Delay repay, can I claim?

[DeeGee]

I travelled from Grimsby to Milton Keynes at the weekend, via Euston.

There was a "trespass incident" at Leighton Buzzard which means that there were significant delays.

I was travelling on two tickets, split at London. One East Coast Advance for £13.50, and a Virign Trains only Saver Return from London Terminals to Milton Keynes Central for £20.20.

The Eastcoast Train arrived at 19.30. I was booked on the 20.20 train which would have arrived at 21.03, but Virgin services were seriously disrupted, and tickets were being accepted on LM Trains, so in the absence of any info on the concourse displays I caught the 20.34 to Birmingham.

This train departed 5 mins late and arrived at 21:43 (so more than 30 mins of delay)

However, in the time between my boarding the LM train and departure, it would appear that the VWC train was advertised - 20 late, and actually arrived at MKC 14 late. It overtook us!

Have I got any hope other than No or Bob of claiming any of this back?

 

[Tetchytyke]

You'll be doing well to get the £13.50 back, but if you write to Virgin Trains with an explanation of what train you actually took you should get some of the £20.20 back.

I'd enclose both tickets and see what happens!

 

[DeeGee]

There's no harm having a go, I suppose.

 

[185143]

Can you claim?
I usually follow this checklist.
1)Was I delayed sufficiently? Yes
2)Did I take the first reasonable connection? Yes, you did in my opinion, as the staff at Euston have a habit of disappearing when it goes t*ts up. You saw a train going to MKC and got on it, its not up to you to know that this is a much slower train, especially if ticket acceptance has been announced.
3)Did I follow the TOCs advice? Not given in this case!

Your journey was from Grimsby to Milton Keynes, so send all of the tickets in, they should pay delay repay for all of the tickets.

I was delayed on XC recently, with split tickets (West Mids ranger and STA-SPT return). The compensation I was sent was for both tickets.

That said, I've found VT customer relations to be far more generous than XC.

 

[yorkie]

It's a bit of a difficult one; I'd normally say consult with staff (especially Virgin Trains staff, as it was their train which you were planning to catch and delayed) and follow their instructions.

If there really were no staff to consult, and there were no fast trains to MKC advertised as running at that time, and passengers were being encouraged to use LM, then I'd say you have a case for compensation for a delay of 30 minutes or more, on your journey from Grimsby to MKC (ie, half of £33.70 = £16.85)

I suspect Virgin will resist this though, and may say that their trains were still running and you should have waited for one of theirs, rather than take the much slower LM train.

Without being there and witnessing what exactly was said/advertised, it's hard to call.

 

[DeeGee]

Virgin staff informed me that the 20:20 was not cancelled, that it would run, but couldn't tell me when.

The only advertised departure to MKC was the LM train. I enquired about ticket acceptance at the LM gateline.

That rather scuppers me, doesn't it?

 

[Tetchytyke]

I'm impressed you found any staff on Saturday night. I took the 2034 train home (with a stop order for my station) and there was hardly anybody around to check with; the PIS announced the train calling at my station (with a stop order) twice.

Send both tickets but explain which trains you caught. I can't imagine VT will quibble that much, EastCoast haven't when I've been in a similar situation.

 

[yorkie]

Virgin staff informed me that the 20:20 was not cancelled, that it would run, but couldn't tell me when.

There's a case to be made that, given how much slower the LM alternatives are at that time, to be eligible for Delay Repay, you should have stuck it out and waited for the next Virgin service.

I am not necessarily saying that Virgin will refuse on that basis, but there's a case to be made both ways and it's a tough one to call.

 

[island]

If you write in you might end up with one of the Virgin response saying it's too busy to answer you but here's a £25 RTV.

 

[DeeGee]

£5.05 back!

Better than nothing. Obviously, I reckon it should have been half the value of the advance plus half of half the return, but I'll settle for £5.05.

 

[bb21]

So they basically discounted the East Coast AP?

 

[causton]

Did they not use the EC Advance as you didn't have a rail ticket to get from KGX to EUS?

 

[DeeGee]

Did they not use the EC Advance as you didn't have a rail ticket to get from KGX to EUS?

They didn't say, but that makes sense. I used contactless.

 

[yorkie]

It does not 'make sense' and I don't believe there is a requirement to use LU nor for any 'ticket' or other authority to travel to be held in paper format.

I also doubt they are claiming that either.

 

[DeeGee]

It does not 'make sense' and I don't believe there is a requirement to use LU nor for any 'ticket' or other authority to travel to be held in paper format.

I also doubt they are claiming that either.

It's not unreasonable for someone to walk between the two stations, after all.

Thing is, Yorkie, I almost always travel on a combination of tickets, and I've never yet had delay compensation for a whole journey. Maybe I'm unlucky, or I should push them further...

 

[Hadders]

I always had delay repay compensation for the whole journey when using a combination of tickets. Operators include East Coast, Virgin, FGW, London Midland and Great Northern.

The trick is to be clear about the tickets you used and the delay. Unfortunately the delay repay on-line claim websites aren't really designed for users of combinations.

What I do is write my original itinerary and the actual times onto an A4 sheet of paper, clearly stating the delay to my overall journey. Next I attach my tickets to the paper, scan it and upload it to the website when I claim.

It's never failed yet!

 

[DeeGee]

I have a tendency to benefit from the ticket split to make a break of journey that I wouldn't otherwise get on an Advance ticket.

I haven't ever tried your trick, though, Hadders. Maybe next time...