EMR Delay Repay rejected because Smartcard not tapped, despite trains being cancelled

I’m interested to know whether any other EMR season ticket holders have experienced this with Delay Repay.


I have an annual Smartcard season ticket for travel into London.On the day in question there was significant disruption to EMR services into London, with all trains cancelled.


Before leaving home I checked the live train information on the train app, saw the extent of the cancellations and disruption and therefore didn’t travel to my home station.


I subsequently submitted a Delay Repay claim, which EMR have rejected for the following reason:


“We have not been able to approve your claim as it appears the smartcard provided was not used on the date being claimed for.

When a Smartcard is used for travel, we expect to see the card used to tap in and out at either end of a journey. However, upon reviewing the tap in and out data on your Smartcard, we cannot see that it was used at time or date of the journey on this claim.”


This seems completely illogical to me. The reason there is no tap-in data is because I checked the service before leaving home, saw that EMR had cancelled the trains and therefore didn’t make a pointless journey to the station simply to tap my Smartcard.


I have already paid for my travel through my annual season ticket, and EMR obviously have their own records showing the cancellations and disruption on the day.


I have appealed the decision, but I find it ridiculous that I’m having to appeal in the first place. Are season ticket holders really expected to travel to the station and tap in even when they already know their train has been cancelled, simply to preserve their ability to make a Delay Repay claim?


Has anyone else with an EMR Smartcard/season or any other train company had claims rejected for the same reason, and if so, what happened when you appealed?

Thanks in advance

You say all the trains were cancelled; was a Do Not Travel notice issued, do you know?

If it was, I would explain I am claiming compensation for non-provision of service under the delay repay process as stated in their Passenger Charter:

In the event that a ‘do not travel’ warning is issued, passengers with a single or return ticket who follow this advice and do not travel are entitled to claim a full refund, even if a do not travel warning is not in place for the return portion of the ticket. Season ticket holders are entitled to claim compensation under the delay repay process.

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If there wasn't a Do Not Travel notice and you didn't travel then they might be correct to refuse your claim, since delay repay isn't normally applicable when you don't travel. But then you can argue they should be giving you a partial refund because all the trains you might realistically have used were cancelled.

To be honest with you I can’t remember but I presume it would be as it was the day overhead lines came down around the Bedford area. 13 August

EMR constantly give random, nonsensical and just plain incorrect reasons for rejecting delay repay claims. Putting it through to appeal generally works, but if it ever doesn't a call to customer relations has a 100% success rate so far!

I recently submitted a £200 delay repay claim for a journey that included the GWR sleeper as well. It was auto-rejected for a random reason, but let's see how an appeal goes...

Hmm, doesn't look like they did.

Maybe email their Customer Relations and ask what the compensation arrangements are given the service was unusable on the day?

Snake_hips said:

To be honest with you I can’t remember but I presume it would be as it was the day overhead lines came down around the Bedford area. 13 August

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Do you usually travel in to London in the afternoon and back in the evening, then? It's just it looks from RTT as if the morning peak service into London from Kettering wasn't too bad at all - the problems occurred later in the day when most commuters with season tickets would already have been in London. I can see why they're expecting you to have travelled.

I wasn't aware of the need to tap in snd out when using a smart card. If it's pay as you go or a carnet ticket then yes but not for a season and day tickets.

STINT47 said:

I wasn't aware of the need to tap in snd out when using a smart card. If it's pay as you go or a carnet ticket then yes but not for a season and day tickets.

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No, they've made that requirement up, but there's still a question whether the OP is eligible for delay repay given he didn't travel.

If he had travelled but hadn't tapped (e.g. because the gates were open at both ends of the journey) and EMR tried to reject the claim for that reason then they wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

This kind of nonsense is one of several reasons why I avoid smartcards!

tram21 said:

EMR constantly give random, nonsensical and just plain incorrect reasons for rejecting delay repay claims. Putting it through to appeal generally works, but if it ever doesn't a call to customer relations has a 100% success rate so far!

I recently submitted a £200 delay repay claim for a journey that included the GWR sleeper as well. It was auto-rejected for a random reason, but let's see how an appeal goes...

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Fingers crossed

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redreni said:

Hmm, doesn't look like they did.

Maybe email their Customer Relations and ask what the compensation arrangements are given the service was unusable on the day?

Do you usually travel in to London in the afternoon and back in the evening, then? It's just it looks from RTT as if the morning peak service into London from Kettering wasn't too bad at all - the problems occurred later in the day when most commuters with season tickets would already have been in London. I can see why they're expecting you to have travelled.

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I usually travel morning and evening for work but this day I was heading to London for a night out

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Watershed said:

This kind of nonsense is one of several reasons why I avoid smartcards!

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Unfortunately I have to use this service everyday for work and cost £10,000 for the year

Snake_hips said:

Unfortunately I have to use this service everyday for work and cost £10,000 for the year

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Yeah that is unfortunate. You might want to get in touch with the Association of British Commuters to see if they're doing anything similar to what they did with GTR after the timetable debacle a few years ago - I believe they supported people with contested chargebacks and even County Court claims for partial refunds on season tickets purchased before the timetable was cut right back.

The railway's position is they can take your £10K, reduce the timetable and pay you no compensation of any kind, with delay repay based on the new timetable. Other perspectives on this are available.

redreni said:

Yeah that is unfortunate. You might want to get in touch with the Association of British Commuters to see if they're doing anything similar to what they did with GTR after the timetable debacle a few years ago - I believe they supported people with contested chargebacks and even County Court claims for partial refunds on season tickets purchased before the timetable was cut right back.

The railway's position is they can take your £10K, reduce the timetable and pay you no compensation of any kind, with delay repay based on the new timetable. Other perspectives on this are available.

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That’s a great point, I hadn’t even thought of that. Thanks