GWR Delay Repay - avoiding responsibility

[ValleyLines142]

On 7th March I completed a journey from Birmingham to Worcester to see my boyfriend, and then from Worcester to Cardiff via Hereford.

I travelled on the 2043 Worcester Foregate Street to Hereford (which is 1W03 1822 from Paddington). This was due to arrive at Hereford at 2132. I then intended to take the 2150 Hereford to Cardiff (which is 1V64 1930 from Manchester). Due to continued delays on 1W03 through Evesham, Worcester, Malvern and Ledbury, we arrived into Hereford 35 minutes late. As a result, I missed the 2150 to Cardiff and had to wait for the following service, which wasn't until 2311 (1V66 2030 from Manchester). I arrived at Cardiff at 0017. I was supposed to arrive at 2303; a staggering 74 minutes late.

I sent off my tickets to GWR to apply for delay repay. Six weeks later on 13th April, I received a response saying that the case had been passed onto CrossCountry, even though I didn't even use one of their services nor covered any of their operating area (they of course do not serve Worcester or Hereford). Whilst they are the principal operator between Birmingham and Cardiff via Gloucester, I specified quite clearly that I travelled via Worcester and Hereford, and my tickets are split at Hereford so I really do not see how there could have been such confusion.

I replied straight away asking why the case had been passed onto CrossCountry, when I had specified all of the above, and I have just received another response today advising me to go back to the point of purchase (in this case the ticket office at Cardiff) to get the issue resolved, as apparently GWR have 'no participation in the journey that I made' (even though one of their big blue HSTs formed the service that was delayed. I even have the power cars on the day: 43129+43155).

I am absolutely stumped at the fact that GWR have told me that they had no participation in the journey that I made, even though the culprit was their train. I just feel as if they are trying to avoid the blame and pass it onto someone else.

Quite frankly, I feel as if my next stage is to take this matter up with Transport Focus. Before I do so, does anyone have any advice please?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[bb21]

Probably incompetence.

Yes you can take it up with Transport Focus if you wish, as you have given them a chance to rectify the matter and they still failed.

I could be wrong but iirc GWR do not operate Delay Repay as I think they still operate the Charter arrangements, so you may or may not get compensation depending on the causes for the delay, but that doesn't change the fact that they did not address your complaint sufficiently.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Probably incompetence.

Yes you can take it up with Transport Focus if you wish, as you have given them a chance to rectify the matter and they still failed.

I could be wrong but iirc GWR do not operate Delay Repay as I think they still operate the Charter arrangements, so you may or may not get compensation depending on the causes for the delay, but that doesn't change the fact that they did not address your complaint sufficiently.

They have a Delay Compensation scheme. I have had Delay Repay from them before.

 

[WelshBluebird]

They have a Delay Compensation scheme. I have had Delay Repay from them before.

There is a difference between delay compensation and Delay Repay. Delay Repay is a very specific scheme that is run by by some (and not all) ToC's that give you compensation on a delay regardless of cause. For those ToC's that do not use Delay Repay (like GWR), then the terms of delay compensation are more strict and specifically only give compensation if the cause of the delay is within the control of the rail industry.

As GWR themselves say: "We don’t normally offer compensation because of something outside of our control like trespassing, vandalism, severe weather, someone being hit by a train or a security alert.". If they used Delay Repay, they would pay out for those things.

I know it sounds like pedantry, but it is an important difference as it essentially depends which ToC you traveled with that decides if you get compensation!

Regarding the issue - I'd probably go back to them once more to say it clearly does have something to do with them as you traveled on their service. Their Twitter team are usually decent if you use that (although not as great now Ollie has left).

 

[221129]

Also worth remembering that you have to be over 60mins late for GWR to apply compensation.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Also worth remembering that you have to be over 60mins late for GWR to apply compensation.

Even more complicated than that!

For HST's its an hour to get 50% back from a return or 100% back from a single, or two hours to get back to full cost of any ticket.

For Thames Valley services its 30 mins on a journey less than an hour, or an hour on a journey of more than an hour. Not sure on the amounts you get back though.

For other services its an hour to get 50% back on a single or 25% of the return, or two hours to get back the full cost of any ticket.

Basically - its a mess. And I still haven't ever managed to get an answer from them when services could be one or the other (e.g. going between Bristol and Bath where services are made up of both HST's and local services).

 

[AlterEgo]

Like most cock-ups, this can be resolved with a phone call.

