How does (Avanti) Delay Repay work?

[eoff]

Have just put in a delay repay claim for a journey yesterday following chaos near Crew and Oxenholme.

Intended Journey was (9/11/2025)
1020 Liverpool Lime St to Warrington Central -> walk -> Warrington Bank Quay for 1128 to Edinburgh then 1433 to Prestonpans arriving 1447.

Avanti trains stuck before Crewe and the options to get to Edinburgh vanished as time went on and trains arrived very late or destinations were cancelled from Preston. We were kept informed of what to do from the Avanti staff on platform 3 at Warrington Bank Quay. In the end I was only left with the option of the 1327? service to Edinburgh and got to Prestonpans at 1752.
The Avanti service was crammed with people standing or sitting in vestibules from Preston.

But the delay repay site asks me nothing about this, my booked trains, my experience etc., only my intended journey.

How do they work out what I ended up doing?

 

[Haywain]

How do they work out what I ended up doing?

They don’t need to, they only need to agree that your were delayed by the relevant amount of time.

 

[Bletchleyite]

They don't work out what you ended up doing. They just work out what the quickest itinerary your ticket was valid on from the point it went wrong would be and compensate you based on that. It appears to me that (for all of the FirstGroup TOCs) they treat any connection which went below the minimum connection time threshold as having been missed in working this out (and yes, it's happened yet again recently that I got more compensation than requested due to me making a connection they think I didn't make - I still don't understand why the software doesn't award the lesser of what you asked for and what they think you are due!)

 

[eoff]

But how do they do that? Is there some industtry tool to work that out based on actual train times?
I could have...
* Gone to Preston and tried to get a train from there
* Gone to Glasgow and back to Edinbugh on the way.

But as time went by (and various trains were cancelled or stopped short at Preston) I could not see any options that were faster.
But that does not mean that there was not another possibility, the Avanti staff didn't think so either when I checked in with them from time to time.

[Edit-] Note that part of my delay was because the train I did get ran late as it was following a late Glasgow one so I missed the connection at Edinburgh that could have got me back earlier.

 

[Bletchleyite]

But how do they do that? Is there some industtry tool to work that out based on actual train times?

I'd imagine so, yes.

I could have...
* Gone to Preston and tried to get a train from there
* Gone to Glasgow and back to Edinbugh on the way.

It doesn't overly matter what you actually did, you'd be compensated on the quickest way you could have done it within your ticket validity. You'd then need to appeal if you didn't think it was fair, e.g. if what they thought you might have done wasn't possible because you couldn't board due to overcrowding, for instance. If you choose to do something a fair bit slower (e.g. to board the second train out in disruption as it's quieter) you don't get more compensation for having done so.

If you used an e-ticket they can presumably access the scan history to get an idea of what you actually did, but I doubt that is heavily used aside from random fraud detection (i.e. checking you aren't lying about being delayed) as certainly in cases where I've been overcompensated I've been scanned on the trains I was actually on and so they would have had the option to see that a higher amount wasn't due, in combination with me only having selected the lower delay time.

 

[Haywain]

I could have...
* Gone to Preston and tried to get a train from there
* Gone to Glasgow and back to Edinbugh on the way.

Does that matter though? Do they need to know whether you were delayed by 120 minutes or 200 if it makes no difference to your compensation?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Didn't the 1128 Avanti service from Warrington Bank Quay (up to Edinburgh Waverley) on 09NOV2025, still run yesterday, albeit ~40 minutes late, or is RealTimeTrains maybe hallucinating?

Realtime Trains | 0748 London Euston to Edinburgh | 09/11/2025

Real-time train running information for 0748 departure from London Euston to Edinburgh on 09/11/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[eoff]

Now I'm even more annoyed if that is true.
The journey planners at the time said that all destinations were cancelled from Preston and the Warrington Bank Quay staff told us not to get that train but to wait for the next one as we would end up on that service anyway.

 

[JBuchananGB]

I recently claimed DR from Avanti for trip from Coventry to Southport. I just entered the intended itinerary, scanned images of the ticket including reservation on specific train, stated 60-119 minutes delay, and was compensated for the full fare very promptly. I hope that it works that well for you.

 

[eoff]

I managed to phone Avanti to update the case (but ended up appealing their initial determination which was a shorter delay).
Waiting to hear from them now.

Lesson for next time if needed is to take a screenshot of the app showing cancelled stops.
At least I was able to find a seat on the Avanti train, others were not so lucky.