Northern Depay Repay Claim Rejected as using Multi Model Ticket. What to do next?

I following the delay to a journey on Norther of over 1 hour I submitted a delay repay claim. I travelled using my free Concessionary Travel Pass issued by my local PTE. I requested a free Northern ticket as compensation. Sadly, I have received the following reply:

Dear gray1404,

Thank you for your correspondence in respect to the Northern service on 11
February 2020 with our reference DR-0000-0000.

We are currently not in a position to offer Delay Repay compensation for
multi-modal tickets (i.e. tickets that are valid on other modes of transport
in addition to rail) as we do not control the terms and conditions of these
tickets. We have been in discussions with our client, Rail North Partnership,
and they are committed to providing a seamless travel experience to all
passengers between different types of transport and different operators; we
will be working closely with them to achieve this.

This does not affect or limit any rights as a consumer under, for example,
The Consumer Rights Act 2015. If you are unsure if this applies to your
journey or believe that it does apply to your journey please contact our
Customer Experience Centre on 0800 200 6060. We always consider each claim
made to us on its individual merits.
We are sorry that we are unable to process your claim on this occasion.

Kind regards,
Northern

(name and reference number omitted)

What are my next steps? I didn't encounter any additional expenses other then the mere fact I was delayed. Do I send a complaint to Northern stating that I wish to claim compensation from them under the Consumer Rights Act? I would be very grateful if advice here as it doesn't take away the fact I experienced a delay and it is dreadful that Northern a willing to take the revenue from the PTE tickets but think they can get away with not paying compensation. The terms and conditions of my ticket say nothing about not permitting compensation. Rather, it says travel is subject to the terms and conditions of the operator of the service I use.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Even though the cost of the (delayed) journey to me was zero, am I still entitled to compensation under the Consumer Rights Act? If so, what would be the best way to word a complaint to Northern? Its worth noting Northern will still receive revenue from the PTE.

You’re entitled to compensation under the NRCoT of 50% of the cost (to you) of your ticket on which you were delayed. 50% of £0 is £0, which is what you have correctly been paid.

The Consumer Rights Act is unlikely to apply to your journey.

The Consumer Rights Act only applies if you purchase a good or service. Since you were travelling on a free pass no money changed hands so you do not have a contract with Northern that Consumer Rights Act applies to. The only contract you can enforce with Northern is their obligations under the NRCOT.

Yes money will have changed hands between the PTE and Northern but that money isn't yours and it's up to the PTE if they want to enforce any penalty clause they may or may not have with Northern should you complain to them.

In my view Northern were wrong to put this case in the category with a multimodal ticket as it is very different and it's already been established that holders of purchased multimodal tickets should be entitled to compensation and are also entitled to claim via the consumer rights act.

The Consumer Rights Act categorically does apply to all contracts for goods and services, even if the good or service is 'free', as in this case. I've successfully claimed under it myself, on those terms, on more than one occasion.
However, you would need to demonstrate that the delay was caused by Northern (e.g. mechanical breakdown of the allocated unit) and thus they had failed to deliver the contracted service "with reasonable care and skill". If this is the case, I would suggest a polite email to the customer services team, who I expect would offer you some token gesture of goodwill, e.g. a complimentary ticket or a travel voucher.

Mathew S said:

The Consumer Rights Act categorically does apply to all contracts for goods and services, even if the good or service is 'free', as in this case.

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But for a contract to exist, consideration must pass from each party to the other. It is at best unclear what consideration has passed from gray1404 in this case.

island said:

But for a contract to exist, consideration must pass from each party to the other. It is at best unclear what consideration has passed from gray1404 in this case.

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Yes it's my understanding that whilst the consumer rights act applies to some free items when offered with a purchase a contract of sale has to be formed to start with. For example if 'free' downloadable' content is offered with purchase of a computer then the purchaser has a contract and the downloadable content must also be provided with reasonable care and skill.

What is unclear is whether if the PTE pass is for example a TFGM pass that you now have to pay a £10 admin fee for whether that would be covered if that's what gray1404 held but from past posts it seems it's a Merseytravel pass which I think are totally free.

