GWR Delay repay query

[Peter C]

Hi there all,

Firstly - apologies if this is post is in the wrong place. I didn't know whether to put it in the 'Disputes and Prosecutions' bit because it's more of a query than a dispute.

It's probably quite simple really but I'd love some advice from the knowledgeable people here. I apologise again in advance if I've got something obvious wrong - despite being a railway 'nut' I don't really know much about the intricacies of ticketing policy!

So - I travelled from Kingham to Plymouth on Sunday 23rd February, and my train ended up getting into Plymouth 15 minutes late at 20:49 - as shown on RealTime Trains. I'd bought my tickets on Trainsplit, and the itinerary they gave me told me to get the 16:58 train from Reading to Plymouth - so I got that one rather than the 16:54 to Penzance, because the email I got also said I had to follow the booked itinerary.

Because the train got into Plymouth 15 minutes late I thought I might as well put a delay repay claim in (because the tickets weren't cheap!), but my claim was rejected - I then realised it was because the itinerary the GWR Delay Repay website gave me involved me getting the 16:54 from Reading, which arrived at Plymouth early. I appealed the claim and chose their pre-set reason of 'The journey I intended to make was not available to select', but still couldn't find the right itinerary with the 16:58 train so I had to choose the one with the 16:54 and then explain what had happened in the additional appeal details. I hope that makes sense! Thing is - that appeal has now been rejected, with the same reason as before (they've said again that my journey involved the 16:54 from Reading).

I saved the page from RealTime Trains, which shows I arrived 15 minutes late - but I've just looked at the Charlwood House website, and that one shows my train got into Plymouth 14 minutes late, at 2048 rather than 2059. My question is - is it worth trying to get this sorted again, or was my train only 14 minutes late? I don't want to cause any issues with appealing claims etc. but as the tickets weren't exactly cheap I'd be happy with getting some sort of delay repay, even if it's only small.

I'm hoping someone on here can help - as I say, I'm sorry for getting any obvious details wrong or missing out anything. I hope it all makes sense too!

Thanks in advance,

Peter

 

[yorkie]

So - I travelled from Kingham to Plymouth on Sunday 23rd February, and my train ended up getting into Plymouth 15 minutes late at 20:49 - as shown on RealTime Trains. I'd bought my tickets on Trainsplit, and the itinerary they gave me told me to get the 16:58 train from Reading to Plymouth - so I got that one rather than the 16:54 to Penzance, because the email I got also said I had to follow the booked itinerary.

Because the train got into Plymouth 15 minutes late I thought I might as well put a delay repay claim in (because the tickets weren't cheap!), but my claim was rejected - I then realised it was because the itinerary the GWR Delay Repay website gave me involved me getting the 16:54 from Reading, which arrived at Plymouth early. I appealed the claim and chose their pre-set reason of 'The journey I intended to make was not available to select', but still couldn't find the right itinerary with the 16:58 train so I had to choose the one with the 16:54 and then explain what had happened in the additional appeal details. I hope that makes sense! Thing is - that appeal has now been rejected, with the same reason as before (they've said again that my journey involved the 16:54 from Reading).

What ticket(s) did you have for the journey?

If you had Advance tickets that were only valid on the stated itinerary, then GWR are wrong to reject your itinerary.

Unfortunately some train companies can work on the basis that everyone should simply be offered, and take, the fastest itinerary. This then breaks their delay repay sites.

I saved the page from RealTime Trains, which shows I arrived 15 minutes late - but I've just looked at the Charlwood House website, and that one shows my train got into Plymouth 14 minutes late, at 2048 rather than 2059. My question is - is it worth trying to get this sorted again, or was my train only 14 minutes late? I don't want to cause any issues with appealing claims etc. but as the tickets weren't exactly cheap I'd be happy with getting some sort of delay repay, even if it's only small.

I'm hoping someone on here can help - as I say, I'm sorry for getting any obvious details wrong or missing out anything. I hope it all makes sense too!

Thanks in advance,

Peter

Realtimetrains isn't an authoritative source of information. However if you are certain the train was 15 minutes late, not 14 minutes, you can dispute it, but it could be a long and convoluted process and you may have to escalate the matter to the Rail Ombudsman.

You say the tickets weren't cheap, but if you had a Single, you'd only get 25% back (reduced to 12.5% back if it's a Return) so it could be a lot of effort, for a relatively small reward, to dispute this.

