Delay Repay Boarding Late-Running Train

[Essexman]

Travelling back with an off peak return I arrived at Didcot to find an earlier late running train in the platform.

I boarded this, which arrived at Paddington 30 minutes late. The train manager announced that everyone was entitled to delay repay.

My arrival was however earlier than it would have been had this train not been late and I’d waited for the next service.

I could not have been delayed for 30 minutes as that would have required me to have stood on the station at Didcot for at least 30 minutes but in that time another train ran to Paddington.

I’m not sure if I’m morally entitled to delay repay, so probably won’t claim on this occasion.

Complicated but I wondered if a delay repay claim from Didcot would be accepted or would they know they I can’t have been 30 minutes late arriving as another train left Didcot and arrived at Paddington less than 30 minutes after I did?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Travelling back with an off peak return I arrived at Didcot to find an earlier late running train in the platform.

I boarded this, which arrived at Paddington 30 minutes late. The train manager announced that everyone was entitled to delay repay.

My arrival was however earlier than it would have been had this train not been late and I’d waited for the next service.

I could not have been delayed for 30 minutes as that would have required me to have stood on the station at Didcot for at least 30 minutes but in that time another train ran to Paddington.

I’m not sure if I’m morally entitled to delay repay, so probably won’t claim on this occasion.

Complicated but I wondered if a delay repay claim from Didcot would be accepted or would they know they I can’t have been 30 minutes late arriving as another train left Didcot and arrived at Paddington less than 30 minutes after I did?

For people using open tickets, ultimately the DR system relies on everyone playing the game.

It's easiest to explain this with an (imaginary) example Let's imagine that trains are scheduled to leave Didcot at xx00 and xx30, with scheduled arrivals at London 40 minutes later at xx40 and x110 respectively (for the avoidance of doubt, I know that Didcot has more trains per hour than that, and they're a bit faster than that).

In this imaginary scenario, your actual journey saw you arriving at the station at 1225, comfortable time for the scheduled 1230 service. As things turned out, you boarded the late running 1200, which reached Paddington at 1310 against a booked arrival of 1240.

The railway have no way of knowing that you weren't aiming for the 1200 train, and so incurred a 30 minute delay. So if you put in a Delay Repay claim, I would expect it to be paid.

But my personal view is that your journey wasn't delayed: you expected a train that would get you to London by 1310 - and you used a train that did that. So really you shouldn't be claiming DR.

There's also a further wiggle: what if, as well as the 1200 running late, the 1130 had been running late such that the 1130 left Didcot at 1200? The railway, it seems to me, could have expected a passenger on an open ticket who had planned to get the 1200 to have caught the late running 1130 and so have avoided delaying their journey. In this scenario, the railway could (in my view anyhow) legitimately ask the DR claimant what happened - and reject the claim when they found out.

As I said earlier, it's about obeying the rules - even if there's little or no chance of being caught out for not following them.

 

[P Binnersley]

The railway have no way of knowing that you weren't aiming for the 1200 train, and so incurred a 30 minute delay. So if you put in a Delay Repay claim, I would expect it to be paid

If your ticket had a QR code there will be a record of it being scanned at the barriers to enter Didcot station.

 

[Essexman]

For people using open tickets, ultimately the DR system relies on everyone playing the game.

It's easiest to explain this with an (imaginary) example Let's imagine that trains are scheduled to leave Didcot at xx00 and xx30, with scheduled arrivals at London 40 minutes later at xx40 and x110 respectively (for the avoidance of doubt, I know that Didcot has more trains per hour than that, and they're a bit faster than that).

In this imaginary scenario, your actual journey saw you arriving at the station at 1225, comfortable time for the scheduled 1230 service. As things turned out, you boarded the late running 1200, which reached Paddington at 1310 against a booked arrival of 1240.

The railway have no way of knowing that you weren't aiming for the 1200 train, and so incurred a 30 minute delay. So if you put in a Delay Repay claim, I would expect it to be paid.

But my personal view is that your journey wasn't delayed: you expected a train that would get you to London by 1310 - and you used a train that did that. So really you shouldn't be claiming DR.

There's also a further wiggle: what if, as well as the 1200 running late, the 1130 had been running late such that the 1130 left Didcot at 1200? The railway, it seems to me, could have expected a passenger on an open ticket who had planned to get the 1200 to have caught the late running 1130 and so have avoided delaying their journey. In this scenario, the railway could (in my view anyhow) legitimately ask the DR claimant what happened - and reject the claim when they found out.

As I said earlier, it's about obeying the rules - even if there's little or no chance of being caught out for not following them.

Thanks. Yes that is pretty much what happened and my view also. The train was 30 minutes late but I wasn't.

I won't claim on this occasion.

I'm hoping for some goodwill from GWR on another matter, when I had to buy a new ticket as I'd accidentally purchased one for the wrong date, so hope they will play the game too.

 

[SuspectUsual]

If your ticket had a QR code there will be a record of it being scanned at the barriers to enter Didcot station.

Which really doesn't (or shouldn't) make a difference. There is no requirement to pass through the barriers to "prove" what time you got to the station, if you know there's not going to be a train any time soon.

 

[redreni]

I do not think it is ever a good idea - unless the train has lost maybe an hour between its penultimate and final calling points - to announce that "everybody is entitled to delay repay". I don't see how the guard could possibly know that.