Delay repay cross-London with oyster

[saismee]

Good evening,

My friend travelled from Bangor (Gwynedd) to Trimley using tickets bought on the forum site as London Euston to Bangor return. He used contactless across London, and intended to board the 1830 London Liverpool Street to Norwich, changing at Ipswich onto the 1958 service to Felixstowe.

Everything was perfectly smooth-sailing until we got to London Liverpool Street, where the 1830, 1900, and 1902 towards Ipswich were cancelled, and the next fastest was 1930. This then departed 20L, losing another 10 minutes en-route, and missing the 1958 to Felixstowe. By the time he got to Ipswich (2110), the connection was missed and the 2228 will be the next service (a 2.5h delay!).

As this journey was bought through multiple planners (partly on the forum, partly on the GA app, partly contactless), are we eligible for delay repay? The journey also had quite a long wait at London, but we wanted to take a roundabout route between Euston and Liverpool Street to include the IFS Cloud Cable Car.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[bcarmicle]

Possibly; what was the full original itinerary including departure and arrival times?

 

[yorkie]

Good evening,

My friend travelled from Bangor (Gwynedd) to Trimley using tickets bought on the forum site as London Euston to Bangor return. He used contactless across London, and intended to board the 1830 London Liverpool Street to Norwich, changing at Ipswich onto the 1958 service to Felixstowe.

Everything was perfectly smooth-sailing until we got to London Liverpool Street, where the 1830, 1900, and 1902 towards Ipswich were cancelled, and the next fastest was 1930. This then departed 20L, losing another 10 minutes en-route, and missing the 1958 to Felixstowe. By the time he got to Ipswich (2110), the connection was missed and the 2228 will be the next service (a 2.5h delay!).

As this journey was bought through multiple planners (partly on the forum, partly on the GA app, partly contactless), are we eligible for delay repay? The journey also had quite a long wait at London, but we wanted to take a roundabout route between Euston and Liverpool Street to include the IFS Cloud Cable Car.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

What was the full itinerary as originally booked/planned?

If departure time from Bangor was at 1406, then booked arrival at Trimley would be 2018, so a delay of 60+ mins which means 100% Delay Repay.

Yes, you are entitled to claim on the basis of the full journey, providing a valid itinerary was followed, but in future I strongly advise booking with one provider and obtaining a through itinerary, as evidence of a contract.

The forum's ticketing site has an advanced option to select that you are happy to use Contactless/Oyster PAYG for cross-London transfers, which I would recommend using rather than booking each leg from a separate retailer.

 

[saismee]

Arrival to Euston was 1624 (LNWR). We had many splits along the way but they were all issued with a valid itinerary from the forum site.

in future I strongly advise booking with one provider and obtaining a through itinerary, as evidence of a contract.

This isn't possible with the GA app-only ticket which was used on the GA leg. It is a friends & family voucher which grants an Off-Peak Return between any two GA stations for 5 pounds. I would like this back but of course this would be an internal thing.

As the journey back to Trimley was on an Off-Peak Return, 1830 would be the first possible after arriving at 1624. We didn't plan any specific route across London. There were severe delays on Jubilee and Northern lines (we used both), but they had no impact on our arrival time at Liverpool Street.

 

[yorkie]

Ah, yes for F&F tickets, then of course that's different.

Yes, it's a fairly straight forward 100% Delay Repay claim for a 60+ min delay, but what may complicate it is if you seek a greater level of compensation for the tickets that were returns, on the basis of return tickets being eligible for a higher level of compensation for delays of 120+ mins. It may be better to email customer services if it gets complicated.

 

[saismee]

Ah, yes for F&F tickets, then of course that's different.

Yes, it's a fairly straight forward 100% Delay Repay claim for a 60+ min delay, but what may complicate it is if you seek a greater level of compensation for the tickets that were returns, on the basis of return tickets being eligible for a higher level of compensation for delays of 120+ mins. It may be better to email customer services if it gets complicated.

Do they need to be return-type tickets for the 2h+ repay to apply? They were all advance tickets, so I'm fine not doing the outward.

 

[yorkie]

Do they need to be return-type tickets for the 2h+ repay to apply? They were all advance tickets, so I'm fine not doing the outward.

There was mention of an Off Peak Return; a 2 hour delay provides compensation on both portions of a return ticket.

To avoid confusion in future, when people are seeking advice regarding itineraries, delay claims, etc, it is a good idea to list the planned itinerary in list format.

After the journey, the actual journey times can be listed in the same format, with notes regarding which trains were delayed/cancelled.

