National Rail Compensation

Semple

Semple

Semple

Soldato
Joined
5 Mar 2010
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I've been catching trains for over 2 years now, but I've never been on one delayed enough to get compensation until Tuesday. My usual commute of 26 mins turned into just short of 3 hours due to a landslide.

Has anyone else claimed compensation before?

I've got a form to fill out but it makes no mention of how long the compensation takes, nor how they will reimburse you. Also I know I need to send in the out ticket, but what about the return ticket even though it was only the outward journey delayed?
 
You will only get the Out price refunded unless u got a return price in which case they will still only refund you a singles price.

In what was was it delayed? if the train was available to board within 59 mins of its orginal time then you WONT get a refund.

If it was over 1 hour late to the station then you will be entitled to a refund.

If you were aboard the train and it stopped for 3 hours then you WONT be entitled to a refund.

The above is what i have found from experiance.
 
Depends on the T&Cs of the network you got delayed in. If you just bought a one-off ticket you may well just recieve travel vouchers in compensation.

For me I get cash to my bank account of half the one way ticket price for a 30-60 min delay and full refund for 60 mins+ but that's because (unfortunately) I pay a monthly DD.
 
Diagro said:
If it was over 1 hour late to the station then you will be entitled to a refund.

If you were aboard the train and it stopped for 3 hours then you WONT be entitled to a refund.
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The above differs from my experience.

I used to commute by London Midland trains and was able to claim compensation if I was stuck for ages.

About the only time you couldn't claim was when strike action took place and it was announced in advance.
 
When I was delayed by hours due to a problem out of Euston resulting in having to tube somewhere else and getting 2 different trains, Virgin sent me a £75 cheque when the ticket was only £30-40. Was pretty happy with that!
 
Diagro said:
You will only get the Out price refunded unless u got a return price in which case they will still only refund you a singles price.

In what was was it delayed? if the train was available to board within 59 mins of its orginal time then you WONT get a refund.

If it was over 1 hour late to the station then you will be entitled to a refund.

If you were aboard the train and it stopped for 3 hours then you WONT be entitled to a refund.

The above is what i have found from experiance.
Click to expand...

Going by what the compensation form states...

"If a journey is delayed by more than an hour we will compensate our customers the full value, in National Rail travel vouchers, of the part of the journey that was delayed, i.e. 50% of the cost of a return, and 100% in the case of a single ticket."

"If you are delayed in excess of two hours we will compensate you the full cost of your ticket."

It left a couple of minutes late but arrived almost 3 hours late due to a landslide blocking the track. And the train manager was giving out compensation forms, so compensation must be eligible for customers on that service.

Also with it being delayed by more than 2 hours, I'm assuming i may get the full price of my ticket back, being the out and return (any-time day return ticket).
 
PapaLazaru said:
Are they actually liable for a landslide? It is not really their fault, is it?
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It's not actually the train companies that pay the compensation. The train companies claim compensation from Network Rail whenever there is any delay. I remember reading on the news a couple of months ago that companies like First Great Western were making huge profits from claiming compensation from Network Rail and not having their own customers claim from them.

E: And part of your ticket price should be used to maintain the track, something they clearly weren't doing in this case.
 
Semple said:
I've been catching trains for over 2 years now, but I've never been on one delayed enough to get compensation until Tuesday. My usual commute of 26 mins turned into just short of 3 hours due to a landslide.

Has anyone else claimed compensation before?

I've got a form to fill out but it makes no mention of how long the compensation takes, nor how they will reimburse you. Also I know I need to send in the out ticket, but what about the return ticket even though it was only the outward journey delayed?
Click to expand...

My wife and I put in around 6 claims a month. We claim ours back through the rail operator rather than with National Rail directly.
Southern take up to 28 days to sort it and usually pay back in National Rail vouchers. You can opt for it to be added to some kind of online account but this maybe a Southern only thing.

If you were more than 2 hours delayed you get the 100% of the return fair back, so I'd send both parts in or you only get the 100% of the one you send in (which is 50% of the whole ticket cost)
 
Lots of misinformation in this thread. Whats actually the case is what what you get back depends on:

a) The operator
b) The type of service
c) The reason for the delay

Which train was it which was delayed and how late was it?

I assume it was FGW and the landslide was the one near Bristol Parkway. What type of ticket did you have and how much was it?

Under the assumption it was a regular return ticket on FGW, you should send both the outward and the return portion of your ticket as you should be entitled to the total price paid. You will receive compensation in the form of Rail Travel Vouchers.
 
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groen said:
I tried claiming compensation once but the process was so convoluted that it was not worth the time. Would have taken me far too long and for only £15 or something.
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The process is now usually a simple form which takes about 40 seconds to fill out.
 
Fill it out, put it how long you were delayed and why. Photocopy ticket, stick it in an envelope.

Done it twice, it's easy.
 
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