

 

[cjmillsnun]

It's worth a punt, as VT are normally pretty good with customer service.

 

[A-driver]

Have to say that if I'm driving a train that's running 28 or 29 late I tend to brake earlier to kill another min or 2-at least that way rather than announcing a meaningless apology to everyone for stealing almost 30mins from them I can announce that they are entitled to claim money back for the delay!

 

[Romilly]

But make it crystal clear on the form that you are not stating that you were delayed by 30 minutes or more: the last thing you want is to be prosecuted for attempting to obtain a pecuniary advantage by deception.

 

[cjmillsnun]

But make it crystal clear on the form that you are not stating that you were delayed by 30 minutes or more: the last thing you want is to be prosecuted for attempting to obtain a pecuniary advantage by deception.

I very much doubt that'll happen.

29 minutes to most people is half an hour. The worst that'll happen is VT will say no.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Most likely they don't read it.

You could word it something like (assuming you know from e.g. RTT it was 29 mins) "While this is strictly speaking under the threshold for Delay Repay, I hope you will consider an ex-gratia payment".

 

[DaleCooper]

What is the cut-off point at which the delay is near enough to 30 minutes to merit compensation? Is it 29 or 28 or 25 minutes or what?

 

[Trainfan344]

Problem is this: I was delayed by about 15 mins and missed the connection, got an ontime train that was ontime into my destination but I arrived 29 minutes later than had I not missed the connection.

 

[Merseysider]

In some cases, the train can be 29 mins late under the public timetable but 30 late according to the WTT, or vice versa, etc etc. Definitely worth trying.

 

[yorkie]

Went for a trip yesterday and was delayed on arrival by 29 minutes. I presume I claim from Virgin as it was there train that was delayed first?

Here is their online form: http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/contact/

Where it says "Length of delay*", which option do you plan to select from the drop-down menu?

 

[Trainfan344]

Tempted to just email their customer service people and see if they give me a £10 RTV

 

[Elecman]

I was on a VT train that wax 58 late into Euston but still only got a 50% refund

 

[cjmillsnun]

Problem is this: I was delayed by about 15 mins and missed the connection, got an ontime train that was ontime into my destination but I arrived 29 minutes later than had I not missed the connection.

Missed connections count for delay repay IIRC, as long as you allowed the minimum connection time for that particular station.

 

[yorkie]

The "problem" is this, and only this: you were 29 minutes late.

 

[DaleCooper]

The "problem" is this, and only this: you were 29 minutes late.

A lot of contributors seem not to have grasped that point.

 

[Bletchleyite]

A lot of contributors seem not to have grasped that point.

I can entirely grasp that, but given that VT are often quite generous writing in and complaining about a delay less than the threshold may be worth it, provided you are honest that that is what you are doing.

You may however get nothing at all. And selecting a delay on the online form would of course be fraud.

 

[ushawk]

Which service was it ?

I have been on a Southern service which I had as 29 minutes late, yet NRE and RTT shown it as arriving at 31 minutes late allowing me delay repay. Worth a check.

If it was indeed showing as 29 late, it might be worth a try but its unlikely you'll get anything. If they allow it, where would it stop ?

 

[Trainfan344]

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P50513/2015/05/12/advanced Is the service which ran late.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Y62604/2015/05/12/advanced Was my connection from Stockport

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P30363/2015/05/12/advanced Was the train I actually got to Stockport.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C80487/2015/05/12/advanced And this was the train I caught to Sheffield.

 

[Bletchleyite]

What was the overall delay to your journey when you arrived at your ticketed destination? That is what counts, not the delay to an individual train service (unless it is the last one you use to get to the final ticketed destination)?

 

[Trainfan344]

I arrived at Sheffield at 11:37 1/4 due to the delay, my original train arrived at 11:07 3/4 So my delay overall was 29 1/2 minutes.

 

[bb21]

What was the overall delay to your journey when you arrived at your ticketed destination? That is what counts, not the delay to an individual train service (unless it is the last one you use to get to the final ticketed destination)?

About 30 minutes is what most passengers will say.

I arrived at Sheffield at 11:37 1/4 due to the delay, my original train arrived at 11:07 3/4 So my delay overall was 29 1/2 minutes.

