Delay Repay: Cancelled, so took an earlier train?

mike_302

How can arriving early be disruptive?

Wait at the station until your booked arrival time and then carry on your day.  No inconvenience.

 

No inconvenience? You're thinking like a computer that's been programmed with one objective: Get to a destination by a certain time. Humans have real loves outside that.

Aside from getting to my destination by a specific time, I may have had previous meetings before I planned to travel. And the destination may not be for work: it may be to return home to my family for the evening. Or it could be your holiday.

As @hwbp noted, "Clearly a case for refunds to be given in such cases. Why most people seem blind to this obvious truth is honestly quite surprising."

We get the point that delay repay policies are not currently setup to repay us for such inconveniences, but why everyone in this thread has to be so aggressively against such an ideal in future -- beyond me.

Currently, the train companies are completely unreliable. I don't trust taking a train to ANYTHING anymore -- I have to take the train, but it means, for example, I now have to plan to go to my destination the day before, if I ABSOLUTELY need to be there before 10am the next day; and I simply have to accept that my work commute could be anywhere from 45min to 2 hours. And I am based at a station with 3-4 trains to Kings Cross or St Pancras per hour...

400ixl

Simple answer and one the OP will not want to hear is that delay replay is only in place to compensate for when you are delayed in reaching your destination. They do use checks against the ticket gates or guard scanning.

If you as the passenger took action to schedule yourself onto an alternative service (even if at an inconvenience) to arrive before your scheduled time then that was a decision you made and compensation is not due under the scheme.

In the example given by the OP, there is no claim against delay repay for the journey.

TBagpuss

mike_302 said:

How can arriving early be disruptive?

Wait at the station until your booked arrival time and then carry on your day.  No inconvenience.

 

No inconvenience? You're thinking like a computer that's been programmed with one objective: Get to a destination by a certain time. Humans have real loves outside that.

Aside from getting to my destination by a specific time, I may have had previous meetings before I planned to travel. And the destination may not be for work: it may be to return home to my family for the evening. Or it could be your holiday.

As @hwbp noted, "Clearly a case for refunds to be given in such cases. Why most people seem blind to this obvious truth is honestly quite surprising."

We get the point that delay repay policies are not currently setup to repay us for such inconveniences, but why everyone in this thread has to be so aggressively against such an ideal in future -- beyond me.

Currently, the train companies are completely unreliable. I don't trust taking a train to ANYTHING anymore -- I have to take the train, but it means, for example, I now have to plan to go to my destination the day before, if I ABSOLUTELY need to be there before 10am the next day; and I simply have to accept that my work commute could be anywhere from 45min to 2 hours. And I am based at a station with 3-4 trains to Kings Cross or St Pancras per hour...

Well, in fairness, this comment is the first time you have suggested that you are asking about what the policy *should* be in future, not what is actually is, now.

And of course, in your comments about the 'what if's that might make it inconvenient to get an earlier train - you at that stage stage had a choice. You could have chosen to follow through with your earlier plans, then catch the (delayed/replacement) train and claim for the inconvenience. 

I don't think anyone is arguing that trains being delayed or cancelled doesn't cause issues, just that claiming for delay when you were not, in fact, delayed, would be fraudulent. 

elsien

The initial post was last August, just for information.
The OP probably no longer cares.

vosizneiz

How about if I was originally booked (advance ticket) on a train which then gets cancelled, so I take an earlier train, and the earlier train which I take gets delayed by over 15 minutes, but I still arrive same time as I was originally supposed to.
Do you guys think I can claim?
I suspect I can as the earlier train is now my new journey which comes with a earlier departure and earlier arrival.

daveyjp

Delay repay applies to the service you travelled on, but for a claim with an advanced ticket for a service which didn't run it may need an explanatory note or phone call if its rejected setting out details of the service which was delayed,

northlondonlynn

I have some sympathy with the OP. After visiting friends for the weekend we had planned a late lunch before our return train. Many trains were cancelled because of unplanned engineering works. Ours was one of the affected services. Our choice was between getting a later train or an earlier train. The later train would have got us home too late (we also thought it might be more crowded). The earlier train meant missing the lunch we'd planned. We opted for the earlier train. We only just managed to squeeze on the train - we were literally the last two people to board the carriage. The journey was horrible - standing room only, squashed in like a cattle truck. So yes, we got home earlier than originally planned, and delay-repay didn't apply, but getting home early didn't seem like a bonus when part of our precious weekend arangements had been spoilt!