If I understood correctly: You boarded the train at Bexley at 20:15, bound for Plumstead with scheduled arrival 20:41. After arriving at Belvedere at 20:34, the train was held indefinitely so you decided to leave the train and continue to Plumstead by your own means (bus). You likely arrived home 30-59min late, or potentially 60-119min late. Eventually the train did continue and arrived Plumstead at 22:09, i.e. 60-119min late. You paid using contactless for both the train (£2.50, but would have cost £2.70 if staying on to Plumstead) and bus (£1.55).
I have tried out the Southeastern delay repay website (see attachments), and when it asks for your ticket type you can select "Oyster/Contactless" and then it will ask for a screenshot of your Contactless statement which you can obtain from the TfL website.
Since your claim is a bit complicated and the "correct" delay repay amount is up for interpretation, the simplest thing to do would be to avoid the automated delay repay system and email Southeastern customer services directly, explaining clearly what happened (use the automated delay repay system to work out what basic information they want to know) and asking for whatever amount of delay repay you would like.
However, personally, I would just choose one of the available tiers of repayment (using the train fare £2.50 that was actually paid) and submit a delay repay claim for that length of delay, making sure to include an explanatory message. The message might say "I left the train at Belvedere where it was being held indefinitely, and made my own way to Plumstead by bus, arriving XXmin late." followed by, for example:
* If your delay was more than 60min, and you would like a 60min+ payout: "If I had stayed on the train I would also have been 60min+ late, so I am claiming for a 60-119min delay."
* If your delay was 30-59min, and you would like a 60min+ payout: "Although a delay of 30-59min should only yield £1.25 in delay repay, I had to spend an additional £1.55 on the bus fare. Since if I had stayed on the train I would have been >60min late and received £2.50 in delay repay, I am claiming for this amount in order to partly offset the additional bus fare."
* If your delay was 30-59min, and you would like a 30-59min payout: "If I had stayed on the train I would have been >60min late, but I am only claiming for the actual delay incurred."
As for how to include this message, when the system asks you how you were delayed (see attachment) you could select "other" which will allow you to enter an explanation of at most 250 characters (which I think is far too little) before continuing to select your delay length. If you want to include a longer explanation, you can use the old trick of inserting it into the image of your Contactless statement that you're uploading, either using image manipulation software or by taking a picture including both.
I would absolutely not recommend using the automated delay repay system without an explanatory message, as Greater Anglia have shown that it is possible for a Train Operating Company to first accept claims (without checking or querying their correctness) and then over a year later accuse the claimant of fraud and demand full repayment plus administrative costs unless the claimant can provide irrefutable evidence that the claim was genuine according to the TOC's strict interpretation of the rules.
Here is a thread with over 1000 posts involving several recipients of these demands. The most relevant case for you is a passenger who supposedly on some occasions made their own way for the first part of the journey due to their train being cancelled and put in a delay depay claim (apparently for a longer length of delay than actually incurred), which was originally accepted but now is being highlighted as an example of fraud because, according to Greater Anglia, the passenger should have submitted an abandoned journey claim instead of a cancelled train delay repay claim. (Note though that we are only hearing one side of the story, and there might have been other claims that were more questionable.)
Hi
New to the forum but also received the above letter (i have an annual season ticket) with a list of 5 claims that were deemed fraudulent and a request for details/explanation.My issue (apart from not tapping in/out which meant i was a “ghost” and GA had no details of much of my travel ) was arriving at the home station,seeing that my train is cancelled and then getting a taxi to a station further up the line and arriving in London close to what would have been the original arrival time.I would claim for the train that was cancelled and personally wear the taxi cost.Can’t do this apparently?!
Just to add a little salt into the wounds with regard to making supposedly fraudulent delay repay claims. It has been tacitly agreed that by jumping into a taxi or sharing a lift further down the line (when my branch line train is cancelled) to join a train heading to London from a different start point is not a delay repay but an abandoned journey and so my historic claims (7 in the last 15 mths) are theoretically fraudulent .In agreeing to pay for my “error” i naively thought i would at least be able to recoup the monies through customer relations team (which i should have initially contacted apparently despite the fact that the station staff hand out delay repay forms to angry customers when the train is cancelled ) but have been told that there is a strict 28 day policy for refunds for such occurrences and so i am not entitled to claim for the above 7 claims.
After explaining that I had unwittingly (wrongly) claimed delay repay for an “abandoned journey” .....total of 4 journeys over the last 15 months totalling £35 in paid out compensation I was informed that the delay repay dept is separate from customer services and that ignorance of the law is no excuse blah blah and that the compensation claims were still fraudulent and “how would I like to continue ?”...long story short I work in the city and can’t risk a blot on my copybook and so settled for a total sum less than £100.
Maybe I watch too many court room dramas on TV but would you risk your career on a moot point of train bye laws?GA obviously think not
As for whether your claim (or indeed those of BusterEdwards) is an "abandoned journey", I don't think that it is in the classical sense of the term, which would entitle you to a full refund according to the
National Rail Conditions of Travel, as that requires that you return to your origin (see the part I have bolded below), which I interpret as effectively undoing any use you have had of the ticket and thus returning it to an unused state:
National Rail Conditions of Travel said:
30.1. If the train you intended to use is cancelled, delayed, or your reservation will not be honoured, and you decide not to travel, you may return the unused Ticket to the original retailer or Train Company from whom it was purchased, where you will be given a full refund with no administration fee being charged.
This Condition applies to all Tickets, including Tickets (such as Advance Tickets) that are otherwise non-refundable, and also applies if you have begun your journey but are unable to complete it due to delay or cancellations and return to your point of origin
I note that the Southeastern Delay Repay system will ask what type of delay you had, and "abandoned journey" is an option (see attachment). If you select this, the system does not ask how long your delay was, which indicates that they would refund the entire ticket cost, so I would not recommend selecting this option. (Also, since one is supposed to obtain abandoned journey refunds from the retailer rather than the TOC causing the problem, my guess is that this "abandoned journey" option is mainly meant for season tickets, which don't have a suitable mechanism for part refunds.)
