Are you obliged to ‘rush’ to make your cross-London tube connection?

[bb21]

It really wasn’t the TOC’s fault. The driver didn’t turn up at Exeter on time - and this is according to the guard - as he was stuck in some massive traffic jam on the M5. Then there was a slowdown at Westbury, which is available in other threads. Anyway, all’s well that ends well.

It doesn't really matter. You were delayed and missed your train entitling you to claim, then it is your decision whether to claim or not. If you think it makes you happy to claim and then donate to charity, I say good on you.

I often see assertions about morality of claiming and such on this forum in various delay scenarios, and it normally makes me go "meh". Life is too short to worry about stuff like that. Just do whatever you think is right and what makes you happy. Most people will want to get home as early as possible than get a refund, but some will prefer to take things at a leisurely pace and let their connections pan out naturally, and some taking things to all extremes to maximise the likelihood of an effective free journey. Nothing wrong with any of the approaches. Delay Repay will have been built into the business case for the companies anyway. If the scheme is not dependent on the cause of the delay, the business case would not have been dependent on it.

Glad that it sounds like it worked out well at the end. There are inevitably some grey areas with long connection times especially when crossing London, but provided you acted sensibly you are unlikely to have an issue when claiming, even if you may sometimes have to challenge a first decision for whatever reason.

 

[Gloster]

Off at a slight tangent. What would be the situation if you arrived on the concourse with just enough time to catch a long-distance train, only to see that there was no buffet or trolley on the service, despite them being advertised? Would you get delay repay if you missed the train because you were purchasing food and drink for the journey? I presume the railway’s answer would be the equivalent of, “Tough.”

But what if you have medical reasons for not going too long without food or drink? Common sense says you would carry emergency supplies, but would this be a legal requirement? And what if you had intended to buy supplies on the way to cater for this eventuality and had allowed time for this, but a delay meant you did have time to do so?

 

[bb21]

Off at a slight tangent. What would be the situation if you arrived on the concourse with just enough time to catch a long-distance train, only to see that there was no buffet or trolley on the service, despite them being advertised? Would you get delay repay if you missed the train because you were purchasing food and drink for the journey? I presume the railway’s answer would be the equivalent of, “Tough.”

But what if you have medical reasons for not going too long without food or drink? Common sense says you would carry emergency supplies, but would this be a legal requirement? And what if you had intended to buy supplies on the way to cater for this eventuality and had allowed time for this, but a delay meant you did have time to do so?

To be totally honest your question is far too wide-ranging for a one-size-fit-all answer so I will say each case will be judged on its own merit. If your predicament is caused by a prior service being delayed you will likely be afforded more discretion, and companies do tread more carefully in order not to breach equality legislation.

I don't believe there is automatic entitlement to Delay Repay in the event of catering not being available, however it is worth bearing in mind that customer service teams normally give customers the benefit of the doubt but if 2-3 minutes to purchase refreshments and supplies make a difference to whether your claim is approved or not, you are likely already sailing close to the wind. Generally speaking, provided there is genuinely a good reason, I expect a word with customer service teams to yield a sensible result, but the railway are not babysitters so customers are expected to take some sensible precautions if having certain supplies is crucial as availability can never be guaranteed, even when catering is available.

 

[robbeech]

It really wasn’t the TOC’s fault. The driver didn’t turn up at Exeter on time - and this is according to the guard - as he was stuck in some massive traffic jam on the M5. Then there was a slowdown at Westbury, which is available in other threads. Anyway, all’s well that ends well.

It rather depends how you look at it. You can happily argue that the staff member couldn’t help it, but at the same time it’ll be the toc that foots the bill as they are responsible for the delay. Additionally, he was part of a ‘massive traffic jam on the M5’, he wasn’t ‘in’ one.

let's face it 3-4 minutes is enough time for an able bodied person to make almost any connection in Leeds, particularly so for someone familiar with the station.

I think this is pretty ambitious. Remember, we are not to run on the station. When the station is relatively busy you can easily be held up at additional minute or so on an escalator. I appreciate it’s ‘the extreme’ example but 17 to 1 when the station is busy can almost take the minimum connection time.

 

[Haywain]

I think this is pretty ambitious.

I think it's extremely ambitious if you don't know the station and don't know which platform your connecting train is leaving from.

 

[infobleep]

I had an experience recently whereby there was a signalling problem in Horsham and thus not all trains were running through Chichester.

I was in Chichester town centre needing to get to Bognor Regis.

I hadn't paid attention to the train times but upon looking at the app, found there was a 16:34 running but the 16:38 was cancelled

Now I could have made the 16:38 but I couldn't make the 16:34, even if I ran to the station.

There were two things I planned to do in Bognor Regis and now one of them wasn't possible.

Would I have been required to board the next train in order to claim delay repay or could I have boarded a later one and just claimed for the shortest delay that would have occurred if I have boarded the next train? After all there was now no need for me to be in Bognor Regus so early but this was only the case because a train was cancelled.

 

[Mike99]

Is there a minimum connection time at St Pancras between South Eastern and East Midlands platforms. I was at the front of a South Eastern service the other day but the Sheffield was the front train on top of the Nottingham service at Platform 4, although I was at the front of the South Eastern it's still a fair old walk.

 

[_toommm_]

Is there a minimum connection time at St Pancras between South Eastern and East Midlands platforms. I was at the front of a South Eastern service the other day but the Sheffield was the front train on top of the Nottingham service at Platform 4, although I was at the front of the South Eastern it's still a fair old walk.

Just looks to be the standard fifteen minutes. Might be difficult if you’re at the very rear of a 12-car though!

 

[SargeNpton]

Is there a minimum connection time at St Pancras between South Eastern and East Midlands platforms. I was at the front of a South Eastern service the other day but the Sheffield was the front train on top of the Nottingham service at Platform 4, although I was at the front of the South Eastern it's still a fair old walk.

15 minutes for all domestic connections at St Pancras, regardless of which parts of the station the incoming and outgoing trains use.