No claim?

[Fawkes Cat]

While I've been rather disrupted today, I don't think I have any right to claim anything back (or at least, nothing that would be worth the effort). Would anyone like to advise?

The plan:

To go on a day trip from my home in the Liverpool area to my father's on the edge of Slough and back again.

The route:

A Merseyrail Northern Line station to Liverpool South Parkway to Birmingham New Street to Reading to a station in Slough and back again.

The tickets:

Northern Line station to Crewe
West Midlands Day Ranger
Leamington Spa to Banbury
Banbury to Reading
Reading to station in Slough

All off peak day returns except the day ranger.

The reality: before leaving home I found that the Liverpool South Parkway to Birmingham train had been cancelled, so I diverted to Lime Street, bought a Stafford to London ticket, and got the London train, then contactless for Euston Square to a station in Slough. Thus my outward journey used the Northern Line station to Crewe ticket and an element of the day ranger to Stafford.

Final arrival at station near Slough was seven minutes later than my original route gave.

I am assuming that the return journey will go to plan (currently on train from Reading to Brum).

Can I claim?

Compared to everything having gone to plan, I'm out of pocket by the cost of Stafford - Euston - station near Slough. But I don't see that I have a claim.

Delay Repay:
(1) My arrival at my final destination wasn't meaningfully late
(2) Even so, I didn't complete my original journey: in particular, I didn't travel out on London North Western (whose failure to run a train was the cause of having to make changes). So Delay Repay isn't an appropriate remedy

Refund:
(1) all originally planned tickets will be at least partly used ( e.g. for return journey) and so any refund could only be for the difference between a single fare and the return (so I assume a matter of pennies each - I consider this not to be worth pursuing).
(2) I did need to buy a separate Stafford to Euston ticket as I had ( in full knowledge of the limitations) split-ticketed: since my actual journey didn't take me by way of Leamington, Banbury or Reading I could not say that I was going by way of London to avoid disruption.


I don't think I have a claim. Apart from relying on the railway's goodwill, does anyone disagree?

 

[scrapy]

Agree with everything you've said you aren't entitled to delay repay as you didn't make the journey but may get a goodwill gesture.

If this happens again your West Midlands day ranger covers you to Rugby (or Northampton if train is booked that way) so you could have just bought a single from there. When combining a single ticket with a zonal ticket the train doesn't have to stop where the two tickets meet although it does have to pass through. Obviously if you managed to get an on the day advance from Stafford that was cheaper than this then buy from Stafford.

 

[AlterEgo]

I’d write in with a letter or email and just enclose all the tickets and hope for a favourable outcome. If it was me handling the claim I’d probably give some vouchers as a gesture or a comped return ticket. It’s clear you’ve been inconvenienced although you neatly fall between all the holes in the spider’s web of explicit rights in the NRCoT.

 

[30907]

Do you have a claim for Delay Repay as far as Crewe, either based on the actual arrival at Crewe or on the original route? I ask this because the Northern website, which I have most recently used, merely asks your planned journey and works on that.

PS out of interest, would your day (and your father's) have been a disaster if you had reached Slough an hour later than planned?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

PS out of interest, would your day (and your father's) have been a disaster if you had reached Slough an hour later than planned?

I did consider that - and decided promptness was more important than a train fare.