Delay Repay and multi modal tickets

[MadMarsupial]

Sorry if this has been asked before but a couple of searches yielded nothing.

I had a 56 minute delay on a Northern service from New Mills to Sheffield. I was travelling on a Derbyshire Wayfarer Senior Railcard ticket ( £11.30 ). I claimed a complimentary Northern ticket.
My claim was rejected because I travelled on a "Multi modal ticket that allows travel on Buses, Trams and Trains". Putting to one side the fact that the Derbyshire Wayfarer doesn't allow travel on trams, is this the case? Has anyone been successful appealing such a decision?

 

[Watershed]

Northern's policy has long been to reject Delay Repay claims for multi-modal tickets; there are a number of previous threads on this topic, e.g.:

Northern Delay Repay delays

In late November and early December last year I submitted two separate Delay Repay claims to Northern, using their paper claim forms sent to the Freepost Northern Railway address. I have still heard nothing back about either claim. Even allowing for the Christmas and New Year breaks, I was think...

www.railforums.co.uk

Northern Depay Repay Claim Rejected as using Multi Model Ticket. What to do next?

I following the delay to a journey on Norther of over 1 hour I submitted a delay repay claim. I travelled using my free Concessionary Travel Pass issued by my local PTE. I requested a free Northern ticket as compensation. Sadly, I have received the following reply: Dear gray1404, Thank you for...

www.railforums.co.uk

They claim on page 17 of their Passenger Charter that:

We are currently not in a position to offer Delay Repay compensation for multi-modal travel, as we do not control the terms and conditions of these tickets. However, we will consider ex-gratia compensation on a case-by-case basis.

However, this is wrong on several counts. The rail element of a multi-modal ticket falls under exactly the same terms and conditions as any other rail ticket, the National Rail Conditions of Travel (NRCoT) - and indeed the conditions of these tickets usually refer to the NRCoT as applying to rail journeys. There is nothing in the NRCoT which suggests that delay compensation is different for multi-modal tickets - condition 4.4 simply says that other operators' conditions of carriage apply to non-National Rail elements of validity:

Some Tickets entitle you to goods or services from another party (for instance the right to travel on bus services). Where this is the case, your Ticket is also evidence of a contract between you and that other party, whose own conditions will apply when using their services.

Other operators pay Delay Repay without quibble on other multi-modal tickets, such as Travelcards in London and nNetwork day/season tickets in the West Midlands. Indeed TPE and other operators that accept multi-modal tickets in the North impose no such Delay Repay limitations as far as I'm aware - so this seems little more than a misleading justification for "we don't want to pay Delay Repay on multi-modal tickets".

They also can't exclude compensation under the Consumer Rights Act (CRA), or the minimum compensation entitlement under condition 33 of the NRCoT and Article 17 of the Passenger Rights and Obligations Regulation (PRO). There are limitations on both of these alternatives to Delay Repay - CRA remedies would only tend to apply in circumstances where they carry some degree of 'fault' for the disruption (e.g. not if there is severe weather), and condition 33/Article 17 only entitles you to compensation for delays of 60+ minutes.

Nevertheless, their statement that they "will consider" compensation implies a duty to act reasonably in deciding when to pay compensation; an unreasonable rejection could be challenged. Given that a 56 minute delay is likely to be quite substantial in relation to your planned the journey time, I'd suggest they would need a good reason not to pay compensation in your case.

 

[MadMarsupial]

Northern's policy has long been to reject Delay Repay claims for multi-modal tickets; there are a number of previous threads on this topic, e.g.:

Northern Delay Repay delays

In late November and early December last year I submitted two separate Delay Repay claims to Northern, using their paper claim forms sent to the Freepost Northern Railway address. I have still heard nothing back about either claim. Even allowing for the Christmas and New Year breaks, I was think...

www.railforums.co.uk

Northern Depay Repay Claim Rejected as using Multi Model Ticket. What to do next?

