I had a nightmare journey last weekend, West Wales to London Paddington. Train from Haverfordwest was replaced by a bus (no announcements, had to ask why no train) and this meant we were late making the connection in Carmarthen, and then we missed the Cardiff connection so I arrived at Paddington about 90 minutes later than planned. Seat reservations were cancelled. On the return trip, a scheduled 10-coach service had only 9 coaches, so again seat reservations were cancelled and it was like a Rugby scrum with standing room only. I had to stand in the bicycle space as far as Reading. 'Passenger incident' at Reading meant a 20-minute delay, but all connections made as far as Swansea. However, the bus on the last section (C'thn to H'West) was much slower than the train and made the 20-minute delay into 40 minutes by the final destination.


Is it possible to claim for these delays? I see two problems - a) there were two train operators (Transport for Wales and GWR), so won't each blame the other for the delays? And b) I didn't keep accurate notes of all the times of arrivals and departure.


I don't travel by train often, so I am a bit ignorant of how all this works. Is a claim possible, and if so is it worth doing? I have read that the delay repay scheme refunds up to 50% of the journey cost, so at best I would be claiming about £17 per journey. (Total return cost about £70 including Senior Railcard discount.) Or should I shut up and just be grateful I got there at all?