Depay repay - Part Journey on Off Peak Return

[GarethC]

Hi all,

I am hoping someone is able to clarify/help with this situation. I have read a couple of other threads on the issue and think I am correct, although I appear to be in a loop going back and to with Customer Resolutions.

Ticket: Return portion of an Off Peak Return Stockport-Felixstowe

I had deliberately chosen an Off Peak Return as I needed to be flexible and I knew I probably wouldn't be travelling back to Felixstowe in one go. In the event, when I got to Stockport station I only planned to travel as far as London Euston, to meet family in London. My understanding is that my journey was Stockport>London Euston. Even though Euston wasn't the final destination on my ticket. The train I took was delayed by 74 minutes. I submitted delay repay to Avanti and was rejected, appealed, rejected, appealed etc. and have finally ended up at Customer Resolutions.

Customer Resolutions keep asking for the "full intended journey details" to process the claim. My issue is that my full intended journey was to London Euston. I have tried to explain this numerous times but keep getting the same reply.

Does anyone have any experience or advice on how to progress this further?

Many thanks in advance.
Gareth

 

[Starmill]

The only thing you can really do is to ask them for a deadlock letter. It is unlikely that this will move the response on so you'll have to complain to the Rail Ombudsman.

The link to do this here https://www.railombudsman.org/en/complaint?step=4

 

[Bletchleyite]

I had something similar a while back (though it was a start short, not an end short) and they eventually paid it when I sent a separate email to Customer Services explaining it. Might be worth a separate approach.

 

[Belperpete]

I regularly start or finish my journeys short, and have only once had any problem with Avanti due to this, when Avanti rejected my claim as my journey didn't match my ticket. I appealed it, stating the relevant clause in the NRCoT about the ability to break journey and start or finish short, and they then paid it.

I suspect that the issue could be that their system is showing that if you had continued to Felixstowe, your delay in arriving there might have been substantially less than 74 minutes.

You haven't actually said on what grounds they have rejected your claim. Was it that you didn't make a valid journey, or that your journey doesn't match your ticket? Have you quoted the clause in the NRCoT that entitles you to break journey?

I assume that your Felixstowe to Stockport ticket was valid via any permitted route, not the cheaper "not via London" ticket? And have you checked that your journey was in accordance with restriction code 9I?

 

[londonbridge]

I had a situation recently where I held a ticket to Southampton Central but left the train at Southampton Airport Parkway. Filed a delay claim giving Parkway as my destination, it was paid without any hassle.

 

[blimmo]

I suspect that the issue could be that their system is showing that if you had continued to Felixstowe, your delay in arriving there might have been substantially less than 74 minutes.

Since the felixstowe trains are hourly and they often run a few minutes early it is very difficult to end up over the 60 mins delay repay threshold on such a journey. It effectively requires missing two IPS-FLX trains which, combined with the extremely generous MCT between euston and LST makes it extremely unlikely.

 

[GarethC]

I regularly start or finish my journeys short, and have only once had any problem with Avanti due to this, when Avanti rejected my claim as my journey didn't match my ticket. I appealed it, stating the relevant clause in the NRCoT about the ability to break journey and start or finish short, and they then paid it.

I suspect that the issue could be that their system is showing that if you had continued to Felixstowe, your delay in arriving there might have been substantially less than 74 minutes.

You haven't actually said on what grounds they have rejected your claim. Was it that you didn't make a valid journey, or that your journey doesn't match your ticket? Have you quoted the clause in the NRCoT that entitles you to break journey?

I assume that your Felixstowe to Stockport ticket was valid via any permitted route, not the cheaper "not via London" ticket? And have you checked that your journey was in accordance with restriction code 9I?

They have rejected the claim for:
Unable to find a timetabled journey
Ticket not valid

It is the any permitted route ticket and was within the time restrictions.

I also suspect that they are looking at the difference if I had travelled all the way to Felixstowe. To clarify, I took the xx.04 train from Stockport whereas to connect across to Felixstowe you normally get the xx.44 train.

I haven't quoted the specific clause of the NRCoT, I will try that this time.

Thanks for the advice everyone.