Delay repay is a nice little earner.

[kristiang85]

On my route, a season ticket is £5,264/yr thus delay repay for 15-30m is £2.84. To make £1000 in DR I would need to be delayed for 352 journeys. On an average of 10 journeys a week, that means an average of a 15m+ delay once every 1.48 journeys, so that's 6 delays a week. Even by SWR's recent terrible standards, and I can't imagine Southern being even worse, then I'm very sceptical of that figure.

However, this is another gripe with delay repay - on the same delayed train, my lost time is valued far less than someone on the same train who has bought a single ticket. DR should be based on the cost of the standard ticket for that route/time, not what you paid (minus any railcard discounts), e.g. in the way air travel compensation works.

 

[Richard Hall]

I had three delay repay claims submitted this week. Makes more sense for me to get return tickets every day than a season ticket.

 

[al78]

Surely you are not suggesting that someone who is delayed on their way home after a meeting at a remote location should somehow not be entitled to compensation for the delay getting home?!

There are probably people out there who do think that, based on the fact that if a motorist gets delayed by traffic congestion caused by over-running roadworks, they wouldn't be entitled to delay repay from the highways authority (I'm not one of those people).

 

[yorkie]

There are probably people out there who do think that, based on the fact that if a motorist gets delayed by traffic congestion caused by over-running roadworks, they wouldn't be entitled to delay repay from the highways authority (I'm not one of those people).

That's not the same argument though.

That would be an argument against Delay Repay completely, rather than an argument to say that people should be penalised for working for the NHS.

 

[Butts]

Have I got the lowest ever Delay Repay on here - £3.40 from West Midlands Trains for a Single from Birmingham Moor Street to Old Hill.

I wouldn't have bothered but you could do it all online and they paid it into my Bank Account.

All services were cancelled and I had to get a Bus which cost £2.40 so I was only a quid up !!

 

[fairysdad]

Have I got the lowest ever Delay Repay on here - £3.40 from West Midlands Trains for a Single from Birmingham Moor Street to Old Hill.

I wouldn't have bothered but you could do it all online and they paid it into my Bank Account.

All services were cancelled and I had to get a Bus which cost £2.40 so I was only a quid up !!

My usual Delay Repay from SWR is an entire £1. Usually in the form of vouchers, although I did get a week's refund on a monthly season last December as a cheque which was a nice surprise as after some back-and-forth (and incorrect information given by ticket office staff at Waterloo - probably due to the change in policy brought on by the new franchise) I had given up hope!

I've also got a £1 cheque sitting on my desk from Thameslink for a Delay Repay claim that was spurious to say the least (a *slightly* late arrival from TL and a *slightly* early departure from SWR at Wimbledon meant I missed a connection that was dodgy at best - a 2 minute connection if things ran bang on time - had to wait for the next train that was running a couple minutes late... Not entirely sure why I thought I'd put a claim in, and somewhat surprised that TL honoured it - probably won't cash the cheque to be honest as it wasn't a valid claim!)

 

[Starmill]

Have I got the lowest ever Delay Repay on here - £3.40 from West Midlands Trains for a Single from Birmingham Moor Street to Old Hill.

I wouldn't have bothered but you could do it all online and they paid it into my Bank Account.

All services were cancelled and I had to get a Bus which cost £2.40 so I was only a quid up !!

If you didn't use the ticket, and the train was cancelled, that's a refund, not compensation.

As for low-value claims, Southern once sent me a cheque for £0.84 in respect of my complaint that I had a 1st class ticket and the accommodation has been declassified. Goodness knows how they worked that one out. I didn't query it with Southern, although I did actually pay it in at the counter in the bank, the cashier and I had a bit of a laugh at it.

 

[westv]

I'd suggest most people these days don't get bank holidays off.

I'm sure I read somewhere that around 25% of workers work bank holidays but I can't remember where I saw jt.

 

[nottsnurse]

An FOI on what?

Indeed. Surely if it's an FOI request regarding an individual then Exceptions 2 or 6 (or both) would come onto effect?

 

[arb]

Have I got the lowest ever Delay Repay on here - £3.40 from West Midlands Trains for a Single from Birmingham Moor Street to Old Hill.