I following the delay to a journey on Norther of over 1 hour I submitted a delay repay claim. I travelled using my free Concessionary Travel Pass issued by my local PTE. I requested a free Northern ticket as compensation. Sadly, I have received the following reply: Dear gray1404, Thank you for...

www.railforums.co.uk

They claim on page 17 of their Passenger Charter that:


However, this is wrong on several counts. The rail element of a multi-modal ticket falls under exactly the same terms and conditions as any other rail ticket, the National Rail Conditions of Travel (NRCoT) - and indeed the conditions of these tickets usually refer to the NRCoT as applying to rail journeys. There is nothing in the NRCoT which suggests that delay compensation is different for multi-modal tickets - condition 4.4 simply says that other operators' conditions of carriage apply to non-National Rail elements of validity:


Other operators pay Delay Repay without quibble on other multi-modal tickets, such as Travelcards in London and nNetwork day/season tickets in the West Midlands. Indeed TPE and other operators that accept multi-modal tickets in the North impose no such Delay Repay limitations as far as I'm aware - so this seems little more than a misleading justification for "we don't want to pay Delay Repay on multi-modal tickets".

They also can't exclude compensation under the Consumer Rights Act (CRA), or the minimum compensation entitlement under condition 33 of the NRCoT and Article 17 of the Passenger Rights and Obligations Regulation (PRO). There are limitations on both of these alternatives to Delay Repay - CRA remedies would only tend to apply in circumstances where they carry some degree of 'fault' for the disruption (e.g. not if there is severe weather), and condition 33/Article 17 only entitles you to compensation for delays of 60+ minutes.

Nevertheless, their statement that they "will consider" compensation implies a duty to act reasonably in deciding when to pay compensation; an unreasonable rejection could be challenged. Given that a 56 minute delay is likely to be quite substantial in relation to your planned the journey time, I'd suggest they would need a good reason not to pay compensation in your case.

Thanks for this Watershed. I didn't find these threads when searching.
I will appeal on the basis that there was no bus alternative possible once the train had come to a halt in Chinley. Bus from new Mills to Buxton to Tideswell would have taken well over three hours anyway.
I will see if I can appeal to their "better nature".

 

[Watershed]

Thanks for this Watershed. I didn't find these threads when searching.
I will appeal on the basis that there was no bus alternative possible once the train had come to a halt in Chinley. Bus from new Mills to Buxton to Tideswell would have taken well over three hours anyway.
I will see if I can appeal to their "better nature".

Yes, the silent implication is that they're assuming you could have avoided some or all of the delay by using another means of travel included in the ticket. But for many routes that is impractical as these either don't exist or take so much longer (due to journey time and/or frequency) that they're not worthwhile considering, as you say.

 

[MadMarsupial]

Yes, the silent implication is that they're assuming you could have avoided some or all of the delay by using another means of travel included in the ticket. But for many routes that is impractical as these either don't exist or take so much longer (due to journey time and/or frequency) that they're not worthwhile considering, as you say.

I appealed on the basis that the multi modal ticket I had purchased was not valid on trams ( there aren't any in Derbyshire anyway ( outside of Crich ) and an alternative route by bus would have taken over three hours. The decision was to reject my claim. text below

Thank you for your delay repay claim which we received on Mon, 23 Jun 2025. We are sorry that you experienced a delay to your journey.

Your claim has been checked using a set process and the details of any delay verified using industry systems holding historic train running information. We have reviewed your claim and can confirm the following:

Travel Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2025
Departing: 14:15 from NEW MILLS CENTRAL to SHEFFIELD
Appeal of claim: NT-3979-876-041
Reason for appeal: Other
Decision: Unsuccessful

We are really sorry but we have rejected your claim because your are travelling with a Multi Modal ticket that allows travel on Buses, Trams and Trains. Unfortunately multi modal tickets are not eligible for compensation under Northern's delay repay scheme. This relates only to Northern's Delay Repay and compensation policy. It does not in any way limit or exclude your legal right as a consumer under laws such as the Consumer Rights Act 2015. In accordance with your legal rights as a consumer you may be eligible to a different level of compensation where Northern is at fault in accordance with laws such as the Consumer Rights Act 2015. If you are unsure if this applies to your journey or believe that it does apply to your journey please contact our Customer Experience Centre on 0800 200 6060 or email enquiries@northernrailway.co.uk quoting your claim reference.
If you still believe we've made the wrong decision, or that you've given us the wrong information, please get in touch with our Complaints Handling team via enquiries@northernrailway.co.uk with the relevant details before Wed, 30 Jul 2025.

Yours sincerely,
Customer Support Team

So it doesn't look like any appeal based on the fact that the other non-train modes were not available or would take even longer than waiting for the delayed train is likely to succeed.