madjack
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TfL are less ambiguous - they ask you what date and time your journey started (my bold) (GA ask for the scheduled time of departure) - so sitting out a delay at home would presumably not count for the Underground.
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Advice Only for Greater Anglia - Delay Repay Fraud
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There have been a couple of occasions when I've seen a train is, say, 20 mins late, and delayed my arrival (and thus purchase of a ticket) at the station accordingly. I have wondered whether that disqualifies me from claiming, as the timestamp on the ticket might suggest I had just arrived in time for the next one (30 mins later).
I've typically taken the view not to bother claiming, although once when travelling to London turned up in time as the potential claim was worth the inconvenience of hanging around.
I've typically taken the view not to bother claiming, although once when travelling to London turned up in time as the potential claim was worth the inconvenience of hanging around.
If the level of claims keeps on rising relative to the number of actual delayed trains then imho sooner or later the TOCS will be compelled to introduce new conditions to the delay repair scheme even though this may then appear less than fair e.g. having to be present at the station to establish intent of travel.
It would probably be best if train companies went back to the previous way of compensating season ticket holders for delays, i.e. a percentage discount on renewal or refund if not renewing based on the overall performance of the line rather than submitting individual claims for each individual delay.
43096
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What is it then? If I have a valid season ticket and intend to travel but cannot because the TOC cancels the service, that is an entirely legitimate claim.
Journeyman
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Thing is, the industry has been under constant pressure to make claiming easier.
Yes, but delay repay is for when you do make the journey but arrive sufficiently late. If you have a season ticket and can’t travel due to a cancellation there’s a separate process
87electric
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And all joined this forum within a day of each other. Something seems fishy.
steamybrian
Established Member
I am a silent onlooker and like to read this section
I agree there are a lot of things that do not add up and "seems fishy" to me.
It is stated that someone can just claim delay repay by sitting at home.
Someone cannot stand up on a train yet can do 30 minutes walk to their station.
Did not keep a copy or note when they applied for their claim.
A very tongue in cheek scenario but consider this.
Someone is a train enthusiast and decides they want to travel up and down the line all day long for fun. (Heritage railways will confirm this does happen).
They buy a weekly season ticket that entitles them to unlimited travel along the line.
They make multiple claims for delayed trains that week because it was their intention to travel up and down on those trains.
Should they be able to claim for all those journeys?
Someone is a train enthusiast and decides they want to travel up and down the line all day long for fun. (Heritage railways will confirm this does happen).
They buy a weekly season ticket that entitles them to unlimited travel along the line.
They make multiple claims for delayed trains that week because it was their intention to travel up and down on those trains.
Should they be able to claim for all those journeys?
Previously this was possible on many TOCs, as most Passenger's Charters did not contain clauses limiting the amount of delay repay payable. In theory it was possible to make a profit if you were sufficiently delayed (the same applied to a return ticket where you had 2 hour delays on both legs).
This changed in a recent update to the Conditions of Travel, which now explicitly limit the total delay repay to the fare paid - although for a season ticket this doesn't limit each day's claims to the daily value of the ticket. Some TOCs also changed their Charters accordingly, before this update.
Thanks!
Can you let us know a bit more on how to claim if your train is cancelled if you have a season ticket and is it the same for normal tickets?
43096
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Is it? There’s no mention of that that I can find on GA’s website.
I don't doubt it measures weight accurately, but I weigh 3x as much as my wife, and while that is fairly extreme I doubt it can give that accurate a number.
Probably would need different mutipliers the closer you got to London
They work on averages obviously - actually London has a lower average weight than other counties! Older rolling stock does it by coaches.
As many have said, investigations don't have to know you are guilty. There is an allegation that you might be and therefore this is the "fact-finding" phase that many in the railway will be aware of. It could end up going nowhere, but investigations regularly take into account innocent people - its happened to me personally but I had nothing to hide. A bit stressful, but such is life.
I would suggest GA have something to go on here - there are many many opportunities to claim Delay Repay which require relatively limited proof, especially if you have a season ticket. The vast majority will be processed without problem, and I imagine this is a only a small minority of people targeted. As @AlterEgo alludes to in this thread, there are probably a select few suspects that stand out as being particularly suspicious and worthy of investigation. No doubt some innocent individuals who are edge cases have been unfortunately swept up in this and a polite and affirmative rejection of any improper conduct should suffice. The burden of proof then falls onto GA to suggest otherwise.
Haywain
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And one would hope that those who are completely innocent would be horrified that people are defrauding the system and would want them stopped and penalised.
