DelayRepay for cancellations on Strike days.

123colinriley

I was unable to travel with GWR between Taunton and London on the 5th Feb 2024 because of the strike, so I travelled on the 6th. On that day I submitted a delayrepay claim for the journey booked for the 5th and stated a delay of 2 hours plus. Today I heard that the claim has been approved and I am to receive a refund equal to the full fare for the journey 

MSE_James

Take care with using the 'Delay Repay' process (which is compensation for a delay, paid by the operator) for journeys you haven't actually made (unless the company specifically tells you to use this method)

For journeys abandoned due to cancellations etc, it's usually the case you should claim a refund from the ticket vendor.

(The ticket vendor and the train operator may or may not be the same entity)

Wyndham

I think this is a bit of a grey area. The OP did travel, so a refund wouldn't be appropriate as the ticket was used. But they were significantly delayed.

Are you suggesting they took the wrong action here? @MSE_James

MSE_James

Oops - I slightly misread the OP about travelling the next day. You'd have to check what the operator says about DR eligibility in instances like this. 

But the point stands that Delay Repay is compensation to the passenger for a delay (which just happens to be paid out on a sliding scale that's aligned to the fare paid) provided by the train operator, rather than a refund paid by the vendor of the ticket to the purchaser. 

And there are circumstances where it's possible to land oneself in trouble by going down the wrong route, so it's worth being clear. And there are cases where the vendor is not the operator, and the passenger is not the purchaser, which makes things more nuanced.

mdann52

Assuming you did not attempt to travel on the 5th, you have potentially made a fraudulent claim here.

If the journey was cancelled before 10pm on the 4th February, then you cannot claim delay repay, as for the purposes of the scheme the train did not exist. From what I can see, most Taunton to Paddington trains are included in this bucket.

Ticket conditions were eased to allow usage on later dates, all you are entitled to is a refund of any unused ticket or using it on a later date.

I would strongly recommend contacting GWR to cancel or repay the delay refund compensation. If you choose to keep it, you risk the TOC investigating this (which they can and do do)