LNER delay repay clarification:

[rm219]

Hi all,

Looking for a little clarification on whether Delay Repay would apply for my journey last night. LNER's tool seems to be implying no, but know this community are very good at clarifying matters (including when/if automated tools go a bit awry)

Was travelling back from London KX to Glasgow last night with a change at Waverley.

Scheduled times were Waverley arrival at 22:40, connection to queen st at 23:00 for a 23:48 arrival with a view to getting connecting bus home at quarter past midnight.

As it panned out, the LNER service didn't arrive into Waverley until 23:01, meaning my connecting service didn't get me into Glasgow until 00:17: just on the right side of LNER's delay repay cutoff, but still too late for my onward travel. However, as the onward travel was a local bus service, there's no booking etc.

My understanding of delay repay is that it cares about your final destination, however I'm totally unfamiliar of how (or if!) that plays with connections to local services which aren't under the railway umbrella.

I *suspect* the answer is no. My suspicion is also that if I had booked the journey as KGX to my local station instead, it'd maybe have been a different story as the delay meant there were zero connecting train services.

Any clarification'd be greatly appreciated, and like I said, this is very much being asked more in hope than expectation!

 

[bcarmicle]

My understanding of delay repay is that it cares about your final destination, however I'm totally unfamiliar of how (or if!) that plays with connections to local services which aren't under the railway umbrella.

If your bus ticket were sold as a through rail connection, then it would count; otherwise, it would not. (I believe PlusBus would also not count.)

 

[speedy1]

My suspicion is also that if I had booked the journey as KGX to my local station instead, it'd maybe have been a different story as the delay meant there were zero connecting train services.

Yes it likely would have. You would have been able to ask them to pay for a taxi to your final destination instead of a bus and also possibly delay repay. Worth looking at for the future (where the station is legitimately your destination).

 

[Watershed]

Delay Repay is generally only applicable to the rail portion of your journey. Any delays or missed connections incurred on connecting local buses etc. are outside its scope.

Now don't get me wrong, it's one of the many ways we are rubbish at doing integrated public transport in this country, but unfortunately you won't get very far claiming Delay Repay with LNER in this case.

 

[rm219]

Thanks for the confirmation both. I suspected as such (and agreed on the rubbish public transport integration!)

I generally don't book from/to my local station on account of it generally being a bit pants with rail connections even outside of a Sunday service when compared to the buses. That may change for future bookings with that in mind though!

 

[Amaranthe]

You were actually quite unlucky there as the Scotrail service arrived into Queen Street early. The scheduled arrival time was 00:19.