Northern Complimentary Ticket Delay Repay Question

[gray1404]

Am I likely to have problems claiming dealy repay with Northern on a complimentary ticket. On the return journey the last Northern leg was cancelled. The next service was an hour later and arrived in Liverpool 57 minutes late. However my Uncle who live near St Helens Central had invited me for dinner as I hadn't seen him in a while and was passing through and he gave me a lift home so I finished my journey short there and the next train arrived there exactly 60 minutes late.

Of course this makes the difference between getting a free single or return as compensation. If I enter St Helens Central as the destination on the delay repay form, am I likely to have problems when Liverpool Lime Street is the destination on the ticket (which is where I started my journey from earlier on that day)?

Or is this one maybe to explain to customer services rather then delay repay?

 

[ainsworth74]

Of course this makes the difference between getting a free single or return as compensation.

You're only entitled for compensation when using a complimentary ticket if you're delayed by at least 60 minutes, in which case Northern will issue replacement ticket:

** Please note customers travelling using a complimentary ticket who suffer a delay of 60 minutes or more will be provided with a replacement complimentary ticket**

https://help.northernrailway.co.uk/s/article/Delay-Repay

On the return journey the last Northern leg was cancelled. The next service was an hour later and arrived in Liverpool 57 minutes late. However my Uncle who live near St Helens Central had invited me for dinner as I hadn't seen him in a while and was passing through and he gave me a lift home so I finished my journey short there and the next train arrived there exactly 60 minutes late.

What was your actual delay? It sounds like you abandoned your journey rather than being delayed?

 

[gray1404]

You're only entitled for compensation when using a complimentary ticket if you're delayed by at least 60 minutes, in which case Northern will issue replacement ticket:

https://help.northernrailway.co.uk/s/article/Delay-Repay

What was your actual delay? It sounds like you abandoned your journey rather than being delayed?

I finished my return journey short arriving an hour later then I would have due to the cancellation of the previous train. It was not abandoned due to disruption.

 

[Starmill]

I think we have to be honest here. They'll most likely assume you've retrospectively invented some need to finish short, in order to make it appear as though you were delayed by just long enough as to have a valid claim for another free ticket after you realised that you didn't owing only to the very slight difference in running times putting your delay just short of an hour.

Only you can know if it's worthwhile for you to spend the time and energy necessary to make your claim in those circumstances. Obviously there is a slight chance that they do accept your claim as valid in the first instance, but if I were you, I would discount that possibility and assume if you claim you'll need to defend your position.

 

[gray1404]

I think we have to be honest here. They'll most likely assume you've retrospectively invented some need to finish short, in order to make it appear as though you were delayed by just long enough as to have a valid claim for another free ticket after you realised that you didn't owing only to the very slight difference in running times putting your delay just short of an hour.

Only you can know if it's worthwhile for you to spend the time and energy necessary to make your claim in those circumstances. Obviously there is a slight chance that they do accept your claim as valid in the first instance, but if I were you, I would discount that possibility and assume if you claim you'll need to defend your position.

I know my claim would be totally legitimate. I visited my uncle for dinner and he gave me a lift home. However I accept it's not a straightforward claim for you the finishing short. And given it's already a free ticket the last thing anyone wants is to come up on their radar, particularly if they are suspicious minded anyway, when there is no money at stake.

I suppose I could request station CCTV that would show me getting off the train and walking through the ticket office but that's a lot of effort to goto over a small claim.

 

[Starmill]

I know my claim would be totally legitimate. I visited my uncle for dinner and he gave me a lift home. However I accept it's not a straightforward claim for you the finishing short. And given it's already a free ticket the last thing anyone wants is to come up on their radar, particularly if they are suspicious minded anyway, when there is no money at stake.

I suppose I could request station CCTV that would show me getting off the train and walking through the ticket office but that's a lot of effort to goto over a small claim.

The CCTV would be good evidence but it would be difficult to get. It may already be too late. I suspect it wouldn't come to that, but like I said I don't doubt personally the veracity of your claim, it's just that it's not me who needs to be convinced.

 

[Belperpete]

If you intended to finish your journey short, and the ticket allowed it, then you are definitely entitled to claim for the delay in arriving at your intended finish station. I really don't see why someone wouldn't claim in that situation.

There is always the possibility with any claim that it might be rejected for spurious reasons (there is a long thread on here of such cases). However, the possibility that a valid claim might be rejected really isn't a reason not to put in a claim, and I don't see why anyone would suggest it should be. If everyone thought that way, nobody would ever put in any claim. If you don't claim, you won't get.

Don't overthink this. The starting point is surely just to put in the claim. If they accept it, then job done. If they reject it, only then do you need to start thinking about additional explanation, requesting CCTV and the like. I would suggest that starting off by writing to customer services is only going to highlight your claim, and make them consider it in more detail than it warrants.

The only caveat I would make is to check online that your train was recorded as 60 minutes late arriving in St Helens. How late you think it was, and how late it was recorded as, might be different. I understand some do their own calculation, and may show a different time to that recorded officially.

 

[Starmill]

If they reject it, only then do you need to start thinking about additional explanation, requesting CCTV and the like.

There would be no point in requesting the CCTV by then - it would no longer be available. Generally if you do want the CCTV you need to request it straight away and even then they often won't be able to get it. But I don't think it should be necessary to go quite to that level for this.

If it had been me I would have simply put the claim in, but the op went to the trouble of writing the thread to ask.

 

[gray1404]

If you intended to finish your journey short, and the ticket allowed it, then you are definitely entitled to claim for the delay in arriving at your intended finish station. I really don't see why someone wouldn't claim in that situation.

There is always the possibility with any claim that it might be rejected for spurious reasons (there is a long thread on here of such cases). However, the possibility that a valid claim might be rejected really isn't a reason not to put in a claim, and I don't see why anyone would suggest it should be. If everyone thought that way, nobody would ever put in any claim. If you don't claim, you won't get.

Don't overthink this. The starting point is surely just to put in the claim. If they accept it, then job done. If they reject it, only then do you need to start thinking about additional explanation, requesting CCTV and the like. I would suggest that starting off by writing to customer services is only going to highlight your claim, and make them consider it in more detail than it warrants.

The only caveat I would make is to check online that your train was recorded as 60 minutes late arriving in St Helens. How late you think it was, and how late it was recorded as, might be different. I understand some do their own calculation, and may show a different time to that recorded officially.

Claim submitted using regular delay repay form and approved. I put the actual journey made and intended departures with the finishing short station as the destination and it went through no problem. 2 week processing time.

Now let's if the claim of my friend I was travelling with (on same type of ticket) goes through smoothly too. He submitted his claim about 10 days after me.