‘Mandatory Reservations’ and delays

[TheJester]

Hello,

I had a slightly strange situation on Friday 5th December at Leeds station. I was booked on on the 0733 from London Kings Cross on an advance- end destination Huddersfield.
My ‘Mandatory Reservation‘ from Leeds to Huddersfield was the 1000 which was delayed by 20 minutes so I boarded the delayed 0945.

The conductor on the train tutted at me and said I should have got the train I was booked on.

slightly odd given the delay, and if I had done that I would have been able to claim delay repay.
Was he right?

 

[ChilliSauce]

Hello,

I had a slightly strange situation on Friday 5th December at Leeds station. I was booked on on the 0733 from London Kings Cross on an advance- end destination Huddersfield.
My ‘Mandatory Reservation‘ from Leeds to Huddersfield was the 1000 which was delayed by 20 minutes so I boarded the delayed 0945.

The conductor on the train tutted at me and said I should have got the train I was booked on.

slightly odd given the delay, and if I had done that I would have been able to claim delay repay.
Was he right?

Yes I think he was. The industry is now so stupid that it would rather give money back compared to trying it's very very best to get it's customers to their destination on time

 

[saismee]

On an Advance ticket you could've been thrown off the train or worse as you were required to take the specified train, even if delayed. I do agree it is a little silly and customer-unfriendly though.

 

[Kite159]

Especially when it's an advance with a long distance element & a shorter distance element, where in the olden days before advance tickets became all the rage in the North would have been something like "LNER + Connections" allowing the OP to catch any suitable train to Huddersfield rather than waiting around for their "Booked" element of the shorter distance leg on a route with frequent trains.

You see it all the time when an advance involves cross London when it's a long distance trip connecting into something like Woking from Waterloo which gives a stupidly long connection time so most customers will board the first available train to Woking rather than waiting for their 'booked' train.

 

[Watershed]

What the OP did was perfectly reasonable, both morally and legally. Condition 5.2 of the Advance ticket terms & conditions refers:

If delays occur while travelling, you will be allowed to catch the next available train(s) to complete your journey.

The suggestion from some members of staff, that you should delay yourself unnecessarily in order to stick with your booked train, is nonsensical and not in line with the actual rules. These sort of anti-passenger attitudes need to be stamped out.

 

[Tallguy]

If the 1000 from Leeds to Huddersfield had been cancelled, could the ticket holder have boarded the delayed 0945 service even if it was scheduled to depart before 1000 but didn’t in this case?

 

[ChilliSauce]

I think the OP could of found themselves a bit between the Rock and the hard place .. Had they stood and watched the 09.45 depart late (after 10am) and waited for the delayed 10am service ...so arriving Huddersfield say 20L and then submitted a delay repay for the complete journey from KX ...would the TOC have come back rejecting the claim with the argument that the OP should of taken the delayed 09.45 as it departed after the 10.00 ?

 

[agk2126]

I think the OP could of found themselves a bit between the Rock and the hard place .. Had they stood and watched the 09.45 depart late (after 10am) and waited for the delayed 10am service ...so arriving Huddersfield say 20L and then submitted a delay repay for the complete journey from KX ...would the TOC have come back rejecting the claim with the argument that the OP should of taken the delayed 09.45 as it departed after the 10.00 ?

Presumably not. If the 09:45 had not been permitted under the restrictions on the Advance ticket, Delay Repay would have been paid out for the 10:00. Correct? If OP had bought the tickets with a vendor that automatically submits Delay Repay claims, OP might even had been (incorrectly) compensated after catching the 09:45, even if this resulted in an earlier than scheduled arrival at Huddersfield, because the systems would assume them to have waited for the (delayed) 10:00.

What the OP did was perfectly reasonable, both morally and legally. Condition 5.2 of the Advance ticket terms & conditions refers:

Agree. Even if Advance Tickets Terms and Conditions may permit passengers to board other trains if their service is disrupted, AFAIK they should still be entitled to Delay Repay for their original itinerary if they travel on the booked trains and experience a delay.

 

[sheff1]

I think the OP could of found themselves a bit between the Rock and the hard place .. Had they stood and watched the 09.45 depart late (after 10am) and waited for the delayed 10am service ...so arriving Huddersfield say 20L and then submitted a delay repay for the complete journey from KX ...would the TOC have come back rejecting the claim with the argument that the OP should of taken the delayed 09.45 as it departed after the 10.00 ?

Every chance.
I was on a train which had some sort of technical problem and when we arrived at the next station we were told that the driver was going to shut down the train and then reboot it to try and fix the problem and that the doors would be locked whilst that happened. The reboot failed to rectify the problem and the train was eventually terminated. During the period we were still on the train with the doors unusable another service to my destination apparently left from a platform on the other side of the station and when I claimed Delay Repay the TOC rejected the claim saying I should have caught that .