Detailing the ticket(s) used is also helpful (origin, destination, ticket type/code, route/TOC restriction, etc)

A good example is how @rhizomergence posted their request, as quoted below:

Hey, I travelled yesterday on a journey involving a somewhat strange collection of tickets, and I’m wondering what my delay repay entitlements are.

Journey from Deal to Cambridge
Intended itinerary:
19:26 Deal to St. Pancras arriving 20:54
21:39 King’s Cross to Cambridge arriving 22:31

Actual itinerary:
19:26 service was delayed, arriving at St. Pancras at 21:34
22:09 King’s Cross to Cambridge, actual arrival 23:07

Tickets used to complete journey:
Super off peak day travelcard, Cambridge to London Zones 1-6 (return portion)
Super off peak day return, London Terminals to Dover Priory any permitted (return portion)
Off peak day return, Deal to Dover Priory (outbound portion)

This will help us to provide the best possible advice and keep confusion and complications to a minimum.

Regading obtaining an itinerary, if it is not possible due to using F&F tickets, Season tickets etc, then www.fastjp.com can be used to generate an itinerary. The advanced options are the same (or at least very similar) as those on the forum site.

 

[saismee]

@yorkie would you be able to point me to the exact wording/sections of the NRCoT which make my usage valid? My own journey is Bangor (Gwynedd) to Crewe (Off-Peak Return PRIV), followed by staff travel to Euston, Oyster to Liverpool Street, and staff travel onwards. I'm in a disagreement with someone about whether my own journey would qualify for delay repay due to the delay being on a free leg.

 

[AlterEgo]

@yorkie would you be able to point me to the exact wording/sections of the NRCoT which make my usage valid? My own journey is Bangor (Gwynedd) to Crewe (Off-Peak Return PRIV), followed by staff travel to Euston, Oyster to Liverpool Street, and staff travel onwards. I'm in a disagreement with someone about whether my own journey would qualify for delay repay due to the delay being on a free leg.

If you hold a valid ticket or pass
and comply with any itinerary given by an accredited site or NRE
or otherwise manually observe any connection times
and you have no part of the trip not covered by a ticket or pass

then what is the person's issue? They're making up a rule.

 

[saismee]

If you hold a valid ticket or pass
and comply with any itinerary given by an accredited site or NRE
or otherwise manually observe any connection times
and you have no part of the trip not covered by a ticket or pass

then what is the person's issue? They're making up a rule.

As far as they understand it, the staff travel being free makes it not counted as a ticket and is therefore ineligible/counted as a separate journey.

 

[Haywain]

As far as they understand it, the staff travel being free makes it not counted as a ticket and is therefore ineligible/counted as a separate journey.

I have made a number of claims where part of the journey has been using free staff travel, and all have been successful.

 

[AlterEgo]

As far as they understand it, the staff travel being free makes it not counted as a ticket and is therefore ineligible/counted as a separate journey.

That's not correct. How do they propose Freedom Passes get dealt with?

 

[saismee]

I have made a number of claims where part of the journey has been using free staff travel, and all have been successful.

That's good to hear.

That's not correct. How do they propose Freedom Passes get dealt with?

Not a clue. I never considered freedom passes either but I can't see why they wouldn't be eligible when combined.

 

[Watershed]

There is nothing in the NRCoT that requires you to have paid something for your ticket to be valid. It's just as valid if it's free.

Indeed I have seen a number of free staff passes which have explicitly stated they are issued subject to the NRCoT.

Likewise, free tickets issued by TOCs as Delay Repay compensation (e.g. Northern), for season ticket holders (SWT used to do this) or as a gesture of goodwill for a complaint, have all stated they are issued under the NRCoT when I have looked at them.

 

[Belperpete]

There is nothing in the NRCoT that requires you to have paid something for your ticket to be valid. It's just as valid if it's free.

Agreed. I have made a number of claims where one of my split tickets has been a free Welsh concessionary pass ticket. Unfortunately the forum's ticketing site doesn't recognise Welsh concessionary passes, so I use the fastjp website for generating valid itineraries.

The only slight issue is that some TOC's delay repay websites won't accept a zero-value ticket. I have raised complaints about this, with no result. In such cases, I just enter the minimum value that the website will accept.

 

[saismee]

I have received a response regarding my delay repay.

As your journey was made using split tickets, I can confirm that a refund has been actioned for the Greater Anglia Friends & Family Off-Peak Return ticket only. This ticket was valid specifically for the part of the journey that was delayed, and therefore qualifies for a refund.

Please allow 3-5 working days to receive this.

Unfortunately, the Advance Single tickets included in your split itinerary are not eligible for a refund in this instance, as they do not cover the delayed section of the journey. Refunds and Delay Repay claims can only be assessed against the individual ticket(s) used for the affected portion of travel.