Unless the tickets were really expensive and/or you have some good evidence that the delay was at least 15 minutes, I'd leave it be, personally.

 

[Haywain]

as the tickets weren't exactly cheap I'd be happy with getting some sort of delay repay, even if it's only small.

Quite rightly too. A recent difficulty I had with EMR was quickly resolved by contacting them on X (formerly Twitter), so that might be worth a try - a quick message about Delay Repay and then had a conversation via DMs.

 

[redreni]

The 14 minute / 15 minute thing might be difficult to prove, but as I understand it GWR aren't claiming the train was only 14 minutes late, because they're not looking at the correct itinerary. So getting them to look at the correct train would be the first hurdle, which should be achievable with an email or letter attaching the itinerary that came with your booking and explaining that was the itinerary you were following, and could they please assess the claim based on that.

If they then reject it on the basis the train was only 14 minutes late, then I agree completely with Yorkie's comments, above.

 

[Peter C]

What ticket(s) did you have for the journey?

If you had Advance tickets that were only valid on the stated itinerary, then GWR are wrong to reject your itinerary.

Unfortunately some train companies can work on the basis that everyone should simply be offered, and take, the fastest itinerary. This then breaks their delay repay sites.

Realtimetrains isn't an authoritative source of information. However if you are certain the train was 15 minutes late, not 14 minutes, you can dispute it, but it could be a long and convoluted process and you may have to escalate the matter to the Rail Ombudsman.

You say the tickets weren't cheap, but if you had a Single, you'd only get 25% back (reduced to 12.5% back if it's a Return) so it could be a lot of effort, for a relatively small reward, to dispute this.

Unless the tickets were really expensive and/or you have some good evidence that the delay was at least 15 minutes, I'd leave it be, personally.

Hi there @yorkie - many thanks for your response.

The tickets I had were an off-peak return for Kingham to Reading (£17.90), a super off-peak single for Reading to Swindon (£12.35), and then an advance single for Swindon to Plymouth (£13.95; this last one is the one I was delayed by 15 minutes on, but I've read on here and Trainsplit's website that I can claim on all three tickets - is that right?). The advance single for Swindon to Plymouth says on it 'specified trains & GWR connections only'; the Reading to Swindon says 'valid via any permitted route', and the Kingham to Reading has a link to nre.co.uk/GO if that's any help?

I remember as the train got into Plymouth thinking 'we're in 15 late so I'll claim on delay repay' and normally I'd use RTT to back that up but yes I know what you mean with it not being authoritative. I also understand your comments about only getting 25% or 12.5% back - hence why I don't want to have to go through a long and convoluted process, but if there's a way (as @Haywain describes) of just sending an email or a letter I'm happy with that. As a student I can't afford to lose those extra pennies!

Quite rightly too. A recent difficulty I had with EMR was quickly resolved by contacting them on X (formerly Twitter), so that might be worth a try - a quick message about Delay Repay and then had a conversation via DMs.

Thanks for that @Haywain - much appreciated. The total price of the tickets was £44.20 so not loads but being a student I could do with even just a little bit back if possible! Thanks for the suggestion of sending a message - might try that, or an email.

The 14 minute / 15 minute thing might be difficult to prove, but as I understand it GWR aren't claiming the train was only 14 minutes late, because they're not looking at the correct itinerary. So getting them to look at the correct train would be the first hurdle, which should be achievable with an email or letter attaching the itinerary that came with your booking and explaining that was the itinerary you were following, and could they please assess the claim based on that.

If they then reject it on the basis the train was only 14 minutes late, then I agree completely with Yorkie's comments, above.

Yes that's what's happened @redreni - thanks for your input. I think I'll send off an email or letter and include everything in that, and then see what they come back with - if it turns out the train was only 14 minutes late then fair enough, but for the cost of walking to a postbox or sending an email I'm happy to get some money back!

I really appreciate your help chaps - as I say, I'm really not an expert on this sort of thing so I didn't want to appeal again or do something which could be seen as trying to abuse the system or anything like that.

Thanks again,

Peter

 

[Haywain]

Thanks for the suggestion of sending a message - might try that, or an email.

