Northern forcing through the wrong Delay Repay amount - how to get this fixed?

[jasonwills]

I travelled from Cross Gates to York on the 19th September on an Advance Single. I set off at 18:22, and should have arrived at Edinburgh at 21:25. I eventually arrived at Edinburgh at 22:26.

The original itinerary was:

1. 18:22 Cross Gates to York (2T27), https://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk/Home/Service?ServiceId=137275589 (to arrive York 18:49, actual arrival 19:10, 21min late)
2. 18:57 York to Edinburgh (1S26), https://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk/Home/Service?ServiceId=137273396 -- scheduled final arrival time 21:25

As the 18:22 was delayed 21 minutes to York, I missed my train to Edinburgh.
The next service for which my ticket was valid (route validity "LNER & Connections") was the LNER 19:31 (1S27), which was delayed arriving at York but made time up, and arrived in Edinburgh at 22:26.

I claimed with Northern right after I got back from Edinburgh.

On Monday morning (13th) they replied by email, offering a refund of 50% of the ticket price.
This seems like rubbish -- going by their own website the total delay is what mattered, and that's 61 minutes.
I tried to appeal the obvious error on the website, and instead got an error screen saying: "you cannot appeal a claim which is currently in progress".
So I sent an email to the complaints email address on the website, complaints@northernrailway.co.uk, with the Delay Repay claim number, all the details above, and the link to the pages on their own website. I figured it'd be quick and easy to fix.

This morning I've had an email saying the payment has been pushed through for the 50% refund and the matter is closed.

I called them on their 0800 number -- here's how that call went, with the clerk's words in quotes (from my notes of the call) and mine in brackets.

• "Northern is only responsible for the initial delay on our service, which was twenty minutes"
  (your website says it's the final arrival time that matters, and the total delay is that less the original scheduled arrival time)
  
  
• "You bought the two tickets separately so we're only responsible for the first delay"
  (no, it's a single Advance Single from Cross Gates to Edinburgh, bought from LNER, with an LNER-provided itinerary)
  
  
• "The connection at York was too short - and this service is usually late anyway"
  (the Northern timetable leaflet says 8 minutes minimum at York, the itinerary was given by another TOC, and that condition was met. And how am I supposed to know that train is 'usually late' when that isn't published on the TOC's websites?)
  
  
• "What matters is the 21 minute delay plus the 18 minute delay on the LNER train, so it's still only 39 minutes."
  (no, the arrival time is what matters, that's what your website says)
  
  
• "Okay I've escalated it and you'll be pleased to hear you'll get a full refund"
  (thank you for sorting that out)

I've just now had an email saying a new claim was opened while I was on the phone, and two minutes later another that it's been automatically rejected because it's a duplicate claim.

Does anyone know how to get through to someone at Northern who knows what they're doing and can fix this obvious error?
It seems like they're only factoring in the first service, not that their delay meant the LNER train I was due to change onto had left York while I was still sat on the Northern train just outside York station.

Or am I wrong about Delay Repay when I need to get a local train to connect to an intercity?

Thanks!

 

[ainsworth74]

Nono you're right on the money (and to be clear it wouldn't matter even if you had split your advances at York). This has very wrong (assuming you put in the whole journey on the Northern delay repay website to begin with?) and can probably be traced back to whatever went wrong when you tried to appeal the first decision. I reckon appealing the second decision will likely struggle to get you anywhere (as usually you cannot put in anything in free text allowing to explain why you've got a second claim) but is probably worth a punt.

The only other thing I would suggest is calling them back and hopefully getting to speak to someone who actually knows what they're doing. They do exist within the Northern customer service centre but it can be a real game of chance whether you get to speak to someone who knows their stuff of or not.

Separately I'd continue with your complaint, though I reckon I've had six complaints now about (unrelated to your issue) delay repay issues and they continue to reoccur from time to time (I reckon as staff turn over occurs so those that learned how to deal with my issue, move on and the next tranche don't until a complaint gets them trained properly) so whilst it might fix your issue it is not likely to lead to a wider improvement. On the plus side in my experience once your complaint is actually being dealt with (rather than being in queue) they're very quick to reply to emails. You will likely therefore be able to explain exactly what's going on much more easily.

 

[JBuchananGB]

A year ago I submitted a DR claim to Northern when they cancelled the last train of the day from Wigan Wallgate to Southport (due Southport 23.57). The trip was two people with Two Together Railcard from London Euston to Southport. Northern ran a bus which reached Southport about 01.30. I submitted a claim for £72.95, i.e. 100% of the value of the tickets for that journey.
The original DR claim was calculated incorrectly. They paid the incorrect amount £18.24. I then raised them matter with their complaints team and eventually they coughed up the balance of £54.71 using a strange payment method into my bank account. So I recommend that you persevere.

 

[furlong]

Take a read of https://busandtrainuser.com/2025/10/14/behind-the-scenes-at-northerns-customer-contact-centre/ and maybe add that list of excuses to the comments on the article!

 

[Hadders]

I suggest logging a complaint with Northern, quote Page 13 of their Passenger Charter that states:

https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/sites/default/files/2022-11/Passengers%27%20Charter%20booklet%202022%20FINAL.pdf

If you have a combination of tickets for your journey, we will compensate you for your whole journey.