Delay repay involving Tyne & Wear Metro

[nitten_travell]

Hi all,

I've searched and cannot find a similar thread to help with my problem, so here goes...

Monday 4th December I had the following Advance tickets:

0935 Newcastle to Berwick-upon-Tweed
1021 Berwick-upon-Tweed to Edinburgh

(in other words, Newcastle-Edinburgh split at Berwick, CrossCountry trains). However, I was actually starting the journey at Seaburn Metro station on the Tyne & Wear Metro. Whenever I do this I just buy a Metro ticket at the station.

On Monday I arrived at Seaburn and bought a ticket to Newcastle at 0837. I then walked on to the platform, thought "odd, there are not many people here for this time of morning", looked at the electronic sign and saw nothing untoward. Shortly afterwards was then an announcement that the Metro system was suspended between Monument and South Shields, and Monument and South Hylton (the line I was on) and replacement buses were in operation. I got to the bus stop just as a replacement bus was leaving!

I was able to get to Newcastle station by car but because of very heavy traffic I missed the 0935 departure by about 15 mins. I went to the ticket office to ask what to do next and my next option was the 1052 VTEC to Edinburgh, which stopped at Berwick. I took this and eventually go to Edinburgh at 1231. The guard on the train stamped the first, but not the second, Advance (I handed him both, with an short explanation).

So my journey was delayed by a problem on the Tyne & Wear Metro system. I was on the Network Rail part of the network and I bought a connecting ticket before I knew there was a problem.

Questions...

1. Can I still claim Delay Repay
2. For the whole journey (the total cost is £17.80, not huge but also not insignificant)?
2. From CrossCountry trains?

All advice will be much appreciated.

 

[Tetchytyke]

You can reclaim the cost of the single Metro journey from Tyne and Wear Metro. The rest of it is consequential loss because you missed the train.

 

[nitten_travell]

Thanks for the reply. For the sake of argument, if I had instead bought the whole lot on one Seaburn-Edinburgh (or Seaburn-Berwick-Edinburgh) ticket would I have been able to claim for the whole journey? If so then I'll start booking my travel like that rather than buying a metro ticket on the day.

 

[AlterEgo]

Thanks for the reply. For the sake of argument, if I had instead bought the whole lot on one Seaburn-Edinburgh (or Seaburn-Berwick-Edinburgh) ticket would I have been able to claim for the whole journey? If so then I'll start booking my travel like that rather than buying a metro ticket on the day.

No. Tyne and Wear Metro is not a National Rail operator and as such there is no delay repay or any recourse beyond their own conditions of carriage.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I had instead bought the whole lot on one Seaburn-Edinburgh (or Seaburn-Berwick-Edinburgh) ticket would I have been able to claim for the whole journey?

There's an argument either way if you are travelling on a National Rail ticket from Sunderland or Heworth to Newcastle. But Seaburn is not a National Rail station and T&W Metro are not a National Rail operator.

 

[nitten_travell]

There's an argument either way if you are travelling on a National Rail ticket from Sunderland or Heworth to Newcastle. But Seaburn is not a National Rail station and T&W Metro are not a National Rail operator.

I think that's what has confused me, because in the past (years ago though) I travelled from Sunderland to Newcastle with a National Rail ticket, but on a Metro train, and missed a connection in Newcastle because of a problem with the Metro. I was told that any problem on the line from Pelaw onwards towards Sunderland, because it was Network Rail infrastructure, would be taken into account when re-routing onward connections but otherwise the Metro system doesn't count.

In this example I now see that although the track is Network Rail, the station and original ticket are Metro and so no delay repay for me. Looking back I should be thankful that I didn't have to buy a walk-up ticket from Newcastle to Edinburgh.

 

[bb21]

Even if you travelled on a National Rail ticket but using the Metro thanks to any inter-availability agreement, you will not be entitled to Delay Repay. You will, if I understood correctly, will be allowed to catch a later service in the event of missing your connection due to a delay on the Metro.