Delay Repay yesterday Haywards Heath to Eastbourne

[Thameslink Rai]

So yesterday I took the train from Eastbourne to Haywards Heath return, the outward journey was uneventful but the return was a bit of a mess. I planned to take the 14:08 back but it was cancelled so I took the 14:38 which arrived at Eastbourne 12 minutes late which I thought would put me in the 30-59 minute compensation bracket. I put the delay repay claim in and it was rejected with the following response


Thank you for your Delay Repay claim received by us on 18/10/2025.

Journey Details
Departure date & time: 18/10/2025 14:08
Arrival date & time: 18/10/2025 14:53
Departing station: [HHE] Haywards Heath
Arriving station: [EBN] Eastbourne
Changing at station: N/A

To identify if you are eligible for Delay Repay compensation, we verify your claim using industry systems which hold historic train running information.

Decision: Declined

We've checked the journey you've claimed for and our records show that the delay was 9 minutes. This is based on the arrival time of the service(s) that ran and is below the minimum threshold that entitles you to Delay Repay compensation. We used the following information to calculate your delay: The intended leg from 14:08 HAYWARDS HEATH, scheduled to arrive at EASTBOURNE at 14:53 could not be taken because the train was cancelled. The alternative leg from 13:38 HAYWARDS HEATH left 41 minutes late, scheduled to arrive at EASTBOURNE at 14:17, arrived 45 minutes late. Total journey delay: 9 minutes. If you believe you may have provided the incorrect intended service please resubmit your claim with the correct information. HOW TO RESUBMIT: If you'd like us to review your claim again, please submit again and under the 'Why were you delayed' section, select 'resubmit claim'. If you do not choose this option, we'll be unable to review your claim.

If you think you've given us the wrong information, the quickest way to update us is to resubmit your claim. This should be done through the online delay repay web page by selecting the 'resubmit claim' option in your claim here.

Yours sincerely
Southern Delay Repay Team

I was not aware that the 13:38 was running so late. When I was at the station, the announcements couldn't keep up with all the delays and cancellations and the staff were occupied with all the other confused customers. My question therefore is whether I should appeal this decision and if so how?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@Thameslink Rai. Welcome to the forum. I'd say that if you arrived at Haywards Heath station intending to catch the 14:08 departure to Eastbourne (which was cancelled), but you could instead have caught the late running 13:38 departure which left from Haywards Heath shortly thereafter at 14:19, you should really have gotten on that train if you could, and not further delayed yourself by waiting for the 14:38. Not as if Haywards Heath is that big a station. But yes, train running through the area does look to have been rather chaotic yesterday mid-afternoon.

Are you saying that the late running 13:38 train wasn't properly announced?

 

[Thameslink Rai]

I can't say for certain that it wasn't properly announced although I didn't hear or see anything relating to it

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Oct 2025 ==

I should also note that they switched to manual announcements for a while and I was struggling to understand them

 

[AlterEgo]

You can appeal it, of course, but there is no guarantee the claim will be approved. The company did provide a service to minimise your delay and it is very likely they did manually announce the train at Haywards Heath, so you can only ask them to take your word for it that it wasn't announced in the chaos.

 

[Thameslink Rai]

Thank you, having slept on it I think I will let it go. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Trainman40083]

@Thameslink Rai. Welcome to the forum. I'd say that if you arrived at Haywards Heath station intending to catch the 14:08 departure to Eastbourne (which was cancelled), but you could instead have caught the late running 13:38 departure which left from Haywards Heath shortly thereafter at 14:19, you should really have gotten on that train if you could, and not further delayed yourself by waiting for the 14:38. Not as if Haywards Heath is that big a station. But yes, train running through the area does look to have been rather chaotic yesterday mid-afternoon.

Are you saying that the late running 13:38 train wasn't properly announced?

Just two platforms in each direction, isn't it?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Just two platforms in each direction, isn't it?

Indeed. Two island platforms. Trains for Eastbourne will mostly use platform 2 at Haywards Heath; occasionally they might use platform 1 which is on the other side of the same island platform.

 

[MotCO]

Were you using headphones?

 

[Thameslink Rai]

I wasn't planning to respond again but no I wasn't using headphones

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Maybe some confusion arouse because the late running 13:38 departure for Eastbourne was originally headed for Bexhill and looks to have been switched from its normal platform 2 over to platform 1 at Haywards Heath at some late stage.
P.S Where were the reported 'animals on the line' by the way?

 

[Trainman40083]

Maybe some confusion arouse because the late running 13:38 departure for Eastbourne was originally headed for Bexhill and looks to have been switched from its normal platform 2 over to platform 1 at Haywards Heath at some late stage.
P.S Where were the reported 'animals on the line' by the way?

Which must be yards apart.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Which must be yards apart.

If you're sat on platform 2 and only looking at the departure board for platform 2, you *might* just miss what's going on, over on nearby platform 1. Drifting into the realms of speculation, though, and I remain to be convinced that the OP has a valid DR claim!

 

[Trainman40083]

If you're sat on platform 2 and only looking at the departure board for platform 2, you *might* just miss what's going on, over on nearby platform 1. Drifting into the realms of speculation, though, and I remain to be convinced that the OP has a valid DR claim!

Having travelled by train for a very very long time, I always expect the unexpected. But then you sometimes get people who get on a wrong train, because they saw their destination on the ARRIVALS board.

 

[dastocks]

I can't say for certain that it wasn't properly announced although I didn't hear or see anything relating to it

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Oct 2025 ==

I should also note that they switched to manual announcements for a while and I was struggling to understand them

The information available on the platforms can be rather useless when the service goes tits-up. Some years ago I took a member of staff to task at Gatwick because the only train on the platform display was a service that had been cancelled nearly 2 hours previously! I think he may have been someone quite senior because he was wearing office clothing under a hi-viz vest. He scuttled off and sorted it out.

The only way around this seems to be various third-party apps and web-pages on a mobile device, so you can see what is actually running and make decisions accordingly. These all have quirks and features: I tend to use a combination of RealTimeTrains, OpenTrainTimes (which I see staff using) and an app called Fasteroute.

 

[Haywain]

I'm not sure why we are seeing a series of posts suggesting that the OP is being dishonest in what they have told us - it's not really necessary.

 

[35B]

Agreed, but the possibility of being mistaken or simply not hearing needs to be acknowledged - and with it (as has happened) the consequences for the claim.