Delay repay. Do you bother?

[SAPhil]

I always claim Delay Repay providing it's a genuine claim. I personally think that it should be paid out if the train doesn't arrive on time at all - I feel that the minimum 15 minutes before a claim can be made is like saying anything between 1 and 14 minutes late is still classed as on time!
If I rocked into work 10 minutes late every single day it wouldn't take long before I was docked pay or had to have a chat with my manager.

The fares in the UK are some of the most expensive in the world so the least the train companies can do is pay up if the train is late for any amount of time, it all adds up over the course of a year if you commute.

I always claim for precisely this reason. When I get in late I have to leave correspondingly late which usually makes my return home even later. So whenever I can claim, I do whatever the cause.

 

[Watershed]

I'd appreciate if the universal delay repay threshold is reduced to 3 minutes. The reason is that, most official connecting time is 5 minutes, and a delay of 3 minutes is generally enough for me to miss an official connection that I may need to pay for alternate transport to complete my journey.

That would be lovely, but it's entirely unrealistic with the way things work, because the administration would far exceed any payout. There's a reason why the EU Regulation defining the minimum entitlement to compensation sets a minimum payout threshold of €3

 

[DarloRich]

LNER do automatic delay repay which is great. No work to do on thier services. IMO that should be standard for all ( if it isn't already)

 

[skyhigh]

I'd appreciate if the universal delay repay threshold is reduced to 3 minutes. The reason is that, most official connecting time is 5 minutes, and a delay of 3 minutes is generally enough for me to miss an official connection that I may need to pay for alternate transport to complete my journey.

Meanwhile back in the real world, your ticket would be valid on the next service or the company would be required to provide alternative transport to your destination, so there is no requirement for you to spend anything extra to get to your destination.

Not to mention that the overall delay would likely be large enough for a 15 min+ claim.

You wouldn't be able to fund a taxi or bus fare with delay repay from a 3 minute delay!

 

[trover]

You wouldn't be able to fund a taxi or bus fare with delay repay from a 3 minute delay!

Actutally how it’s determined to or not to reimburse taxi fares? I’ve had the last train of the day cancelled and was put on a coach which arrived at my destination at midnight when clearly there was no more local buses running to my home. I hired a taxi and the TOC happily reimbursed the taxi fare plus delay repay. I’m wondering what would they do if the coach or the late running train arrives just after the time that I could have reasonably catched the last bus.

 

[Watershed]

Actutally how it’s determined to or not to reimburse taxi fares? I’ve had the last train of the day cancelled and was put on a coach which arrived at my destination at midnight when clearly there was no more local buses running to my home. I hired a taxi and the TOC happily reimbursed the taxi fare plus delay repay. I’m wondering what would they do if the coach or the late running train arrives just after the time that I could have reasonably catched the last bus.

There is no connection between the two modes of transport so there is unlikely to be any liability in the case of missing the last bus home.

 

[island]

Actutally how it’s determined to or not to reimburse taxi fares? I’ve had the last train of the day cancelled and was put on a coach which arrived at my destination at midnight when clearly there was no more local buses running to my home. I hired a taxi and the TOC happily reimbursed the taxi fare plus delay repay.

It was good of the TOC to offer a gesture of goodwill in that way even though they weren't obliged to.

I’m wondering what would they do if the coach or the late running train arrives just after the time that I could have reasonably catched the last bus.

In general, the TOC's liability to the passenger ends when they reach their final ticketed railway destination.

 

[burneside]

A quick question about delay repay:
On Friday I travelled with two other people from Devon to Manchester via Newport, the Newport to Manchester leg was terminated at Wilmslow due to late running meaning a delay of over an hour. As the tickets were purchased at a GWR station the online claim was put through them, but they have said TfW are responsible and passed the claim on. Are we likely to only receive a refund on the delayed TfW portion of the journey? Thanks to anyone who might know the answer.

 

[skyhigh]

A quick question about delay repay:
On Friday I travelled with two other people from Devon to Manchester via Newport, the Newport to Manchester leg was terminated at Wilmslow due to late running meaning a delay of over an hour. As the tickets were purchased at a GWR station the online claim was put through them, but they have said TfW are responsible and passed the claim on. Are we likely to only receive a refund on the delayed TfW portion of the journey? Thanks to anyone who might know the answer.

You will receive delay repay (not a refund) based on the full price of the tickets. GWR are correct - you claim from the train operator who delayed you, not the one who sold you the ticket.