Got a full payout on my staff off-peak return ticket, but not my friend's advances. Wonderful. I will be arguing this until I get my compensation.

 

[Watershed]

I have received a response regarding my delay repay.


Got a full payout on my staff off-peak return ticket, but not my friend's advances. Wonderful. I will be arguing this until I get my compensation.

Yeah, that's nonsense. You have the same right to compensation regardless of whether you have one ticket or several, provided your planned journey was valid (i.e. allowed enough time for connections).

This is long established, basic stuff. There's no excuse for them getting it wrong.

 

[saismee]

Yeah, that's nonsense. You have the same right to compensation regardless of whether you have one ticket or several, provided your planned journey was valid (i.e. allowed enough time for connections).

This is long established, basic stuff. There's no excuse for them getting it wrong.

It's very disappointing to see. I have highlighted that we travelled wholly within MCTs and highlighted that multiple tickets constitute a journey and are eligible for DR. If they still refuse to pay out, I am supposed to request a letter of deadlock, correct?

 

[Watershed]

It's very disappointing to see. I have highlighted that we travelled wholly within MCTs and highlighted that multiple tickets constitute a journey and are eligible for DR. If they still refuse to pay out, I am supposed to request a letter of deadlock, correct?

I think that's probably a sensible next step, yes.

 

[Belperpete]

It's very disappointing to see. I have highlighted that we travelled wholly within MCTs and highlighted that multiple tickets constitute a journey and are eligible for DR. If they still refuse to pay out, I am supposed to request a letter of deadlock, correct?

It is worth going through the appeals process first.

 

[AlterEgo]

It's very disappointing to see. I have highlighted that we travelled wholly within MCTs and highlighted that multiple tickets constitute a journey and are eligible for DR. If they still refuse to pay out, I am supposed to request a letter of deadlock, correct?

Yes, but exhaust the appeals process first. Amazing how the myth of "you don't get delay repay on all the splits" has persisted for 15 years at least.

 

[saismee]

It is worth going through the appeals process first.

Yes, but exhaust the appeals process first. Amazing how the myth of "you don't get delay repay on all the splits" has persisted for 15 years at least.

It is an email to customer services rather than a delay repay form, as the form refused to accept that the tickets matched the journey. How exactly does the appeals process work here?

 

[AlterEgo]

It is an email to customer services rather than a delay repay form, as the form refused to accept that the tickets matched the journey. How exactly does the appeals process work here?

In your email explicitly say you're appealing and want a manager to look at it. Say that if they are unwilling to pay out then you will go to the Rail Ombudsman and require a deadlock letter.

 

[Belperpete]

In your email explicitly say you're appealing and want a manager to look at it. Say that if they are unwilling to pay out then you will go to the Rail Ombudsman and require a deadlock letter.

I would have hoped their response would have mentioned how to appeal. Pretty poor if it doesn't.

 

[saismee]

I would have hoped their response would have mentioned how to appeal. Pretty poor if it doesn't.

The full email is this

Thank you for contacting Greater Anglia Customer Relations regarding your recent planned travel.

I appreciate that delays or cancellations for any reason are frustrating and can cause inconvenience.

Every effort is made to operate all trains as advertised despite the many problems that can and unfortunately do occasionally arise, including infrastructure defects, train failures, and other unpredictable operational issues. These often cause unavoidable knock-on effects that can put trains and their crews out of position on the track.

When disruption occurs, we endeavour to keep customers informed and seek to rectify any issues as quickly as possible to keep disruption of our customer's journeys to a minimum.

As your journey was made using split tickets, I can confirm that a refund has been actioned for the Greater Anglia Friends & Family Off-Peak Return ticket only. This ticket was valid specifically for the part of the journey that was delayed, and therefore qualifies for a refund.

Please allow 3-5 working days to receive this.

Unfortunately, the Advance Single tickets included in your split itinerary are not eligible for a refund in this instance, as they do not cover the delayed section of the journey. Refunds and Delay Repay claims can only be assessed against the individual ticket(s) used for the affected portion of travel.

Once again, I’m sorry for the disruption you experienced and for the delay in our response. If you require any further assistance in the future, please get back in touch.

So no, no mention of how to appeal.

 

[Belperpete]

The full email is this


So no, no mention of how to appeal.

Intriguing that they say they have refunded tickets. If you travelled, then a refund should not be paid. It is delay repay compensation that is due. This may just be slack wording on their part. However, if they have genuinely refunded tickets for part of the journey, then they may be trying to claim that it no longer counts as a through journey.

Also, it is getting a bit confusing about whether you are talking about the claim for your journey, or your friend's journey.

