SWR Delay Repay

[Hadders]

Had a bizarre issue with a delay repay claim from Shanklin to Stevenage.

Train from Shanklin was delayed causing an overall delay to my arrival time. Made a delay repay claim to SWR who have rejected the claim because the delay was caused by Island Line. They have kindly forwarded my claim to Island Line.

I now have a new claim reference number for this claim from SWR who do of course operate Island Line.

Anyone have any idea why the hell they do this sort of stuff. It seems absolutely crazy to me….

 

[Class800]

delaying tactics - to make passengers give up?

 

[Nova1]

I've had a similar game with WMR and LNWR. LNWR were delayed making me miss my connection onto a WMR service, and they denied it and directed me towards WMR.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Don't get it. Isn't the Island Line a brand of South Western Railway, and if you apply for Delay Repay, it'll be routed through the latter's website.

 

[Haywain]

Don't get it. Isn't the Island Line a brand of South Western Railway, and if you apply for Delay Repay, it'll be routed through the latter's website.

I have a feeling it's a seperate business unit, but someone like @bb21 might be able to enlighten us.

 

[bb21]

I have a feeling it's a seperate business unit, but someone like @bb21 might be able to enlighten us.

That is correct. Island Line had always processed their own delay claims prior to the recent upgrade as historically no one else had full access to their data on individual delays, nor were they correct in open source data feeds. Everything was done manually.

Not sure whether anything changed since the upgrade, but wouldn't surprise me if the setup continued for the time being.

 

[Hadders]

Update. The claim has now been approved, a cheque is apparently on it's way.

Island Line no longer has a separate website, it isn't a separate train operating company, it's just a brand of SWR. I claimed delay repay from SWR and received the usual acknowledgment. A few days later a rejection telling me that the delay was caused by another train operating company (Island Line Limited) and that my claim would be forwarded to them.

At the same time I received another delay repay reference from SWR (identical branding to the original claim) which has now been approved. Checking back I claimed delay repay from SWR following a delay on the Island in November 2019 which was paid first time with no rejection or forwarding to themselves!

The whole thing just seems so weird.

 

[swt_passenger]

Update. The claim has now been approved, a cheque is apparently on it's way.

Island Line no longer has a separate website, it isn't a separate train operating company, it's just a brand of SWR. I claimed delay repay from SWR and received the usual acknowledgment. A few days later a rejection telling me that the delay was caused by another train operating company (Island Line Limited) and that my claim would be forwarded to them.

At the same time I received another delay repay reference from SWR (identical branding to the original claim) which has now been approved. Checking back I claimed delay repay from SWR following a delay on the Island in November 2019 which was paid first time with no rejection or forwarding to themselves!

The whole thing just seems so weird.

Perhaps someone just got back to the office after 3 years on leave working elsewhere in the company…

 

[AlterEgo]

Update. The claim has now been approved, a cheque is apparently on it's way.

Island Line no longer has a separate website, it isn't a separate train operating company, it's just a brand of SWR. I claimed delay repay from SWR and received the usual acknowledgment. A few days later a rejection telling me that the delay was caused by another train operating company (Island Line Limited) and that my claim would be forwarded to them.

At the same time I received another delay repay reference from SWR (identical branding to the original claim) which has now been approved. Checking back I claimed delay repay from SWR following a delay on the Island in November 2019 which was paid first time with no rejection or forwarding to themselves!

The whole thing just seems so weird.

A bit bizarre. Probably some "grandfather rights" thing. How do you even make a claim with "Island Line" in the first place if they've no website?

 

[Haywain]

A bit bizarre. Probably some "grandfather rights" thing. How do you even make a claim with "Island Line" in the first place if they've no website?

I would imagine the number of claims is tiny.

 

[MotCO]

I would imagine the number of claims is tiny.

If the claim was purely for Island Line, I would imagine that that was the case. The journey from end to end is less than 30 minutes, so to be delayed by 15 minutes or more is probably quite unusual unless it was a breakdown.

 

[hermit]

I would imagine the number of claims is tiny.

Not if you miss the ferry! Minimum hour‘s delay.

 

[Haywain]

Not if you miss the ferry! Minimum hour‘s delay.

How often does that happen, and how many people are delayed? The trains generally don't carry vast numbers of people, as far as I am aware.

 

[hermit]

My point was that even a sub-threshold delay on the island can easily result in a substantial claim for the overall journey. Happily so far the new trains seem to be keeping to time ok, so it won’t arise very often.
Admittedly it’s more common in the other direction -at one time evening peak trains from Waterloo could almost always be relied on to miss the ferry, but those claims would be for SWR to meet.

 

[Haywain]

My point was that even a sub-threshold delay on the island can easily result in a substantial claim for the overall journey. Happily so far the new trains seem to be keeping to time ok, so it won’t arise very often.
Admittedly it’s more common in the other direction -at one time evening peak trains from Waterloo could almost always be relied on to miss the ferry, but those claims would be for SWR to meet.

And my point was that passenger numbers are that low that the number of claims received by Island Line in the event of delays will be very small - small enough that having a website and automated systems to handle the claims are unnecessary. The fact that some claims might be for larger amounts doesn't affect the volume.