Delay repay help

Olga_da_Polga

Hi all, long time lurker in need of some MSE help please.


I travelled by train from Edinburgh to Oxford last month and arrived just over an hour late (62 minutes!) due to missing my connection in Newcastle. My first train with LNER from Edinburgh was 14 minutes late departing because of signal problems in the Waverley tunnel and it didn't make up enough time for me to catch my 11 minute connection with Cross Country for the second leg to Oxford .


I caught the next available train, also with Cross Country, which was an hour later than my ticketed one, and it arrived 2 minutes late on its own timetable...hence 62 minutes late overall.



I put in my delay repay claim with LNER as instructed by staff at Newcastle, but I've now had an email saying "XC are responsible for your experience" and my details have been forwarded to them.



I thought LNER were responsible for my delay - after all it was their train that was late and caused me to miss my connection! Have I got this wrong?



(I actually bought my whole ticket through Virgin, just to involve a 3rd company).

daveyjp

I have just done a delay repay through LNER and it was accepted in less than 12 hours, however it was a straightforward LNER service which was delayed 45 minutes.

Where there are changes required the LNER online delay repay form is severely lacking as it does not allow you to give full details of the journey legs.

I would email LNER with your full journey details and your delay repay reference and get them to reconsider with the full facts in front of them.

yorkie2

Olga_da_Polga wrote: »

Hi all, long time lurker in need of some MSE help please.


I travelled by train from Edinburgh to Oxford last month and arrived just over an hour late (62 minutes!) due to missing my connection in Newcastle. My first train with LNER from Edinburgh was 14 minutes late departing because of signal problems in the Waverley tunnel and it didn't make up enough time for me to catch my 11 minute connection with Cross Country for the second leg to Oxford .


I caught the next available train, also with Cross Country, which was an hour later than my ticketed one, and it arrived 2 minutes late on its own timetable...hence 62 minutes late overall.



I put in my delay repay claim with LNER as instructed by staff at Newcastle, but I've now had an email saying "XC are responsible for your experience" and my details have been forwarded to them.



I thought LNER were responsible for my delay - after all it was their train that was late and caused me to miss my connection! Have I got this wrong?



(I actually bought my whole ticket through Virgin, just to involve a 3rd company).

LNER are liable to pay 100% delay repay compensation.

However LNER are useless at dealing with this sort of request. You could try chasing them but if I were you I would forward their response to mike.ross@lner.co.uk stating that you are unhappy with the inaccurate information the LNER customer service department have provided.


You could also escalate the matter to the Rail Ombudsman ( https://www.railombudsman.org/making-a-complaint/start-a-complaint/ ) however Mike Ross may be able to resolve it without having to go down the Ombudsman route.



Mike Ross is head of customer service, and the only one in the department who seems to actually understand the issues!


The fact is that had LNER been on time, you would not have missed your connection. It is irrelevant whether other trains became further delayed and/or other connections were missed; LNER are liable, not XC.

Olga_da_Polga

I thought I'd return and give an update...I sent an email to LNER as suggested citing the details and insisting they were responsible. Lo and behold I got an email today asking me to enter my bank account details to get repayment.


It turns out LNER have (poorly) implemented a new repayment system where the customer enters their bank details instead of providing them in the claim. Only the link they sent me didn't work! After half an hour on the phone to Customer Services I got a new working link and they have my details. I now await the money - wonder if it will be delayed too?!