Indeed, it is a shame one should have to go to the efforts of doing this just incase in 12 months time an operator decides they've got an opportunity on a cracking little earner. I'm not suggesting this is what is happening here but, given the information we see here, and what we know about how the TOCs go about their daily business, it is POSSIBLE for them to do so and get away with it.
Indeed, although in my case during the annus especially horribilis that was Northern in 2018, the sole reason at the time was to keep a record of all the claims so I could make sure they had responded to all of them. In total I had over 80 delay repay claims that year (all of them valid and eventually honoured, some after protracted discussion).
It is enforced by the TOCs rejecting claims, and threatening prosecution for fraudulent claims where they think they have an opportunity of increased profit. It is backed up by the legal system frequently doing nothing about it and siding with the TOCs. As they get away with it, they'll continue to do so.
Yes, it's evidence. For the civil courts (where the case might end up if the railway sued to get overpaid delay repay back), the legal standard of proof is the balance of probability - that is, what's more likely than not. Until and unless things hit the criminal courts, proving matters beyond reasonable doubt doesn't kick in. And of course if matters don't get to a court then evidence is whatever the parties involved in a dispute agree is evidence.
Not just that, but the onus in the criminal court would be on the TOC to prove their case. A robust log of journeys made, especially if contemporaneous, would be a decently high hurdle for a TOC to overcome. Certainly, I would have confidence in my own logs (at the time on OneNote with working and formation, detailed in Excel for other purposes, and reinforced with PDF extracts from RealTimeTrains) to persuade any but the most gung-ho investigator that I was in the clear.
Anything can be evidence. Of course, the Judge must decide how relevant, accurate and credible they consider it - and how much weight they will put on it as a result.
If every time you travel you happen to catch the one train that day which is running late then this is suspicious, if 9 times out of 10 you have a problem free journey then this does not appear suspicious, I agree that you should not need to do this but we all know that some thieves do fiddle delay repay and the TOC's do need to do something to protect themselves from this.
No. I've been on trains that were on time till they stood for 7 minutes outside the station I was alighting at, which meant I missed the hourly connecting train. The guard simply would not have time to see who wanted that train and everyone else is unaffected by a 7 minute delay. On the next train it wasn't late, but I was an hour late. The ticket line staff often have trouble letting people through with valid tickets, getting them to say a 7 minute delay is worthy of delay repay will be near impossible.
This is what I do. Its very quick, and if there is ever a dispute, I can go straight to the photos I took on that day and see where I was at what time
But it quite often happens that the same trains are late day in day out!
Isn't it more of a case that they get suspicious if eg on Monday you put in a claim saying you were on the delayed 06.12 service, on Tuesday a claim for the delayed 22.14, Wednesday the delayed 17.05, with no obvious pattern of travel
The second train up from Weymouth, 06.53 or thereabouts, was supposed to leave Castle Cary around 08.10, get through the section to Witham (up Brewham Bank with a stop at Bruton) and them go into Frome, where the Golden Hind (ca. 05.19 Penzance) would pass it by going along the avoiding line. Because the Hind was one of the prestige trains, the signalmen at Castle Cary had strict instructions that if there was any chance of the Hind even being Distant-checked, the Weymouth had to be put in the loop to give it a clear run. It was regarded as important that the Hind was in Paddington before 10.00 and a substantial delay to the Weymouth was, probably reluctantly, regarded as the lesser of two evils.
I've often created a PDF of the RealTimeTrains schedule (the detailed version) after I've got home just in case delay repay claims get challenged. Tend to do this particularly if it's for something like a 16min delay on DR15 or 31min on DR30. I usually delete this after they pay up.
I had delay relays rejected even after sending in details from realtimetrains
Presumably they think you made it up, then?!
No they claimed realtimetrains wasn't accurate. As it was an argument over some £2.40 I didn't press the point.
Good point about Google Maps. I don't create a personak log of trains, unless I'm recording any disused station sits or junctions I'm looking for on a longer journey. Google maps does do this for me however
If it is particularly close to a “border” such as 14/15, 29/30 or 59/60 minutes I have taken to taking a video showing my watch, noting when the doors release, and including the station clock after stepping off.