However, if you abandon your journey due to disruption you need to return to the company who sold you the ticket for a refund.

 

[trover]

There is no connection between the two modes of transport so there is unlikely to be any liability in the case of missing the last bus home.

It was good of the TOC to offer a gesture of goodwill in that way even though they weren't obliged to.

Thanks @Watershed and @island Then I should say it's excellent customer service given it's how it works.

What I personally think is that the difference between the bus fare and taxi fare is kind of consequential loss (? which is recoverable because I'd not be paying extra had the train be on time...

In general, the TOC's liability to the passenger ends when they reach their final ticketed railway destination.

...so lead me thinking isn't arriving on time also the TOC's liability?

 

[miklcct]

However, if you abandon your journey due to disruption you need to return to the company who sold you the ticket for a refund.

In the past, I encountered a case where I abandoned my journey from Bournemouth to Guildford at Woking when there was serious disruption, and I switched to a local bus to complete my journey. Fortunately I split ticket at Woking so it was just a simple matter of refunding the whole of the unused ticket.

However, what would happen if I used a through advance ticket instead? How would the refund be calculated?

 

[Blinkbonny]

This is very much a contentious area. Twice in recent weeks I have driven my son to/from Nuneaton because of late running trains missing the connection. And his girl friend was collected late at night from Derby last week in order to get to Long Eaton.

If they'd waited for the next train they would have been at least an hour late and entitled to Delay Repay. Somebody goes to a great deal of trouble (and expense) to rescue them and then they're entitled to nothing!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I've claimed Delay Repay only once, when NR shut the WCML at Motherwell with signalling problems, so that meant a Glasgow-Carlisle bus on the A74 and a 2-hour delay going south on Virgin.
I've also claimed once abroad, when the Austrian Westbahn had a power failure for the best part of 3 hours, leaving our ICE stranded in the sunflower fields.
I was impressed when the DB conductor came round afterwards with already-stamped claim forms for "over 2 hours delay" (50% rebate).

Looking back, I reflect on the many, many times BR dislocated my journeys without a shred of regret or compensation, especially on Sundays.
But on the other hand they did more special stops and coordinated their recovery services better than today's TOCs (alternate routes, connections etc).
I still have "has been delayed on the xxxx Region" on the brain (substitute BR Region to taste, usually Western or LM depending where you were).

 

[miklcct]

The Thameslink service back home is so unreliable that I have made 2 delay repay claims recently. However, I'm doing it just to bother the railway as the compensation I receive being delayed on the Thameslink trains can never make up the extra fare I pay when I switch to a local bus to complete my journey when the Thameslink service is cancelled on other occasions.

 

[se1lad]

Back in the early 2000’s I travelled daily to work on the Jubilee line. The service was so poor that I would claim delay repay 2-3 times a week. TfL would post you out a voucher valid for 13 months each time you claimed. I still remember the face on the person at the ticket office when I turned up with about 120 vouchers which each had to be manually processed to be applied as a discount to my next years season ticket!

 

[NoOnesFool]

Do you take time to claim delay repay? Is there a threshold between 'cant be bothered' and making the claim?
One wonders how much delay is never reclaimed.

I have sent away for delay repay and never heard anything back. If I was travelling on a £100 ticket and was delayed for 2 hours, I'd make strong efforts to claim compensation. For the sake of £3 though, I'd only apply if I was bored and had the time.

 

[RSDonovan]

If you bought the ticket online can the compensation be automatically returned to the card you paid with?

 

[jfollows]

If you bought the ticket online can the compensation be automatically returned to the card you paid with?

In theory, but at least some retailers (Avanti, see earlier) make you jump through hoops first of all, it's a misrepresentation to call it "automatic" delay repay in their case. I believe it used to be automatic when Virgin introduced it during their tenure.

 

[londonbridge]

My most recent is £6 for a 15-29 minute delay caused by Northern, but I’ve still claimed it (haven’t been paid it yet though). Posted in a seperate thread, journey was Accrington to Kings Cross, first train was 20 minutes late, causing me to miss my connection at Todmorden and subsequently my connection at Leeds.

 

[AM9]

I've only claimed DR three times and each instance has been where the delay was attributed to a single TOC's performance. Given that the rules state that a rebate is payable if the journey is extended past the thresholds, from whom would one claim if a late running of say five minutes caused a connection to be missed which resulted in catching a second train that was another five minutes late, causing an hourly branch line to be missed? Would the TOC of the first train reject the claim based on their service being less than 15 minutes late?

