Delay repay if you don't finish the journey

[johncrossley]

I have a Woking to Branksome ticket. The train has been cancelled after Bournemouth so I got off there and got the bus instead. Can I claim Delay Repay?

 

[Watershed]

You could either claim Delay Repay based on your delay in arriving at Branksome station (or another nearby location) by bus, or based on your delay in arriving at Bournemouth.

 

[londonbridge]

Was there a later train from Bournemouth that you could have waited for and caught? What time did you arrive at your destination versus your original itinerary?

 

[johncrossley]

Was there a later train from Bournemouth that you could have waited for and caught? What time did you arrive at your destination versus your original itinerary?

The next train was one hour later. There was a train that passed through the station without stopping according to the timetable. For all I know, that could have stopped additionally at Parkstone, but I didn't hang around to find out.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Jul 2025 ==

You could either claim Delay Repay based on your delay in arriving at Branksome station (or another nearby location) by bus, or based on your delay in arriving at Bournemouth.

The train was on time arriving into Bournemouth. I have incurred an additional bus fare by getting the bus instead.

 

[Watershed]

The train was on time arriving into Bournemouth. I have incurred an additional bus fare by getting the bus instead.

Unfortunately you probably won't get very far claiming for the bus fare given that there was another train an hour later.

But you should be able to get Delay Repay, and in practical terms it would probably be calculated based on when the next train arrived.

 

[johncrossley]

Unfortunately you probably won't get very far claiming for the bus fare given that there was another train an hour later.

But you should be able to get Delay Repay, and in practical terms it would probably be calculated based on when the next train arrived.

I'm not expecting to get the bus fare back, but I hope that compensation would cover it and hopefully extra on top. My concern is how I present the claim. Do I say I arrived one hour late? What if the next train made an additional stop, meaning I would only be 30 minutes late?

 

[Watershed]

I'm not expecting to get the bus fare back, but I hope that compensation would cover it and hopefully extra on top. My concern is how I present the claim. Do I say I arrived one hour late? What if the next train made an additional stop, meaning I would only be 30 minutes late?

You simply tell them how late you arrived, that is what counts.

If they decide to pay you more or less, that's up to them.

 

[johncrossley]

You simply tell them how late you arrived, that is what counts.

If they decide to pay you more or less, that's up to them.

The website isn't flexible enough to consider this sort of issue. I don't want to be accused of fraud.

 

[Watershed]

The website isn't flexible enough to consider this sort of issue. I don't want to be accused of fraud.

The website allows you to enter how late you were, doesn't it? You are not committing fraud; you are honestly telling them how long you were delayed.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm not expecting to get the bus fare back, but I hope that compensation would cover it and hopefully extra on top. My concern is how I present the claim. Do I say I arrived one hour late? What if the next train made an additional stop, meaning I would only be 30 minutes late?

Unfortunately you can't claim on the basis of having waited for the next train if you didn't. You can only claim on what actually happened.

 

[johncrossley]

Unfortunately you can't claim on the basis of having waited for the next train if you didn't. You can only claim on what actually happened.

So what compensation am I entitled to, if anything?

 

[Bletchleyite]

So what compensation am I entitled to, if anything?

Potentially nothing. Did you arrive at your destination by bus more than 15 minutes later than you would have by train? Did the train terminate at Bournemouth more than 15 minutes late?

 

[johncrossley]

Potentially nothing. Did you arrive at your destination by bus more than 15 minutes later than you would have by train? Did the train terminate at Bournemouth more than 15 minutes late?

I got there about 30 minutes later by bus. The train was on time at Bournemouth when it was cancelled for the remainder of the trip.

 

[Watershed]

I got there about 30 minutes later by bus. The train was on time at Bournemouth when it was cancelled for the remainder of the trip.

So then you claim stating a 30-59 min delay. If they decide to nevertheless to give you the 60-119 min level of DR, that's their prerogative.

 

[Starmill]

You have done SWR a favour by taking the bus, at your own cost, as it mitigates the delay SWR are on the hook for. There is no argument they could make against paying you out for a delay of 30 minutes given that's what happened, and, if you hadn't intervened, they'd have no choice but to pay out for an hour, so I wouldn't worry.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I got there about 30 minutes later by bus. The train was on time at Bournemouth when it was cancelled for the remainder of the trip.

Theoretically then you've got a 15 or 30 minute claim if you put it in as all the way to the destination. Or nothing if you put it in as ending short at Bournemouth.

I've never quite been sure which of those it should be where the alternative transport wasn't provided by the railway. Personally I thought the idea of claiming based on completing the journey by rail or rail-provided transport and spending that money on a taxi was fair, but it's not allowed (in my understanding) to claim on that basis, and if scans indicate that that isn't what you did (e.g. a scan out at Bournemouth) they might not be willing to pay it.

But I think what I would do is put in for a 30 minute claim (based on your bus journey) and see what they pay. They might, based on my past experience with FirstGroup/ex-FirstGroup TOCs, pay for an hour.

 

[johncrossley]

I just noticed that I read the timetable wrong. The next train arrived in 45 minutes and was scheduled to stop there anyway.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@John crossley. So, the 1300 Woking to Branksome should have arrived at Branksome at 1430, but was cancelled at the previous station (Bournemouth) upon arrival there, at around 1422. Next train from Bournemouth to Branksome was the 1510 and would have arrived at Branksome at around 1514/1515. So, you'd have been delayed by ~45 minutes had you waited for the next train. What time did you arrive into Branksome, but travelling by bus?

 

[Belperpete]

With a DR claim, you enter your planned itinerary, and the actual delay you incurred in arriving at your destination. You do not enter anything about how you actually got there. Provided that you are truthful in the limited information they ask for, you are not doing anything wrong.

In calculating how much they owe you, the TOC will likely assume that you took the next available train, as they don't have or ask for any information to say otherwise. This sometimes means they calculate a greater delay than you claimed for. However, in this case if you are claiming a 30-59 minute delay, and they calculate that you would have arrived 45 minutes late by taking the next train, the result will be the same.