Just ring them and explain in plain English why they're wrong, and get them to rectify it while on the phone.

 

[Muzer]

They once told me I had made a journey on South West Trains from Exeter to Westbury when it was actually an HST. ISTR though that the SWT services were being diverted that day (perhaps via Westbury) and there was a SWT departure around the time of our actual GWR departure, so it was a bit more understandable confusion. Still doesn't mean they should jump to conclusions though! I just told them (via an email response) that it had indeed been a GWR service and told them the specific headcode of the service, and they apologised and gave me the correct compensation.

 

[Deepgreen]

On 7th March I completed a journey from Birmingham to Worcester to see my boyfriend, and then from Worcester to Cardiff via Hereford.

I travelled on the 2043 Worcester Foregate Street to Hereford (which is 1W03 1822 from Paddington). This was due to arrive at Hereford at 2132. I then intended to take the 2150 Hereford to Cardiff (which is 1V64 1930 from Manchester). Due to continued delays on 1W03 through Evesham, Worcester, Malvern and Ledbury, we arrived into Hereford 35 minutes late. As a result, I missed the 2150 to Cardiff and had to wait for the following service, which wasn't until 2311 (1V66 2030 from Manchester). I arrived at Cardiff at 0017. I was supposed to arrive at 2303; a staggering 74 minutes late.

I sent off my tickets to GWR to apply for delay repay. Six weeks later on 13th April, I received a response saying that the case had been passed onto CrossCountry, even though I didn't even use one of their services nor covered any of their operating area (they of course do not serve Worcester or Hereford). Whilst they are the principal operator between Birmingham and Cardiff via Gloucester, I specified quite clearly that I travelled via Worcester and Hereford, and my tickets are split at Hereford so I really do not see how there could have been such confusion.

I replied straight away asking why the case had been passed onto CrossCountry, when I had specified all of the above, and I have just received another response today advising me to go back to the point of purchase (in this case the ticket office at Cardiff) to get the issue resolved, as apparently GWR have 'no participation in the journey that I made' (even though one of their big blue HSTs formed the service that was delayed. I even have the power cars on the day: 43129+43155).

I am absolutely stumped at the fact that GWR have told me that they had no participation in the journey that I made, even though the culprit was their train. I just feel as if they are trying to avoid the blame and pass it onto someone else.

Quite frankly, I feel as if my next stage is to take this matter up with Transport Focus. Before I do so, does anyone have any advice please?

Many thanks in advance.

It's an option but I wouldn't waste my time with them as they almost always side with the TOC(s) in my experience, usually just making the same approach to the TOC as the passenger did in the first place and accepting the same response! Just write to either the MD (Mark Hopwood) and/or your MP.

 

[bb21]

It's an option but I wouldn't waste my time with them as they almost always side with the TOC(s) in my experience, usually just making the same approach to the TOC as the passenger did in the first place and accepting the same response!

It depends on the nature of the enquiry. They are usually clueless where technical knowledge is required, but can be very good where persuasion is needed.

Just write to either the MD (Mark Hopwood) and/or your MP.

Much less efficient than AlterEgo's suggestion.

 

[Cantab26]

It's an option but I wouldn't waste my time with them as they almost always side with the TOC(s) in my experience, usually just making the same approach to the TOC as the passenger did in the first place and accepting the same response! Just write to either the MD (Mark Hopwood) and/or your MP.

If the phone call (or an email) doesn't sort it out then another layer of complaint to the Board would seem to be unlikely to generate a different response: most of the time such direct complaints (not just on the railway) are sent across to customer relations anyway.

Like most cock-ups, this can be resolved with a phone call.

Just ring them and explain in plain English why they're wrong, and get them to rectify it while on the phone.

Very sensible.

Of course, if this doesn't sort it out then a letter before action under NRCOT n.32.5 may chivvy them along somewhat. I daresay that this would grab the higher-ups' attention, although only after you have given GWR a further chance to correct their mistake informally.

 

[Master29]

Oh dear. The dreaded GWR compensation system at work again.

 

[Cantab26]

Oh dear. The dreaded GWR compensation system at work again.

Or not at work in this case.

 

[bb21]

The compensation scheme has nothing to do with this case. The issue is the case-handler not understanding where the culprit delay lied.

 

[Cantab26]

The compensation scheme has nothing to do with this case. The issue is the case-handler not understanding where the culprit delay lied.

Exactly. The current problem lies with getting GWR to accept that its train caused the delay, rather than trying to fob it off on some other company.