 

[saismee]

Also, it is getting a bit confusing about whether you are talking about the claim for your journey, or your friend's journey.

It is my friends journey that I paid for, it's easier to submit on his behalf (which I know is technically disallowed, but he is unable to do it for personal reasons).

Maybe I would've been okay with a refund and a reimbursement of the F&F voucher code (it is essentially a £50+ ticket), but to blatantly ignore the conditions of the delay repay scheme is a whole other thing.

 

[Belperpete]

It is my friends journey that I paid for, it's easier to submit on his behalf (which I know is technically disallowed, but he is unable to do it for personal reasons).

Got a full payout on my staff off-peak return ticket, but not my friend's advances. Wonderful. I will be arguing this until I get my compensation.

So, if I understand correctly, the claim for your journey has been paid (in full?), but the claim you put in for your friend's journey has not?

Maybe I would've been okay with a refund and a reimbursement of the F&F voucher code (it is essentially a £50+ ticket), but to blatantly ignore the conditions of the delay repay scheme is a whole other thing.

It is a friends & family voucher which grants an Off-Peak Return between any two GA stations for 5 pounds. I would like this back but of course this would be an internal thing.

Your friend travelled, so why would you expect the voucher code to be reimbursed? You only get a refund if you don't travel.

Do they need to be return-type tickets for the 2h+ repay to apply? They were all advance tickets, so I'm fine not doing the outward.

One minute you are telling us that one of the tickets was an off-peak return using a F&F voucher, the next that your friend's tickets were all advances. Which is it?

It might perhaps help us to understand GA's reply, and why they and you seem to be talking about refunds and reimbursement, if you let us know exactly what you asked them in the first place.

 

[saismee]

Your friend travelled, so why would you expect the voucher code to be reimbursed? You only get a refund if you don't travel.

I would take a reimbursement of the voucher over a proper delay repay payout, but I am entitled to the delay repay and not the voucher.

One minute you are telling us that one of the tickets was an off-peak return using a F&F voucher, the next that your friend's tickets were all advances. Which is it?

That post was incorrect, it was advances between Bangor and Euston, contactless for London, and Off-Peak Return for Liverpool Street to Trimley. The Off-Peak Return was obviously going to be paid out, so I (somewhat confusingly) omitted that from the post.

Here is the email (including full itinerary and relevant tickets)

I am writing to you to request help with a delay repay case which occurred on 27/04/2026. We were delayed by over two hours on a journey between Bangor (Gwynedd) and Trimley on the final Greater Anglia leg. This does not seem possible to submit on the online form due to the combination of tickets.

Our intended was as follows:
12:09 Bangor (Gwynedd) to Chester - Transport for Wales
13:32 Chester to Crewe - Avanti West Coast
14:13 Crewe to London Euston - London Northwestern Railway
London Euston to London Liverpool Street - London Underground Limited
18:30 London Liverpool Street to Ipswich - Greater Anglia
19:58 Ipswich to Trimley - Greater Anglia

Tickets held were as follows:
Advance Single from Bangor (Gwynedd) to Rugby
Advance Single from Rugby to London Euston
Oyster/Contactless from London Euston to London Liverpool Street
GA Friends & Fam OP Rtn from London Liverpool Street to Trimley (return leg)

The journey taken was as follows:
12:09 Bangor (Gwynedd) to Chester - Transport for Wales
13:32 Chester to Crewe - Avanti West Coast
14:13 Crewe to London Euston - London Northwestern Railway
London Euston to London Liverpool Street - London Underground Limited
19:30 London Liverpool Street to Ipswich - Greater Anglia
22:28 Ipswich to Trimley - Greater Anglia

Due to overhead line problems in the Colchester area, the 18:30 to Norwich, 19:00 to Norwich, and 19:02 to Ipswich were cancelled, with the 19:30 being delayed long enough to miss our connection at Ipswich. We were delayed by over 120 minutes which should grant us a full refund on our Advance Single tickets, plus both legs of the GA F&F Off-Peak Return.

Yes, I (and GA) said refund, but it is clear I meant to say compensation. At no point did I imply an abandoned journey.

 

[Belperpete]

Yes, I (and GA) said refund, but it is clear I meant to say compensation. At no point did I imply an abandoned journey.

Agreed, but in the concluding paragraph, you specifically requested a refund.

My recommendation would be to reply to GA pointing out that as you travelled, you are not entitled to a refund - what you are claiming for is compensation for delayed arrival, as per NRCoT clauses 14 and 33.1. These state that a journey may be made using multiple tickets, and that the claim should be based on the whole journey and the tickets used for that journey.