Can I claim for being an hour late?

[JamesM]

Hi guys,

My ticket was a day return from Frodsham to Huddersfield at about £17.80 (ish).

Came back from Huddersfield today, the train I was catching back (Newcastle to Man Pic) was delayed, due to vandalism further up the track. It was delayed by about 15-20 minutes and subsequently I arrived too late for the connection in Manchester to Chester/Frodsham. None of this was my fault and I arrived, annoyed, back at my destination one hour late.

What's the deal here with Delay Repay?

Is it Transpennine Express that I have to write to? Arriva Trains Wales? Some centralised body? Or, because the train was 20 minutes late into Manchester I don't get anything - it's my hard luck that the train (17:50) left as we pulled in at 17:51 ish?

For the avoidance of doubt, my connection time was over 10 minutes and it was an official NRE suggested connection.

Interested to see what the answer is on this one - I suspect that this is a query you've all heard before!

Many thanks.

 

[yorkie]

Yes, write to TPE.

(I think the train you caught had actually come from Hull - not that it matters)

 

[maniacmartin]

You should always consider the delay to the whole journey, and claim from the first operator that caused you to miss a connection.

From their Passenger Charter

If you hold a ticket for a single or return journey, or a weekly Season
Ticket (not Passenger Transport Executive products), and a delay to a
First TransPennine Express service adds 30 minutes or longer to your
journey, we will offer you National Rail travel vouchers for the full cost
of the single leg of your journey that was delayed, i.e. 100%
compensation for single tickets and 50% for return tickets.
If you are delayed for more than one hour, we will offer you National
Rail travel vouchers for the full cost of your entire journey. If you hold a
weekly Season Ticket, we will calculate your compensation on the daily
value of your ticket. Claims must be made within 28 days of the expiry
date of your ticket.

The arrangements for compensation will not apply to certain delays
that are outside our control such as severe weather, vandalism,
fatalities and security alerts.

(my bold)

Because FTPE have an older style Passenger Charter compensation scheme, rather than the new Delay Repay scheme, then they technically don't have to give anything back due to delays that are not the fault of the rail industry, unless you surrender the ticket at the very start of the journey and do not travel.

That said, there is nothing to lose by writing to them anyway - they might give you something as a gesture of goodwill.

 

[Welshman]

A similar thing happened to me a couple of years back.
An westbound TPE, held-up by signals just outside Stalybridge, arrived in Manchester Piccadilly about 15 minutes late.
Not reimbursable in itself, but it caused me to miss my ATW onward connection to North Wales by just a minute or so, enforcing a wait of nearly a hour for the next one.
Upon my submitting a claim and my ticket, TPE paid-up quickly and with no quibbles.

 

[northwichcat]

JamesM: I remember you asking previously if you could get to Huddersfield cheaper if you drove to a station other than Chester.

If TPE do pay out choosing Frodsham will affect the level of compensation with there only being 1 journey option an hour from Manchester. There's 3 to Chester from Manchester - ATW, Northern and Virgin (via Crewe.)

 

[maniacmartin]

Indeed. Buying your tickets from a station with a low frequency of trains can make it more likely that you will be sufficiently delayed

 

[JamesM]

JamesM: I remember you asking previously if you could get to Huddersfield cheaper if you drove to a station other than Chester.

If TPE do pay out choosing Frodsham will affect the level of compensation with there only being 1 journey option an hour from Manchester. There's 3 to Chester from Manchester - ATW, Northern and Virgin (via Crewe.)

Sure, and I accept that I chose Frodsham for a cheaper ticket - and therefore you have to accept that this sort of thing can happen. This delay does seem to be vandalism based, but I will write anyway and see what happens.

Thanks

 

[Starmill]

It is definitely worth claiming from them and choose your words carefully. I think it was in March this year, or whenever we had the heavy snow, I was delayed by an hour and 10 mins on a Manchester to York trip. The guard made quite a number of announcements stating that there were signalling problems, then specifically a signal failure near Diggle, both suffixed with "as a result of the adverse weather conditions" - and they were adverse, the pennines were buried in snow, though York and Manchester had only a little.

But, on the delay repay form, I just put 'signal failure near Diggle' - and I was compensated accordingly.

 

[bb21]

You don't need to choose your words carefully. The system will have the delay reasons logged so when the claim is checked against industry records, all will be clear.