On Friday morning, I landed at Heathrow after a 27 hour flight from Australia. I bought a weekly ticket for my normal commute, CHH to London while my plane was still taxiing to the gate. I bought this for my Southern Key card.
Still jetlagged, I'd accepted the card/ticket to be activated at CHH (Christs Hospital), my normal start station. However, I had neglected to take into account that I was at Heathrow, and therefore on this occasion only, my actual start station would be VIC (Victoria). I have since discovered that even had I bought a weekly ticket from London to CHH (as opposed to CHH to London) I wouldn't have been able to activate it at VIC for some reason (seems Kings Cross is the only central London station I could have activated it at).
At VIC, my Key card wouldn't work at the gate, understandably, but gateline staff checked my emailed receipt and allowed me on the train which departed a few minutes late.
At HRH, the service to CHH was cancelled and those travelling to CHH were detrained. The next train was half an hour later. I decided not to wait and exited at HRH (Horsham). Later in the day, I popped down to CHH to activate my Key card.
Questions:
Having travelled 30+ hours from Australia to home, desperate to see my family, I can't tell you how angry I was at being turfed off my train by the usual crapness of Southern Rail. I am fastidious about claiming delay repay, but on this occasion am unsure of my eligibility due to the above.
Still jetlagged, I'd accepted the card/ticket to be activated at CHH (Christs Hospital), my normal start station. However, I had neglected to take into account that I was at Heathrow, and therefore on this occasion only, my actual start station would be VIC (Victoria). I have since discovered that even had I bought a weekly ticket from London to CHH (as opposed to CHH to London) I wouldn't have been able to activate it at VIC for some reason (seems Kings Cross is the only central London station I could have activated it at).
At VIC, my Key card wouldn't work at the gate, understandably, but gateline staff checked my emailed receipt and allowed me on the train which departed a few minutes late.
At HRH, the service to CHH was cancelled and those travelling to CHH were detrained. The next train was half an hour later. I decided not to wait and exited at HRH (Horsham). Later in the day, I popped down to CHH to activate my Key card.
Questions:
- Am I eligible for delay repay, since I abandoned my journey at HRH (one stop before CHH) rather than incur the 30 minutes delay that I would have been faced with?
- Although gateline staff at VIC allowed me to board, does my error in selecting the wrong station to activate my ticket at (essentially travelling VIC to CHH on an unactivated ticket, albeit with permission) negate the delay repay?
- Does my going down to CHH later in the day to activate my Key card make any difference to the above (I suspect not).
Having travelled 30+ hours from Australia to home, desperate to see my family, I can't tell you how angry I was at being turfed off my train by the usual crapness of Southern Rail. I am fastidious about claiming delay repay, but on this occasion am unsure of my eligibility due to the above.
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