Delay Repay Scheme

[lgb2100]

On 17th June, I travelled on the 10:59am service from Newcastle to Oxford (via Kings Cross)

I was delayed by 39 mins into London, thus missing my connection.

I tried claiming using the Delay Repay Scheme that Virgin Eastcoast has, but this claim was rejected.

"....I’m sorry to hear that your journey was affected by disruption on the line. The delay to your journey was caused by a late running preceding service.
Whilst we would like our trains to run on time, every time, we understand that unforeseen problems can mean this simply isn’t possible. We operate a Delay Repay Scheme which offers compensation to customers delayed over 30 minutes because of the delay or cancellation of one of our services. As our train running records indicate an overall delay of 18 minutes, I regret that I am unable to offer any compensation on this occasion."

I sent them the request again, on which they have now agreed to pay me the entitled compensation - 100% of the fare.

This time, they blamed the delay as being "..services were delayed due to vandalism"


I was informed during the journey down to London, that the train was delayed because of a "broken down train" - which raildar.co.uk/stat/#/1/523a confirms.

Why has Virgin given different reasoning ?

 

[yorkie]

Your itinerary was:

Newcastle 1059
King's Cross 1349

Paddington 1450
Oxford 1550
​

You arrived at King's Cross 1428.

In theory, with good door positioning (alighting as far forward as possible and taking the first available train from King's Cross and if a Met turns up, alighting from the middle of the train at Baker St for a Bakerloo) it may be possible to make the 1450, but for most people, probably not.

The next available journey opportunity would have been the 1506, arriving Oxford 1611 (changing at Reading), which would be a delay of 21 minutes. I note, however, the 1545 from Reading to Newcastle was 2 minutes late into Oxford, making an overall delay of 23 minutes.

VTEC appear to have been incorrect to claim a delay of 18 minutes but they were correct that you were delayed by under 30 minutes.

You say you were entitled to 100% delay compensation. That would only be the case if you arrived 60+ minutes late. As you've not mentioned a delay on London Underground, I am assuming you would have made it to Paddington in time for the 1506?

Due to the inconvenience of making an extra change, and the fact that you were nearly 30 minutes late, I'd have thought a goodwill gesture of 50% compensation would be appropriate, so I am surprised they made it 100%.

 

[misterredmist]

Glad you got a happy ending

Oddly enough I am just having issues with VTEC DR scheme. I was booked on the 0913 from Berwick-upn-Tweed Sat 28th May, and when I got to the station, the boards declared 'delayed' followed by an announcement that the service had been cancelled. I boarded subsequent VTEC trains to Newcastle and then Peterborough, arriving 60 minutes later than planned and the same to my final destination at Arlesey.

When I applied their team requested I post my itinerary to them - they would not accept an e-mail copy,and was also threatened with consequences of a fraudulent claim.
Having sent e-mail reminders with their claim ref on two occasions subsequently and receiving no reply, I have lodged a complaint with their customer services department.... .

 

[rebmcr]

Your itinerary was:

Newcastle 1059
King's Cross 1349

Paddington 1450
Oxford 1550
​

You arrived at King's Cross 1428.

In theory, with good door positioning (alighting as far forward as possible and taking the first available train from King's Cross and if a Met turns up, alighting from the middle of the train for a Bakerloo) it may be possible to make the 1450, but for most people, probably not.

The next available journey opportunity would have been the 1506, arriving Oxford 1611 (changing at Reading), which would be a delay of 21 minutes. I note, however, the 1545 from Reading to Newcastle was 2 minutes late into Oxford, making an overall delay of 23 minutes.

VTEC appear to have been incorrect to claim a delay of 18 minutes but they were correct that you were delayed by under 30 minutes.

You say you were entitled to 100% delay compensation. That would only be the case if you arrived 60+ minutes late. As you've not mentioned a delay on London Underground, I am assuming you would have made it to Paddington in time for the 1506?

Due to the inconvenience of making an extra change, and the fact that you were nearly 30 minutes late, I'd have thought a goodwill gesture of 50% compensation would be appropriate, so I am surprised they made it 100%.

This seems to assume that the OP used one Newcastle-Oxford ticket, but the way it was worded made me think the claim was for a separate ticket on the VTEC portion only.

 

[Mag_seven]

(alighting as far forward as possible and taking the first available train from King's Cross and if a Met turns up, alighting from the middle of the train for a Bakerloo)

Inadvisable at the moment as Bakerloo line services are not calling at Paddington.

 

[yorkie]

This seems to assume that the OP used one Newcastle-Oxford ticket, but the way it was worded made me think the claim was for a separate ticket on the VTEC portion only.

If it was a separate ticket, then I concur that a claim for a journey on the one ticket from Newcastle to London would be eligible for a 50% delay repay compensation claim.

If that was the case, any separate journey, or continuation of the same journey, to Oxford should not be mentioned. At best, it complicates matters. At worst, it may potentially be seen as invalidating the claim.

If using more than one ticket for a journey, it may be advantageous to treat it as one journey, or alternatively it may be advantageous to treat it as multiple journeys....