 

[Haywain]

I've only claimed DR three times and each instance has been where the delay was attributed to a single TOC's performance. Given that the rules state that a rebate is payable if the journey is extended past the thresholds, from whom would one claim if a late running of say five minutes caused a connection to be missed which resulted in catching a second train that was another five minutes late, causing an hourly branch line to be missed? Would the TOC of the first train reject the claim based on their service being less than 15 minutes late?

The delay is to your whole journey and you should claim from the company who first caused the delay (in your example, the TOC of the first train). It’s not that the train was delayed by 5 minutes but that you were delayed by an hour.

 

[AM9]

The delay is to your whole journey and you should claim from the company who first caused the delay (in your example, the TOC of the first train). It’s not that the train was delayed by 5 minutes but that you were delayed by an hour.

That's what I understand from the rules as published, but given the reluctance of some TOCs to adhere to those rules, I can imagine situations where ill-informed back office TOC staff reject such a claim at face value.
An itinerary that might have this sort of consequences is: Chester to Crewe (TfW), Crewe to Watford Junction (Avanti) and Watford Junction to St Alban's Abbey (LNW). That itinerary is potentially susceptible to a minor delay cascading into an hour's slip.

 

[Haywain]

That's what I understand from the rules as published, but given the reluctance of some TOCs to adhere to those rules, I can imagine situations where ill-informed back office TOC staff reject such a claim at face value.
An itinerary that might have this sort of consequences is: Chester to Crewe (TfW), Crewe to Watford Junction (Avanti) and Watford Junction to St Alban's Abbey (LNW). That itinerary is potentially susceptible to a minor delay cascading into an hour's slip.

Reluctance to pay doesn’t transfer responsibility and my real world experience, while it may be limited, does not reflect all of what I read on the forum.

 

[Deafdoggie]

Reluctance to pay doesn’t transfer responsibility and my real world experience, while it may be limited, does not reflect all of what I read on the forum.

That's what I understand from the rules as published, but given the reluctance of some TOCs to adhere to those rules, I can imagine situations where ill-informed back office TOC staff reject such a claim at face value.
An itinerary that might have this sort of consequences is: Chester to Crewe (TfW), Crewe to Watford Junction (Avanti) and Watford Junction to St Alban's Abbey (LNW). That itinerary is potentially susceptible to a minor delay cascading into an hour's slip.

This was my experience when travelling by train. Living by a station with only an hourly service, a connection onto this could often be missed. There was one major route that only had the minium connection time so regularly failed with a couple of minutes delay. But my journey was an hour late. They paid out everytime without question or quibble.

 

[AM9]

This was my experience when travelling by train. Living by a station with only an hourly service, a connection onto this could often be missed. There was one major route that only had the minium connection time so regularly failed with a couple of minutes delay. But my journey was an hour late. They paid out everytime without question or quibble.

In my example, the liability would rest with TfW who would only receive a minimal split of the fare so there might be some reluctance to pay up quick, maybe hoping that an initial rejection of claims results in claimants giving up.

 

[Haywain]

In my example, the liability would rest with TfW who would only receive a minimal split of the fare so there might be some reluctance to pay up quick, maybe hoping that an initial rejection of claims results in claimants giving up.

Every train operator will have many claims of such a nature, it’s just par for the course - win some, lose some.

 

[Ken H]

Every train operator will have many claims of such a nature, it’s just par for the course - win some, lose some.

Don't they cross charge according to blame?

 

[AM9]

- win some, lose some.

I presume you are referring to the TOC winning/losing some.

 

[Haywain]

I presume you are referring to the TOC winning/losing some.

Yes, in that the amount they pay out is unrelated to the revenue that receive from the ticket price.

 

[DelayRepay]

That's what I understand from the rules as published, but given the reluctance of some TOCs to adhere to those rules, I can imagine situations where ill-informed back office TOC staff reject such a claim at face value.
An itinerary that might have this sort of consequences is: Chester to Crewe (TfW), Crewe to Watford Junction (Avanti) and Watford Junction to St Alban's Abbey (LNW). That itinerary is potentially susceptible to a minor delay cascading into an hour's slip.

I've had a few delays involving multiple TOCs, most claims were paid out without any issue.

I've had a couple that were initially rejected but then paid out when I clarified what I was claiming for. They were all slightly odd journeys that either involved missing the last train or having to use a bus somewhere along the way, so I can understand why the automatic processing system got confused.