Train delay refund question 14 November 2021 at 5:57PM in Public transport & cycling 4 replies 134 views

salesman1979

After 10 months of driving from Liverpool to Solihull and back twice every other weekend (to pick up my kids) I finally decided to try the train as an alternative to 13-14 hours on the M6 over the course of the weekend. 

It’s gone fairly well. 27 minute delay heading back on Friday evening and today a 25 minute delay getting to Birmingham International. 

I bought myself a return from Liverpool to Birmingham (going out Friday and returning Sunday) and then using a family and friends railcard, me and the kids a return from Birmingham to Liverpool (going out Friday and returning Sunday). 

My 5 person Birmingham to Liverpool was delayed on Friday so I’ll claim for that. The return leg of that same ticket is delayed now by roughly 25 minutes. Do I make a second claim against this ticket?

This delay will also cause me to miss my intended train back to Liverpool. If it arrives at 6:03, I’m due on the 6:09 but I have to take the kids outside for mum to pick them up. There’s no way I’ll manage that and get back in and onto the train in 6 minutes. Would this warrant a claim against my single person ticket or is it just bad luck?

daveyjp

You claim for each leg which is delayed.

If a delay leads to a missed connection you can catch the next available service to your destination and claim delay repay.

prowla

Ah - the train delays game of whack-a-mole.

salesman1979

daveyjp said:

You claim for each leg which is delayed.

If a delay leads to a missed connection you can catch the next available service to your destination and claim delay repay.

Thanks. So I bought via Trainline but I claim through the operator I was travelling with right? So Avanti West Coast for Fridays delay. And West Midlands trains for today?

Is it two separate claims to West Mids as it was two separate journeys on different tickets?

jbuchanangb

Delay repay is not based on legs of journeys, it is based on end to end journeys. The length of the delay is however many minutes you reached your destination station, based on presenting yourself at your origin station enough time before the train was due to leave, so as to be able to catch it. (You can't claim if you were delayed in a taxi on the way to the station to catch the train , and missed the intended train, for example.) The claim should be submitted to the train company whose train was delayed, which therefore caused the eventual late arrival at the destination. The claim is based on the cost of the end to end journey.

If your 5 person trip Birmingham to Liverpool, delayed by 27 minutes was with Avanti, you are entitled to 12.5% of what you paid for the return ticket of which the trip was the outward part. Similarly for your 5 person trip from Liverpool to Birmingham, delayed 25 minutes by London Northwestern Railway, you are entitled to 12.5% of the cost of the return ticket.

Yes you need to submit one claim for each delay, to the train company whose train was delayed.

I cannot see the London Northwestern Railway accepting a claim for the problem of missing the connection back to Liverpool. If you had been connecting to another train to travel onwards, e.g. to Bristol, and missed that connection, a claim would be OK, but an immediate trip in reverse of the one which was delayed is not likely to succeed.