Put it this way, if you knew your delay was under 30 minutes, then it can be argued that your claim would be fraudulent. In the real world, how many passengers know the delay to their service to the exact minute? I would certainly not accept that I made a fraudulent claim if I remember my claim to be "about 30 minutes".

Only you know what happened exactly. I think I have covered everything relevant I needed to.

 

[Trainfan344]

About 30 minutes is what most passengers will say.



Put it this way, if you knew your delay was under 30 minutes, then it can be argued that your claim would be fraudulent. In the real world, how many passengers know the delay to their service to the exact minute? I would certainly not accept that I made a fraudulent claim if I remember my claim to be "about 30 minutes".

Only you know what happened exactly. I think I have covered everything relevant I needed to.

All this faff for £3...

 

[John @ home]

I arrived at Sheffield at 11:37 1/4 due to the delay, my original train arrived at 11:07 3/4 So my delay overall was 29 1/2 minutes.

The measurement of delay does not compare actual arrival time of one train with actual arrival time of another.

We need to compare the actual arrival time of the train on which you arrived at the destination shown on your ticket, with the timetabled arrival time at that destination had there been no delays.

How long was that delay?

 

[DaleCooper]

I arrived at Sheffield at 11:37 1/4 due to the delay, my original train arrived at 11:07 3/4 So my delay overall was 29 1/2 minutes.

While we're splitting hairs; your original train was scheduled to arrive at 11:08 therefore the delay was 29m15s.

 

[yorkie]

The official log says 29min and a quarter, but arguably they can be out by a few seconds (or even a few minutes) at some locations depending on various factors. I'd also argue that it should be based on the time the doors are released, which may vary.

However the OP does not dispute the fact it was 29mins, so I will work on the assumption it was 29mins, and therefore there is no legibility, and the online form cannot be completed because there is no option for a delay under 30mins.

Yes, an email could be sent stating there was a 29min delay and yes they may show discretion. But is it worth it?

I think the OP had a return ticket, with a Railcard, so you're looking at a quarter of the ticket price for a delay of 30mins, and so it's a negligible amount so I would not bother if it was me!

 

[Haywain]

The official log says 29min and a quarter, but arguably they can be out by a few seconds (or even a few minutes) at some locations depending on various factors. I'd also argue that it should be based on the time the doors are released, which may vary.

If it was based on the time the doors were released this could lead to a situation where the first train had a fault and took 5 minutes to get the doors open, and the second opened them immediately, thus bring a (hypothetical) 31 minute delay within the DR threshold to 26 minutes. That would be very silly, so I think we need to stick with what can actually be recorded.

 

[yorkie]

I don't see why a door delay wouldn't be eligible for Delay Repay, I'd be prepared to argue the case on that basis if it came to it.

It's not applicable in this case, as I'm sure the OP would have mentioned if there was a delay with the doors and he isn't disputing the delay was less than the 30minute threshold.

 

[ValleyLines142]

The official log says 29min and a quarter, but arguably they can be out by a few seconds (or even a few minutes) at some locations depending on various factors. I'd also argue that it should be based on the time the doors are released, which may vary.

However the OP does not dispute the fact it was 29mins, so I will work on the assumption it was 29mins, and therefore there is no legibility, and the online form cannot be completed because there is no option for a delay under 30mins.

Yes, an email could be sent stating there was a 29min delay and yes they may show discretion. But is it worth it?

I think the OP had a return ticket, with a Railcard, so you're looking at a quarter of the ticket price for a delay of 30mins, and so it's a negligible amount so I would not bother if it was me!

Better than nothing, however.

 

[yorkie]

Better than nothing, however.

Yes, if they do show discretion it's better than nothing, but there's no entitlement.

To go back to the thread title "Worth a delay repay form?" No because the form asks you to choose a delay length and there is no option applicable for 29mins. But if the question is "Worth asking if they'll apply discretion" the answer for me, is no, but that's subjective. Providing the passenger is totally honest there is no harm in asking.

 

[DaleCooper]

I suspect that the compensation payable divided by the time spent posting on this forum, reading replies, checking RTT, emailing customer services and telling everyone and his dog about it would come to less than the national minimum hourly rate.