Delay repay on a split ticket

[ForTheLoveOf]

Passenger charters and DelayRepay are not legally binding, so you would have trouble basing a court claim on that. You may (or may not) have more luck claiming the minimum compensation promised in the NRCoT; the argument that compensation on a split ticket journey should be based on all the tickets rather than just the ticket where the delay was incurred has at least some merit, though it is by no means black and white.

Furthermore, there is no definition of a “journey” in the NRCoT and it is not at all clear that you did not make two “journeys”.

(I’m aware of a provision of the CRA stating that representations by a merchant which a person relied upon in order to enter into a contract may in some circumstances be inferred into the contract. It is a very high hurdle indeed to prove that the existence of DelayRepay was a factor in purchasing a train ticket.)

I think that Section 50 of the CRA may be rather more significant than you may be taking it as being. The test is not whether the consumer relied on a statement, it is whether the statement influenced the consumer's buying decision and/or influenced any decision the consumer makes about the service once he has bought it. That's a much lower bar than I think you may have been suggesting - although it is by no means trivial.

That said, in the context of, for example, the holder of an 'any permitted' ticket on a route where multiple TOCs with different compensation policies operate - like Birmingham to Wolverhampton - I think the latter part (Section 50(1)(b)) may become relevant, if, for instance, the ticket holder decides to use West Midlands Trains because they are aware they offer compensation for delays of just 15 minutes and above, regardless of the cause, as opposed to another TOC like Arriva Trains Wales who only offer compensation for delays of 30 minutes and above, and who make use of the NRCoT exclusion for delays entirely outside the rail industry's control.

Of course this is not really relevant to the OP's scenario, as I would agree that it is highly unlikely that VTEC's/LNER's Delay Repay policy influenced his ticket purchasing or ticket use decisions. Nevertheless an argument along the above lines cannot be ruled out, and given that the NRCoT - the key contractual document - specifically refers to each TOC's Passengers' Charter as setting out the exact details of what compensation is applicable, I don't think it is fair or appropriate to dismiss the Charter out of hand. The wording of the usual 'disclaimer' is also telling -

The Charter sets outs our commitment to you and to raising our standards. It does not create any new legal relationship with you because of what we say we will do

i.e. it merely defines details in the existing legal relationship you already have with them if you buy a ticket valid on their services.

 

[furlong]

Insofar as any intention can be inferred as to how Delay/Repay ought to operate in these cases, I feel that would fall on the side of its applying to the entire journey on the grounds that split ticketing is a practice the industry is encouraging consumers into by its own pricing policies (for reasons of more accurate revenue attribution), that there is no unambiguous statement given to the consumer that this has any consequence for their Delay/Replay entitlement, and that the consumer should not as such suffer unadvertised detriment as a result.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Also kept saying that because I'd taken advantage of getting my journey cheaper by utilising split ticketing as opposed to one ticket that that was why they couldn't pay compensation for the entire journey... definately incorrect in my opinion!

In which case, surely they are having an advantage too - you got your journey for cheaper so they would be paying out less in delay repay anyway compared to if you held a just one through ticket.

split ticketing is a practice the industry is encouraging consumers into by its own pricing policies (for reasons of more accurate revenue attribution),

Hell, the fact the industry allow booking sites specifically geared towards split ticketing (these sites have to be approved by ATOC / whatever the relevant organisation is) surely suggests the split ticketing is "encouraged".

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

In which case, surely they are having an advantage too - you got your journey for cheaper so they would be paying out less in delay repay anyway compared to if you held a just one through ticket.

Exactly my thoughts - the argument that 'you split, therefore you lose rights' seems to fall down when you think about the fact that TOCs also have to pay out proportionally less when you split and save!

 

[PG]

This email arrived further to the telephone conversation with LNER yesterday

Dear xxxxxxx

Thank you for contacting London North Eastern Railway.

Split Tickets

When you buy several tickets to complete your journey from A-B this is classed as split ticketing.

As an example: you want to go from Kings Cross to Sheffield, but you find its cheaper to buy a ticket to Doncaster then a separate ticket from Doncaster to Sheffield. This is what is called split ticketing. its is often cheaper to do a journey on the rail network this way. This has the downside that if you want to claim compensation due to a delay etc, we could only take account of the ticket on the affected leg, and your onward connection on the second ticket would not be taken into account.

I do hope this helps clear matters up, however we have forwarded your complaint to the contact centre manager as requested.

Thanks again for getting in touch.

Yours sincerely,

xxxxxxxxxxxx
Customer Service Representative
London North Eastern Railway

Clearly the statements "This is what is called split ticketing. its is[sic] often cheaper to do a journey on the rail network this way. This has the downside that if you want to claim compensation due to a delay etc, we could only take account of the ticket on the affected leg, and your onward connection on the second ticket would not be taken into account." show their complete misinterpretation of the NRCoT and their own passengers charter!

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

This email arrived further to the telephone conversation with LNER yesterday



Clearly the statements "This is what is called split ticketing. its is[sic] often cheaper to do a journey on the rail network this way. This has the downside that if you want to claim compensation due to a delay etc, we could only take account of the ticket on the affected leg, and your onward connection on the second ticket would not be taken into account." show their complete misinterpretation of the NRCoT and their own passengers charter!

Yes exactly - what will it take for them to update and correct their policy?

 

[AlterEgo]

Yes exactly - what will it take for them to update and correct their policy?

An Ombudsman, which is terrifically and unacceptably delayed in materialising.