Trains... Delay Repay...
Discussion
I had the misfortune to suffer an Avanti West Coast journey today. Besides it being expensive and having woefully slow internet connectivity, we had 3 separate delays between London and Manchester, including a failure on the train, a mistake by a despatcher resulting in needing a new despatcher and finally a slow crawl into Stockport due to reported persons on the track...
The train manager (called Colin), who we heard from frequently, with a particularly good delivery of "Welcome to the incredibly late running service" was very insistent that we should all claim delay repay, even going as far as saying the moneys better in your account than Avanti's.
Now I'm quite happy to claim, but I'm sure my employer would prefer me to not go to such lengths to persuade someone to claim. And it's not just Aventi who do this - LNER are similarly enthusiastic...
I'm now curious as to who pays this - does somebody work out who is at fault - and what happens with 3 separate delays if so? Does Network Rail foot the bill?
The train manager (called Colin), who we heard from frequently, with a particularly good delivery of "Welcome to the incredibly late running service" was very insistent that we should all claim delay repay, even going as far as saying the moneys better in your account than Avanti's.
Now I'm quite happy to claim, but I'm sure my employer would prefer me to not go to such lengths to persuade someone to claim. And it's not just Aventi who do this - LNER are similarly enthusiastic...
I'm now curious as to who pays this - does somebody work out who is at fault - and what happens with 3 separate delays if so? Does Network Rail foot the bill?
I've claimed it several times.
Would it be too cynical to say we all pay for it, they add the loss to the next fare rise.
Happy Colin is on all my delayed trains too.
On a recent southbound trip from Derby to London, "Colin" was happy to blame the late-running train in front of us, which of course was from a different train company.
Would it be too cynical to say we all pay for it, they add the loss to the next fare rise.
Happy Colin is on all my delayed trains too.
On a recent southbound trip from Derby to London, "Colin" was happy to blame the late-running train in front of us, which of course was from a different train company.
Avanti would need to pay for the first two of those delays, the third would be Network Rail (ie the taxpayer) with LNER the taxpayer pays regardless unless they can pin the delay on Hull Trains, Lumo, Grand Central, a freight operator or one of the few remaining non-nationalised train companies.
As to your question about does someone work out who s at fault the train companies and Network Rail have entire teams of delay attribution clerks.
As to your question about does someone work out who s at fault the train companies and Network Rail have entire teams of delay attribution clerks.
surveyor said:
I had the misfortune to suffer an Avanti West Coast journey today. Besides it being expensive and having woefully slow internet connectivity, we had 3 separate delays between London and Manchester, including a failure on the train, a mistake by a despatcher resulting in needing a new despatcher and finally a slow crawl into Stockport due to reported persons on the track...
The train manager (called Colin), who we heard from frequently, with a particularly good delivery of "Welcome to the incredibly late running service" was very insistent that we should all claim delay repay, even going as far as saying the moneys better in your account than Avanti's.
Now I'm quite happy to claim, but I'm sure my employer would prefer me to not go to such lengths to persuade someone to claim. And it's not just Aventi who do this - LNER are similarly enthusiastic...
I'm now curious as to who pays this - does somebody work out who is at fault - and what happens with 3 separate delays if so? Does Network Rail foot the bill?
I think you will find they are required to make such announcements on delayed trains and Colin is not in fear of losing his job. The train manager (called Colin), who we heard from frequently, with a particularly good delivery of "Welcome to the incredibly late running service" was very insistent that we should all claim delay repay, even going as far as saying the moneys better in your account than Avanti's.
Now I'm quite happy to claim, but I'm sure my employer would prefer me to not go to such lengths to persuade someone to claim. And it's not just Aventi who do this - LNER are similarly enthusiastic...
I'm now curious as to who pays this - does somebody work out who is at fault - and what happens with 3 separate delays if so? Does Network Rail foot the bill?
Some Government ruling to make us feel better about our crumbling country lol.
Claimed a few times, actually quite handy booking your own tickets for work travel, expenses for the fare, bonus for the delay lol. Especially doing a job on a price, it is my hours that are extended.
Who pays? Eventually all of us one way or another, it won,t be the CEO or the shareholders, even Colin probably contributes.
alangla said:
Avanti would need to pay for the first two of those delays, the third would be Network Rail (ie the taxpayer) with LNER the taxpayer pays regardless unless they can pin the delay on Hull Trains, Lumo, Grand Central, a freight operator or one of the few remaining non-nationalised train companies.
As to your question about does someone work out who s at fault the train companies and Network Rail have entire teams of delay attribution clerks.
All of which explains why the trains don't work properly, as revenue is spent on staff to refund customers and resolve disputes when it should be spent on making them work better. Just like the roads, it's a proliferation of bureaucratic quicksand that's bringing the country down. As to your question about does someone work out who s at fault the train companies and Network Rail have entire teams of delay attribution clerks.
Anyway, wasn't Labour was going to renationalise the railways? It's one of the few instances where I think it might be justified - but in theory only as they can't run a bath let alone a railway.
Simpo Two said:
Anyway, wasn't Labour was going to renationalise the railways?
They slowly are, in accordance with this timeframe (further info: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/when-will-my-...
I've made a number of delay repay claims lately complete with all the built in sludge to try and put you off. Most of my claims are from CrossCountry, whose app is great for taking money off you but can you also process delay repay through it? Of course not. Plus they're one of the operators where the system only kicks after a 30min delay and I've had a few trains lately that have run a suspicious 29 mins late.