I have lots of 70p claims - all for 15 minute delays with Great Northern between Cambridge and Ely.

A very cheap fare near to me is a railcard discounted Cambridge to Cambridge North super-off-peak day return (weekends only), costing £1.30. A 15 minute delay on that ticket would get you back 20p (rounded up from a theoretical 16p) of Delay Repay.

What's the chepeast fare available anywhere on the network? Are there any 80p (or less) return fares in a region where the operator does Delay Repay after 15 minutes of delay? If so, those could result in Delay Repay claims for 10p!

 

[Starmill]

What's the chepeast fare available anywhere on the network? Are there any 80p (or less) return fares in a region where the operator does Delay Repay after 15 minutes of delay? If so, those could result in Delay Repay claims for 10p!

A single from Lichfield City to Lichfield Trent Valley with a railcard is £0.45

 

[Esker-pades]

My lowest was 95p from SouthEastern for a 50 minute delay.

 

[oversteer]

I wouldn’t be surprised if some were claiming for every possible journey on a season ticket that was delayed, or at least a plausible daily ‘out’ and ‘return’ at varying times

There’s even apps that track all this for you

 

[kristiang85]

I wouldn’t be surprised if some were claiming for every possible journey on a season ticket that was delayed, or at least a plausible daily ‘out’ and ‘return’ at varying times

There’s even apps that track all this for you

On smartcards your tap ins/outs are recorded.

Also TOCs can track erratic timing on claims and flag an issue.

 

[superalbs]

I have a 43p RTV from SWR.

 

[mmh]

I'd suggest most people these days don't get bank holidays off.

Most people in a position to have an annual season ticket, let alone one so expensive that 1000q in delay repay is possible, or buying enough individual tickets and travelling so often to make that possible will be in salaried jobs with bank holidays off or days in lieu, or self-employed.

 

[bluenoxid]

Indeed. Surely if it's an FOI request regarding an individual then Exceptions 2 or 6 (or both) would come onto effect?

Even an organisation wide request would be poorly responded to apart from proving that the organisation (like many) don’t have a policy for Delay Repay. I can’t think of a way that an organisation booking through an organisation travel service can prove and claim delays automatically without manually checking. I don’t even know if it would be possible particularly if the ticket is an open ticket.

I would be disappointed if an organisation tried misconduct on this one particularly if their travel policy did not include a clear set of expectations.

 

[johntea]

I work for a NHS trust and they have bigger problems than worrying if someone is claiming <£100 on delay repay when they're (just my particular one!) losing £30,000 daily!

Often I'll push my luck if my train isn't quite at the 30/60 minute threshold and often find the claim is approved anyway, although these days it is a nice surprise more than an earner considering how long each claim takes to process!

 

[Kite159]

I saw that letter in the newspaper and the first thing which popped to my head was this gentlemen playing the system, looking for services which are delayed and putting in a claim even though they weren't actually delayed.

It might catch up with them.

----

I've had some small RTVs from SWR when services have been delayed by 15+ minutes

 

[Adsy125]

I have 2 39p vouchers from SWR

 

[Trainfan344]

Got a small ammount once from Greater Anglia for a 30 minute delay on a cheap ticket, think it was about a quid if not less.

 

[westv]

I saw that letter in the newspaper and the first thing which popped to my head was this gentlemen playing the system, looking for services which are delayed and putting in a claim even though they weren't actually delayed.

Didn't somebody get taken to court not that long ago for doing exactly that?

 

[hwl]

Didn't somebody get taken to court not that long ago for doing exactly that?

Yes they did and the fraudulent claim rate at GTR is /was massive, it went up substantially when the apps became well known.

 

[Typhoon]

Not quite the same. To make a fair comparison you would have to consider that the supermarket food is now possibly out of date and would have to be discarded.

Exactly. If I go in to my local supermarket at 15:30 on a Sunday afternoon and see some fruit - sell by date that day - I would expect to get it at a discount as it probably won't be in A1 nick (otherwise I will look for the same - sell by date next week). If I travel on a train journey that is substantially delayed, I similarly expect a discount.