Of course the Consumer Rights Act is irrelevant if it can't be proved that Northern didn't act with reasonable care and skill as the Consumer Rights Act doesn't require Northern to provide compensation nor does it require them to be perfect. The threshold for a case under the Consumer Rights Act is actually a lot higher than for something like flight delay compensation. It just has to be the airlines fault such as a technical problem whereas even if a Northern unit fails, provided Northern have regularly and properly maintained it they have used reasonable care and skill and a claim for compensation may in fact fail should they choose to defend it.

Mathew S said:

The Consumer Rights Act categorically does apply to all contracts for goods and services, even if the good or service is 'free', as in this case. I've successfully claimed under it myself, on those terms, on more than one occasion.

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What would be the best way to word a complaint /claim made on this basis?

Just received a further rejection from Northern on appeal. Their approach to munti model tickets, the delay repay scheme and dreadful customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

Dear gray1404,

The following response is in connection with your re-submitted claim ref
DR-0000-0000 for travel on XXX, XX/XX/XXXX.

We've rejected your Delay Repay appeal: DR-0000-0000.

This claim has been rejected as it does not meet delay repay requirements for
tickets. All customers holding multi-modal season tickets issued on behalf of
a PTE i.e. Merseytravel Trio / RailPass, TfGM Countycard, Metro (WYPTE) Mcard
/ Metrocard and Travel South Yorkshire (SYPTE) SY Connect+ / Travelmaster
Gold etc are not entitled to claim for compensation via Delay Repay.

Due to the multi modal nature of the ticket this can no longer be accepted
because this can be used on multiple forms of transport and in the event of
service disruption to our trains there are often alternative means to still
make the journey. If you were to purchase a rail-only ticket then you would
of course be eligible for any compensation policies that are included with
rail-only travel (such as Delay Repay).

If you're still unhappy with your rejected claim you can make a formal
complaint by emailing Customer Relations at:
[email protected]

Kind regards,
Northern

So next steps is a formal complaint, rail ombudsman referral and/or commence proceedings for a small claim.

Does anyone know the contractual requirements of a franchise holder in administering the delay repay scheme? Any documentation on this would be greatly appreciated.

This would assist greatly with any small claim and reporting of any franchise breach to the ORR/DfT.

You will be wasting your time and money doing a small claim; you do not have a contract to claim under. I suspect the same is true of a formal complaint. No clue what the rail ombudsman will say.

gray1404 said:

Just received a further rejection from Northern on appeal. Their approach to munti model tickets, the delay repay scheme and dreadful customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

Dear gray1404,

The following response is in connection with your re-submitted claim ref
DR-0000-0000 for travel on XXX, XX/XX/XXXX.

We've rejected your Delay Repay appeal: DR-0000-0000.

This claim has been rejected as it does not meet delay repay requirements for
tickets. All customers holding multi-modal season tickets issued on behalf of
a PTE i.e. Merseytravel Trio / RailPass, TfGM Countycard, Metro (WYPTE) Mcard
/ Metrocard and Travel South Yorkshire (SYPTE) SY Connect+ / Travelmaster
Gold etc are not entitled to claim for compensation via Delay Repay.

Due to the multi modal nature of the ticket this can no longer be accepted
because this can be used on multiple forms of transport and in the event of
service disruption to our trains there are often alternative means to still
make the journey. If you were to purchase a rail-only ticket then you would
of course be eligible for any compensation policies that are included with
rail-only travel (such as Delay Repay).

If you're still unhappy with your rejected claim you can make a formal
complaint by emailing Customer Relations at:
[email protected]

Kind regards,
Northern

So next steps is a formal complaint, rail ombudsman referral and/or commence proceedings for a small claim.

Does anyone know the contractual requirements of a franchise holder in administering the delay repay scheme? Any documentation on this would be greatly appreciated.

This would assist greatly with any small claim and reporting of any franchise breach to the ORR/DfT.

Click to expand...

I would suggest a short, simple, polite email to the customer services team (different from the people who deal with Delay Repay) explaining the circumstances. All you need to specify is that it was their service you were on, and show how it was their fault that you were delayed.
In my experience, the customer services team usually offer at least a token gesture of goodwill (usually a single complimentary ticket) - the delay repay people don't seem to have the freedom to do anything other than rigidly apply the rules they're given.