My other claims have been with GWR, who publish an easy to view list of the cost of delay repay claims per month which, iirc, is about £2 million a month in their case. On the upside GWR delay repay triggers after 15 mins, but their special bit of sludge is that you have to have a sperate delay repay account to the one you brought the ticket with.
Most of the big companies I've worked for book company train tickets through an intermediary for some weird reason and as such, refuse to process delay repay claims, instead saying I can claim it myself. Given my tickets to London cost over £200 it's a fair slice of free money, but in the interests of cosmic karma when i have made a successful claim for that much I've given it to charity.
alangla said:
Avanti would need to pay for the first two of those delays, the third would be Network Rail (ie the taxpayer) with LNER the taxpayer pays regardless unless they can pin the delay on Hull Trains, Lumo, Grand Central, a freight operator or one of the few remaining non-nationalised train companies.
As to your question about does someone work out who s at fault the train companies and Network Rail have entire teams of delay attribution clerks.
Yep. It starts with a delay slip in your pigeon hole as why you were X minutes late at Y location.As to your question about does someone work out who s at fault the train companies and Network Rail have entire teams of delay attribution clerks.
Big numbers involved if you block a mainline for a significant amount of time from what I've heard.
It's actually quite rare for a train to be delayed more than 15 mins in my neck of the woods. Much more likely to be actually cancelled.
Considering I'm on between 4 and 8 journeys a day I'd be surprised if I'm delayed more than 15 mins more than 4 times a year.
I've only been delayed more than an hour twice in the last 5 years.
Considering I'm on between 4 and 8 journeys a day I'd be surprised if I'm delayed more than 15 mins more than 4 times a year.
I've only been delayed more than an hour twice in the last 5 years.
If National Highways adopted the same policy for the roads we'd all be millionaires!
My point really about all this compensation is that, ultimately, it makes things worse not better. Thames Water, already bankrupt, get fined billions - money that could have been spent making the water supply better rather than going to the Treasury. The millstone is all the layers of different companies, management and profit.
Shall we just hire the Swiss to run the railways and the French to run the roads?
My point really about all this compensation is that, ultimately, it makes things worse not better. Thames Water, already bankrupt, get fined billions - money that could have been spent making the water supply better rather than going to the Treasury. The millstone is all the layers of different companies, management and profit.
Shall we just hire the Swiss to run the railways and the French to run the roads?
Evanivitch said:
There's no compensation when they provide half a train and all reservations have been cleared....
Which train company? You should get some compensation if you ve got a seat reservation but you have to stand Evanivitch said:
I have some sympathy for the operators, as it's not always their fault. Like the current issues due to signalling that has delayed me....
I wouldn’t. That delay will fall on Network Rail who will pay the train company far more than the Delay Repay they’ll be handing out.alangla said:
Evanivitch said:
There's no compensation when they provide half a train and all reservations have been cleared....
Which train company? You should get some compensation if you ve got a seat reservation but you have to stand Evanivitch said:
GWR, I didn't have to stand as I was one of the earlier joiners, but later down the line it got quite busy.
Fair enough, nothing this time but for future reference: https://www.gwr.com/your-tickets/seat-reservationsGWR website said:
if you have reserved a standard class seat but have to stand for your whole journey because neither your booked seat nor an alternative seat was available, we will provide compensation. This will be 50% of the cost of a single ticket, or 25% if a return ticket is held
if you have a First Class ticket and no seats are available in First Class but you were able to get a seat in Standard or had to stand in First Class, then we’ll refund the difference between the First Class ticket held and the equivalent Standard ticket; if there are no available seats in Standard, we will cover the full cost of the affected journey
if you have a Season Ticket, we’ll work this out based on its daily rate, not the cost of the journey
if you have a First Class ticket and no seats are available in First Class but you were able to get a seat in Standard or had to stand in First Class, then we’ll refund the difference between the First Class ticket held and the equivalent Standard ticket; if there are no available seats in Standard, we will cover the full cost of the affected journey
if you have a Season Ticket, we’ll work this out based on its daily rate, not the cost of the journey
valiant said:
alangla said:
I wouldn t. That delay will fall on Network Rail who will pay the train company far more than the Delay Repay they ll be handing out.
And they don t have to wait 15 minutes.2 minutes and the claim goes in!
Simpo Two said:
My point really about all this compensation is that, ultimately, it makes things worse not better. Thames Water, already bankrupt, get fined billions - money that could have been spent making the water supply better rather than going to the Treasury. The millstone is all the layers of different companies, management and profit.
Thames Water, once privatised, borrowed BILLIONS in debt (think somewhere close to £20bn now, thanks to those thieving Aussie b'stards McQuarrie), paid pretty much all the reserves out as dividend, and has been struggling ever since as they've something like £1bn of interest payments to cover every year because of it....so they've been unable to invest in stuff like leak prevention and modernisation because of the interest.
It's an utter joke.
Chrisgr31 said:
It s one of the justifications for Great British Railways. There will be no need for teams of people working out who caused the delay - well unless the delay is caused by a heritage operator, freight operator open access operator
Oh there will, the delay still needs to be quantified and billed to the appropriate department’s budget - just as BR did!Admittedly though there ought to be huge reductions in current duplication of that sort of work.
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