Delay repay help

[TJM4]

Hi,

This is my first post so please correct me if this is the wrong section.

During storm Bert on the 24/11/24 I was travelling from Stansted Airport to Sheffield with a split ticket. My initial itinerary I had planned was:
14:30 Stansted Airport -> Tottenham Hale
Victoria Line from Tottenham Hale to King's Cross St.
16:02 London St Pancras International -> Sheffield (split ticket, with second half Leicester -> Sheffield)

On the day of travel, my plane landed slightly early, so I asked in the ticket office if I could catch an earlier service from Stansted Airport to Tottenham Hale instead (12:15). They said yes, so I boarded the train. I have attached my ticket, so if someone could let me know if my ticket is actually valid for this service, it would be much appreciated, as the person in the ticket office barely glanced at the ticket.

Whilst on the train, a tree hit a cable ahead of us which meant we had to wait to be evacuated. When I got onto the road, we were told by Greater Anglia that they would not pay for a taxi to get me to Tottenham Hale. I caught an Uber there in the hope of catching a later service to Sheffield, as by this point, I had missed the 16:02 service.

Once I reached London St Pancras International, there was only one service running to Sheffield (17:02) which I was able to get on. This was with East Midlands Railway, which is the same company which my original ticket was with. However, this train ended up stopping in Kettering, due to flooding on the line. It is worth noting that my original 16:02 service did arrive in Sheffield. Train staff told passengers to find alternative methods to get to their destination and that we would be able to claim it back. In the end, I got a mini bus with a bunch of other people from Kettering to Sheffield.

I have three questions:
- Was my ticket valid for the Stansted Airport to Tottenham Hale service I boarded?
- Am I able to claim back the first taxi?
- Who do I claim back the minibus from, Greater Anglia or East Midlands Railway, as I would have made the on-time service with East Midlands Railway if it had not been for the issue on the Greater Anglia service?

Thank you for reading through all this any advice is much appreciated!

 

[robbeech]

Welcome to the forum.

The brief answers are YES, your ticket was valid on the earlier train. YES you are able to claim back your taxi and you would ordinarily claim the cost of the mini bus from Greater Anglia as they are the train operator responsible for your delay.

Unfortunately you'll likely find every part of the railway you contact will do its best to make things incredibly difficult for you to claim to the point that most people just give up. It's a bit of a game to them really, not a very passenger friendly approach.

There will be little point going through the automated delay repay channels for any of this, so i would suggest writing to Greater Anglia's customer service department to explain your situation.

You'll need to give all the facts, concisely and without emotion. They'll need to see the following things :

* Your Tickets (all of them)
* Your Proposed Journey schedule, either written down or as a screen shot or similar of an itinerary given to you when you booked.
* Your Actual Journey schedule, include the train, the uber, the tube, the next train and the minibus, Give departure and arrival times for everything including the non train legs.
* Receipts or proof of purchase for the Uber
* Receipts or proof of purchase for the Mini Bus
* A true account of the conversations you had with rail staff including the member of staff at the starting station, the member of staff that refused a taxi after evacuation, the member of EMR staff at Kettering.
* Any other relevant details.

You'll need to be prepared for one or more of the following outcomes :

* Approval in full (Sadly very unlikely initially)
* Approval of delay repay up to the total value of your tickets but refusal to cover additional costs
* More questions about the additional taxi costs
* An outright refusal to do anything at all
* The claim (Wrongly) passed over to EMR (or indeed someone else)

Others will be along to add to this, and we're here to help when you've been through part of the process and had a reply.

 

[TJM4]

Welcome to the forum.

The brief answers are YES, your ticket was valid on the earlier train. YES you are able to claim back your taxi and you would ordinarily claim the cost of the mini bus from Greater Anglia as they are the train operator responsible for your delay.

Unfortunately you'll likely find every part of the railway you contact will do its best to make things incredibly difficult for you to claim to the point that most people just give up. It's a bit of a game to them really, not a very passenger friendly approach.

There will be little point going through the automated delay repay channels for any of this, so i would suggest writing to Greater Anglia's customer service department to explain your situation.

You'll need to give all the facts, concisely and without emotion. They'll need to see the following things :

* Your Tickets (all of them)
* Your Proposed Journey schedule, either written down or as a screen shot or similar of an itinerary given to you when you booked.
* Your Actual Journey schedule, include the train, the uber, the tube, the next train and the minibus, Give departure and arrival times for everything including the non train legs.
* Receipts or proof of purchase for the Uber
* Receipts or proof of purchase for the Mini Bus
* A true account of the conversations you had with rail staff including the member of staff at the starting station, the member of staff that refused a taxi after evacuation, the member of EMR staff at Kettering.
* Any other relevant details.

You'll need to be prepared for one or more of the following outcomes :

* Approval in full (Sadly very unlikely initially)
* Approval of delay repay up to the total value of your tickets but refusal to cover additional costs
* More questions about the additional taxi costs
* An outright refusal to do anything at all
* The claim (Wrongly) passed over to EMR (or indeed someone else)

Others will be along to add to this, and we're here to help when you've been through part of the process and had a reply.

Thank you so much for your quick and detailed response; I'm glad I haven't done anything wrong. I have all of the information that you have said that I need. I will start putting it all together now to send off before the 28-day delay repayment deadline. I'll keep the thread updated.

 

[Haywain]

I disagree with some of the above response. You are entitled to claim Delay Repay from Greater Anglia and they should also cover the taxi fare - although this should all be done through their customer relations team. But I believe that the cost of the minibus should be claimed from EMR as that falls within their responsibility.

 

[TJM4]

I disagree with some of the above response. You are entitled to claim Delay Repay from Greater Anglia and they should also cover the taxi fare - although this should all be done through their customer relations team. But I believe that the cost of the minibus should be claimed from EMR as that falls within their responsibility.

Hi Haywain,

Thank you for taking the time to read my message and respond Does this fall under their responsibility even though the original service I was meant to get on (before the delay) ran to Sheffield? I just want to make sure I send the message to the correct company, as the 28-day deadline is this weekend.

 

[Haywain]

Hi Haywain,

Thank you for taking the time to read my message and respond Does this fall under their responsibility even though the original service I was meant to get on (before the delay) ran to Sheffield? I just want to make sure I send the message to the correct company, as the 28-day deadline is this weekend.

The 28 day deadline is for making a delay repay claim, the rest of it does not have a time limit.

 

[TJM4]

Thank you both again for the help - I thought I'd update the thread with the outcome in case it is useful to someone in the future.

I ended up submitting the full claim to the Greater Anglia support team via email, including all the evidence and clearly the amount which I wished to claim back and why (ChatGPT helped turn my unclear notes into a very clear email).

I just heard back today that I will receive a refund for all of the taxis and my tickets, no back-and-forth was needed with them

But thank you both again for your advice!

 

[Haywain]

Thank you both again for the help - I thought I'd update the thread with the outcome in case it is useful to someone in the future.

I ended up submitting the full claim to the Greater Anglia support team via email, including all the evidence and clearly the amount which I wished to claim back and why (ChatGPT helped turn my unclear notes into a very clear email).

I just heard back today that I will receive a refund for all of the taxis and my tickets, no back-and-forth was needed with them

But thank you both again for your advice!

Good to hear and glad I could help.