I posted an example 3 1/2 years ago of a theoretical York-Weymouth journey with calculation examples. One of the examples involves a 31 min delay to a York-London train, and a 61 min delay on a London - Weymouth train, however in that specific example a claim for a York-Weymouth journey would not be valid, but separate claims to the respective companies for two separate journeys could be made.

 

[misterredmist]

Further to my situation in post '3' , i am getting the 'run around' from VTEC, they now want me to send proof of payment - by post , even though I paid by my own Debit Card on their own website.

As it has taken them so long to correspond regarding the claim and that they want me to continue posting bits and pieces, I have told them to settle my claim as they advertise or I will report them to the ORR or deal with it in the 'small claims' Court.

I believe this may be an ongoing tactic to encourage passengers to give up on claims?

 

[Antman]

Further to my situation in post '3' , i am getting the 'run around' from VTEC, they now want me to send proof of payment - by post , even though I paid by my own Debit Card on their own website.

As it has taken them so long to correspond regarding the claim and that they want me to continue posting bits and pieces, I have told them to settle my claim as they advertise or I will report them to the ORR or deal with it in the 'small claims' Court.

I believe this may be an ongoing tactic to encourage passengers to give up on claims?

I don't know about VTEC but Southeastern seem to want make delay repay as difficult as possible:cry:

 

[grumblingalong]

Glad you got a happy ending

 

[AlterEgo]

Further to my situation in post '3' , i am getting the 'run around' from VTEC, they now want me to send proof of payment - by post , even though I paid by my own Debit Card on their own website.

As it has taken them so long to correspond regarding the claim and that they want me to continue posting bits and pieces, I have told them to settle my claim as they advertise or I will report them to the ORR or deal with it in the 'small claims' Court.

I believe this may be an ongoing tactic to encourage passengers to give up on claims?

Call them. Sounds like a cock-up.

Also, the ORR won't give a toss unless you've already been via Passenger Focus or London Travelwatch, so don't bother. They're a safety and economic regulator and have very little to do with resolving complaints.

A small claims court won't look kindly on you circumventing PF or LTW either.

 

[misterredmist]

Call them. Sounds like a cock-up.

Also, the ORR won't give a toss unless you've already been via Passenger Focus or London Travelwatch, so don't bother. They're a safety and economic regulator and have very little to do with resolving complaints.

A small claims court won't look kindly on you circumventing PF or LTW either.

Thanks for the advice AE - i'll give them a few days to reply to my e-mither and then I will call - I imagine they had a whole train load of DR's to deal with on this particular service so I am inclined to believe they are extracting the Michael.......

 

[thejuggler]

We were affected by the lineside fire at Retford a few weeks ago.

Our return service from London was cancelled and we ended up on a EMT service which was also delayed by about an hour due to a signal fault at Bedford.

Submitted my claim, had an e-mail requesting better copies of the tickets (I'd sent a photo, so scanned them second time) and within a week 100% refund of the ticket price.

I suspect the fire issue had such a huge impact on services that proving delays wasn't difficult.

 

[lgb2100]

If it was a separate ticket, then I concur that a claim for a journey on the one ticket from Newcastle to London would be eligible for a 50% delay repay compensation claim.

If that was the case, any separate journey, or continuation of the same journey, to Oxford should not be mentioned. At best, it complicates matters. At worst, it may potentially be seen as invalidating the claim.

If using more than one ticket for a journey, it may be advantageous to treat it as one journey, or alternatively it may be advantageous to treat it as multiple journeys....

I posted an example 3 1/2 years ago of a theoretical York-Weymouth journey with calculation examples. One of the examples involves a 31 min delay to a York-London train, and a 61 min delay on a London - Weymouth train, however in that specific example a claim for a York-Weymouth journey would not be valid, but separate claims to the respective companies for two separate journeys could be made.

In my initial claim - I only mentioned the delayed journey from Newcastle to London, which was delayed by 39 mins.

(Journey was a VTEC from Newcastle to London, Tube, train from London to Oxford)

It was only when they said I was only delayed by 18 mins, that I gave them the full journey details, on which they then decided I was delayed enough to obtain a refund.

To be told I wasn't entitled to a refund, and then to be given a full refund seems to me that they made a mistake on checking my initial query.

 

[yorkie]

In my initial claim - I only mentioned the delayed journey from Newcastle to London, which was delayed by 39 mins.

That's a straightforward 50% delay repay compensation claim, I'd have stuck to that and just tell them they made a mistake!

(Journey was a VTEC from Newcastle to London, Tube, train from London to Oxford)

It was only when they said I was only delayed by 18 mins, that I gave them the full journey details, on which they then decided I was delayed enough to obtain a refund.

Which is odd, as you almost talked them into not giving you any compensation!

To be told I wasn't entitled to a refund, and then to be given a full refund seems to me that they made a mistake on checking my initial query.

Two mistakes, the first time was not in your favour, the second one was.

If it's still done by the Plymouth based sub-contractor, it's of no surprise that mistakes were made. In fact, I am surprised if they get much right.