Maybe all the letters to 'J' were sent out this week? I'm not serious of course, I smell a rat, i'm also certain there has been an influx this year of fake threads in this particular section of the forum as well.
It did used to be mentioned somewhere (possibly at the beginning of the delay repay claim process?)... but it directed you to send a mail to customer services explaining why you didn't/couldn't travel and would result in a cheque being issued by post for a pro-rata daily fare. Pretty sure I only ever used that method two or three times over a many-year period and it was only when there were blanket 'do not travel' advisories issued.
Gloster
Established Member
I wonder if GA’s main purpose is not to get repayment of a relatively small number of wrong claims, but to go for a couple of biggies. Yes, they will be happy to get a repayment from all those people who worry about the odd false or borderline claim that they made and pay up to close the matter. However, there may be some that they think they have a case against and will now see which of these look like being the most likely to be winnable in court. A few high profile prosecutions resulting in conviction and hefty costs for the fraudster may make others consider their behaviour. (Anybody remember a certain gentleman from Stonegate?) It may also have the effect of making people think twice about using these delay-replay claim websites.
Haywain
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Bear in mind that this thread was started by lufcjack, who joined the forum 4 years ago so has had plenty of opportunity to spam the forum and has not done so.
Fair point, although it wasn't the OP I was aiming it at. That said maybe my theory about 'J' letters isn't that far out after all....
This forum is in the top 3 results if you do a Google search for ‘delay repay fraud’.
I have also had 'the letter' - I received it today, detailing journeys made at the beginning of 2020 and with a 'There are also additional claims that you have made that are not listed and these are also under investigation at this time.' line after the table with journey claims they are querying.
Like most other forum users, I cannot remember exact details of every journey. I was travelling to Liv st 4-5 times a week as a SmartCard season ticket holder and made any late/cancelled train delays via the Greater Anglia Delay Repay website. Sometimes these were rejected (don't know why) other times, not. I was making so many as the service was appalling and every day (I travel during rush hour, any time between 7.30am - 8.30am and 5pm - 7pm) it seemed (at one point) there were cancellations and delays.
I am concerned as I was making cancelled claims for say the 18.26 (which would be genuinely cancelled), but then I might get the 18.45. Would that count as a fraudulent claim? I am really worried about this. If it makes any difference, my first name also begins with J (although my last name is not a J name).
Like most other forum users, I cannot remember exact details of every journey. I was travelling to Liv st 4-5 times a week as a SmartCard season ticket holder and made any late/cancelled train delays via the Greater Anglia Delay Repay website. Sometimes these were rejected (don't know why) other times, not. I was making so many as the service was appalling and every day (I travel during rush hour, any time between 7.30am - 8.30am and 5pm - 7pm) it seemed (at one point) there were cancellations and delays.
I am concerned as I was making cancelled claims for say the 18.26 (which would be genuinely cancelled), but then I might get the 18.45. Would that count as a fraudulent claim? I am really worried about this. If it makes any difference, my first name also begins with J (although my last name is not a J name).
Indeed, i'd be interested to know whether it does. Even more so with the latest poster just above with another J first name.
I am not sure that is “fishy” in and of itself; if AGA sent out a large batch of letters in one go it is entirely possible they arrived all at the same time.
No that's standard delay repay - you intended on getting a cancelled service and then had to take one 19 minutes later. Therefore you'd claim for the 15-30 delay period as the service you intended to travel on was cancelled.
Me too. My first name is J but not my surname and there is nothing fishy going on. We are individuals who have had these letters. Today I received a spreadsheets of those in question from October 2019 to March 2020, I use a branch line which weekly has delays and cancellations on the branch line. When analysing the spreadsheet one stood out that was evident that would look suspicious.this was a day I went into the office as the US law firm always have cover day and night, weekends and xmas. On that day I purchased a daily ticket to Stratford as I used the tube to St. Paul’s. I was working until 11pm, as I say regular for me, left work at 10;45 walked down to bank, tapped my Oyster card. Platform busy as signal fault And no trains moving on central line so went back up escalator tapped out and almost ran all the way to Liverpool Street. The 11:02 was delayed so I tapped my oyster as my ticket with GA was Stratford/witham and problems with the train, driver didn’t turn up for some time. I purchased a daily as I was flying to Singapore the next day. Yes to someone this does look odd as I always use Liverpool Street and it was late at night. I’ve logged onto my oyster account as it will show me tapping in at bank at 10:50 and back out at 10;52 and then after 11 at Liverpool Street. I am tired after a long day at work and just want to get home so wasn’t prepared to wait for the central line to Stratford.
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