Is this Delay Repay or Something Else?

[Crighton]

On 25th April I travelled from Chester to Wokingham. Due to shenanigans at Stafford I arrived in Wokingham at 2103 rather than the expected 2003. I would like some help knowing what I should be claiming and how to do it please.

The proposed journey was:

1632 Avanti Chester to Stafford ar. 1713
1721 XC Stafford to Reading ar. 1941
1957 GWR Reading to Wokingham ar. 2003

For this I had 3 tickets from the forum’s trainsplit service:

Chester to Birmingham International, Anytime Single 1st, 1 adult @ £58.60
Birmingham International to Banbury, Anytime Day Single 1st, 1 adult @ £29.30
Banbury to Wokingham, Anytime Day Single 1st, 1 adult @ £55.00

Total £142.90 (+ additional £21.51 savings fee)


At Stafford,

• the 1721 (Manchester to Reading XC service) came in crowded - I subsequently learnt that the 1700 Manchester to Bristol Temple Meads XC service had been cancelled between Manchester and Birmingham which explains the severe crowding.
• First Class was advertised as being at the front of the train. When it arrived, First Class was not at the front but at the back, so I went along the platform to board First only to find that the main door was locked out of use
• I went to the guard’s door to ask if I could board First there. He informed me that the First class carriage was out of operation and I should board Standard Class and claim a refund
• By this time it was impossible to enter Standard as we now had 10 carriages worth of people crowded into 4 carriages. Some others were also left behind.
• I went to see the ticket office to enquire about re-routing via London. With split tickets she claimed it was difficult and would need to sell me a new ticket and then I could claim a refund on the existing one. Looking at the times, going via Euston would have got me in at 20:53, only 10 minutes earlier than the 21:03 of waiting for a connection via Birmingham and Banbury. Given the hassle of refunding tickets was likely to take more than the 10 mins saved, I decided not to bother
• I then took the following trains:
  1801 Stafford to Birmingham New Street ar. 1839 [so I could buy food at BHM]
  1901 Birmingham New Street to Reading ar. 2040
  2054 Reading to Wokingham ar. 2103

Had I managed to get on it the 1721 would have got me to Wokingham as expected.

Given the train was not delayed but I was (the advertised first class was not available for the majority of the journey and I could not get on it in Standard) could you please advise me what I should be claiming for? I suspect the delay repay online system would tell me that the trains ran and there was no delay, if so, where should I direct the claim please?

Thanks in advance for all help.

 

[Haywain]

where should I direct the claim please?

Any claim should be made to CrossCountry - it was their train that you couldn't get on and that didn't have first class accommodation.

could you please advise me what I should be claiming for?

A 1 hour delay.

 

[Crighton]

Thank you. I am trying an email claim as I cannot see a wy to explain this on the online form.

 

[robbeech]

Yes, you’ll need to email the claim due to the automated system not having a way to communicate anything. As these are all single tickets then the delay repay should be 100% of all tickets that are part of the journey. This will be a greater value than the difference in cost between first and standard which you’d have been entitled to had you boarded the original train in standard class so the focus should be on the delay rather than the class of travel although you should mention the first class carriage being locked in your email.

 

[Watershed]

On 25th April I travelled from Chester to Wokingham. Due to shenanigans at Stafford I arrived in Wokingham at 2103 rather than the expected 2003. I would like some help knowing what I should be claiming and how to do it please.

The proposed journey was:

1632 Avanti Chester to Stafford ar. 1713
1721 XC Stafford to Reading ar. 1941
1957 GWR Reading to Wokingham ar. 2003

For this I had 3 tickets from the forum’s trainsplit service:

Chester to Birmingham International, Anytime Single 1st, 1 adult @ £58.60
Birmingham International to Banbury, Anytime Day Single 1st, 1 adult @ £29.30
Banbury to Wokingham, Anytime Day Single 1st, 1 adult @ £55.00

Total £142.90 (+ additional £21.51 savings fee)


At Stafford,

• the 1721 (Manchester to Reading XC service) came in crowded - I subsequently learnt that the 1700 Manchester to Bristol Temple Meads XC service had been cancelled between Manchester and Birmingham which explains the severe crowding.
• First Class was advertised as being at the front of the train. When it arrived, First Class was not at the front but at the back, so I went along the platform to board First only to find that the main door was locked out of use
• I went to the guard’s door to ask if I could board First there. He informed me that the First class carriage was out of operation and I should board Standard Class and claim a refund
• By this time it was impossible to enter Standard as we now had 10 carriages worth of people crowded into 4 carriages. Some others were also left behind.
• I went to see the ticket office to enquire about re-routing via London. With split tickets she claimed it was difficult and would need to sell me a new ticket and then I could claim a refund on the existing one. Looking at the times, going via Euston would have got me in at 20:53, only 10 minutes earlier than the 21:03 of waiting for a connection via Birmingham and Banbury. Given the hassle of refunding tickets was likely to take more than the 10 mins saved, I decided not to bother
• I then took the following trains:
  1801 Stafford to Birmingham New Street ar. 1839 [so I could buy food at BHM]
  1901 Birmingham New Street to Reading ar. 2040
  2054 Reading to Wokingham ar. 2103

Had I managed to get on it the 1721 would have got me to Wokingham as expected.

Given the train was not delayed but I was (the advertised first class was not available for the majority of the journey and I could not get on it in Standard) could you please advise me what I should be claiming for? I suspect the delay repay online system would tell me that the trains ran and there was no delay, if so, where should I direct the claim please?

Thanks in advance for all help.

You're entitled to claim Delay Repay; being unable to board the train due to overcrowding is a recognised reason for claiming. After all, if makes no difference to the passenger whether a train is too busy to board, or cancelled. I would suggest contacting XC's customer services to make a Delay Repay claim. As you say, their Delay Repay form doesn't include any option to specify that you were unable to board your intended service (as some operators' forms do).

As for being able to claim for travelling in standard class, it's worth noting that you could have boarded the 19:03 off New Street at Stafford (as it had similarly come from Manchester, as per your intended train). This would have had first class including - in all likelihood - some degree of catering. Normally, with a 1 hour delay on single tickets, I'd therefore say there is little point in applying for anything beyond Delay Repay - as that would already get you compensation of 100% of the cost of your tickets (and XC are likely to refuse to pay more than the total cost of your tickets).

However, in this case it looks like the 20:54 from Reading arrived at Wokingham a minute early at 21:02 - thus meaning you were technically only delayed by 59 minutes. It's likely that XC will accordingly only pay Delay Repay on the basis of a 30-59 minute delay, i.e. 50% of the cost of your tickets. Accordingly I'd suggest it's worthwhile asking for a customer service gesture in recognition of the fact that - at least partly because of their cancellation of your booked train - you didn't make use of the full first class validity of your Chester-Birmingham International ticket.