The advantage of using social media is that you make your case public at the outset, and that prompts an immediate response. You are also generally dealing with staff who (seem to) want to do as much as they can to help. Whether, as with my EMR case, they can actually resolve the DR claim is uncertain but you can put a case together more clearly when you are 'talking' to someone. My feeling is that email is just sending something into the ether with no certainty of when you will hear back, or that the same person will deal with your case from start to finish leading to more problems.

 

[Peter C]

The advantage of using social media is that you make your case public at the outset, and that prompts an immediate response. You are also generally dealing with staff who (seem to) want to do as much as they can to help. Whether, as with my EMR case, they can actually resolve the DR claim is uncertain but you can put a case together more clearly when you are 'talking' to someone. My feeling is that email is just sending something into the ether with no certainty of when you will hear back, or that the same person will deal with your case from start to finish leading to more problems.

Yes that's a good point. I'm not really on many social media platforms but if GWR are on Bluesky I can try them there I suppose. Personally I prefer a proper written letter or email but I realise they're both a bit slow! I don't mind that though really.

-Peter

 

[yorkie]

You are entitled to claim for the full journey (approx value of claim £11).

Your ticket required you to take the train you did; the only exception would be if the delay was known in time for ticket acceptance to apply.

However, if industry systems show the train as being under 15 late, it may cost you more in terms of the value of your time, to get the £11 paid (if it hasn't already), especially if you need to escalate it to the Ombudsman, and there is no guarantee of success.

 

[Snow1964]

I had similar problem with GWR recently, it assumed I was on a different second train, so auto rejected.

In my case the first train was late so I missed connection, but they presumed I had still made it (who programmes it to assume you can get down stairs, through a subway and up to another platform in about 5 seconds, the other train was closing doors as we got off late one).

Had to spell it out longhand as description in the appeal (the selection of reasons in drop down is rubbish), then then accepted it, but only paid out on one of 3 tickets (all three passengers tickets were uploaded on claim.

If you are wondering why didn't do 3 claims, GWR delay repay rejects the (already used) booking reference for 2nd and 3rd passengers.

I used their WhatsApp and the operator sent an email to claim dept (they seem to know who to contact, but there is no way of contacting them direct), and they got the extra passengers added.

But I agree if they did appeal properly wouldn't need to drag in their busy social media teams, they create themselves work

 

[Peter C]

You are entitled to claim for the full journey (approx value of claim £11).

Your ticket required you to take the train you did; the only exception would be if the delay was known in time for ticket acceptance to apply.

However, if industry systems show the train as being under 15 late, it may cost you more in terms of the value of your time, to get the £11 paid (if it hasn't already), especially if you need to escalate it to the Ombudsman, and there is no guarantee of success.

Thanks again @yorkie.
If it turns out the train was under fifteen minutes late I'll just leave it at that - I'm not going to bother with the Ombudsman etc. I just want to see if reiterating my claim and the issue with their assessment of it will help!

I had similar problem with GWR recently, it assumed I was on a different second train, so auto rejected.

In my case the first train was late so I missed connection, but they presumed I had still made it (who programmes it to assume you can get down stairs, through a subway and up to another platform in about 5 seconds, the other train was closing doors as we got off late one).

Had to spell it out longhand as description in the appeal (the selection of reasons in drop down is rubbish), then then accepted it, but only paid out on one of 3 tickets (all three passengers tickets were uploaded on claim.

If you are wondering why didn't do 3 claims, GWR delay repay rejects the (already used) booking reference for 2nd and 3rd passengers.

I used their WhatsApp and the operator sent an email to claim dept (they seem to know who to contact, but there is no way of contacting them direct), and they got the extra passengers added.

But I agree if they did appeal properly wouldn't need to drag in their busy social media teams, they create themselves work

I know what you mean with the drop-down list of reasons being rubbish. I was a bit irritated that in assessing my appeal they didn't seem to read my note saying I'd caught a different train - but there we go. I'm glad you got yours sorted (eventually)!

-Peter

 

[Peter C]

Hi there all - apologies for the delay in getting back to this thread, but I'd just thought I'd pop on here to say I heard back from GWR and they've reviewed the claim and refunded me about £8 I think it was because my train was delayed by 15 minutes. It was all very simple - a quick letter, photocopied the tickets, printed the RTT page showing my train was 15 minutes late, pop in an envelope, post it to their freepost address and heard back a little while later. Just in case anyone was interested - I'm sure I had you all on the edge of your seats....

-Peter