Delay repay Abergavenny to Taunton

[BRM]

Today's journey from Abergavenny 1805 to Taunton 2020 was delayed. As I caught the slower GWR from Bristol TM I arrived Taunton at 2110, rather than 2040 on the delayed XC. I got the GWR at Bristol as it came in before the XC and had seats. Would it be worth me claiming Dealy Repay?

 

[Watershed]

To give you helpful advice, we're going to need more detail on:

• What ticket(s) you held (to/from/price/route)
• What trains you originally intended to take
• What trains you actually ended up taking

In principle you can claim Delay Repay if you arrive more than 30 minutes late due to CrossCountry's fault (or 15 minutes if it was TfW's or GWR's fault), but claims are usually assessed based on the quickest option available to you. If you deliberately chose a slower option you might still get compensation based on the fastest option. If you chose a slower option not knowing it would be slower, that would be different.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@BRM. What was your original itinerary? Must have been one or more intermediate changing points as trains from Abergavenny don't normally ever run directly through to Taunton. Are we talking about changes needed at both Newport (South Wales) and Bristol Temple Meads? If so, reckon you could probably legitimately make a 30-59 minute 'Delay Repay' claim (this would be from TfW as their service from Abergavenny was the first late running train).

 

[BRM]

I had an Anytime single, bought on the rail forum ticket split site, £35.30.

My planned itinerary was
01/08/25
Abergavenny 1805 TfW
Newport arr 1832
dep 1844 GWR
Bristol TM (BRI) arr 1920
BRI dep 1950 XC
Taunton arr 2020

My journey was as above until Bristol TM where I used instead:
BRI 1953 (actual dep. 2000)
TAU (actual arr. 2114)
I could have opted for the delayed XC actual dep 2008 and actually arrived Taunton 2139 but opted for the GWR as it arrived and departed Bristol TM first. I knew it was slower, but ironically was delayed more by waiting at Bedminster for 9 mins to allow the XC I could have caught to pass.
The delayed XC I didn't take was the very late 1845 dep. There was a safety inspection of the track, so every train from the north was delayed.

On the last train, the GWR train manager kept saying to claim delay repay as there was a 15 plus minute delay.
So my journey could have been a 19 minute delay had I took the XC from Bristol, but was actually 54 minutes.

 

[Watershed]

I had an Anytime single, bought on the rail forum ticket split site, £35.30.

My planned itinerary was
01/08/25
Abergavenny 1805 TfW
Newport arr1832
dep 1844 GWR
Bristol TM arr 1920
dep 1950 XC
Taunton arr 2020

My journey was as above until Bristol TM where I used instead:
BTM 1953 (actual dep. 2000)
TAU (actual arr. 2114)
I could have opted for the delayed XC actual dep 2008 and actually arrived Taunton 2139 but opted for the GWR as it arrived and departed Bristol TM first. I knew it was slower but and ironically was delayed more by waiting at Bedminster for 9 mins to allow the XC I could have caught to pass.
The delayed XC I didn't take was the very late 1845 dep. There was a safety inspection of the track so every train from the north was delayed.

On the last train the GWR train manager kept saying to claim delay repay as there was a 15 plus minute delay.
So my journey could have been a 19 minute delay had I took the XC from Bristol but was actually 54 minutes.

Ok, so you arrived at Taunton 54 mins late as a result of delays caused by XC. You could arrived only 19 mins late if you'd taken their earlier delayed 18:45 service, but I don't think you could be expected to look for heavily delayed earlier services or to guess the order in which trains would be regulated en-route.

If you had a seat reservation on the 20:08 then I think it'd be especially reasonable to let a late-running earlier service go if you can't get a seat on it.

I'd say submit a Delay Repay claim to XC, entering your original planned journey and your actual level of delay (30-59 mins). If they pay you more compensation than 30-59 mins' worth in the assumption you stuck with the 20:08, that's on them.

If they reject your claim on the basis you could have taken the 18:45 and thus have been delayed by less than 30 mins (which is the Delay Repay threshold for XC) then you can get back to us and we can help you with your appeal.

 

[BRM]

Pleased to say that my delay claim to XC was accepted. Possibly as I had a barcode ticket which was scanned on the GWR service, so my actual journey showed up.