The same result for the passenger yes, but a different result for the distribution in funds, The percentage of the ticket given to the retailer is recovered, and the split of the remaining distributed between TOCs is recovered, delay repay for £10 costs more than a refund of £10 unless the TOC gets 100% of the share, and is the retailer, and even then, different departments different budgets etc. So yes, i agree it would be ridiculous to consider fraud, but understandable why the TOC would want it dealing with.
A balance of probabilities with this is monumentally biased towards the railway, and unsurpassably flawed. There does not have to be any form of proof that this passenger has made a fraudulent claim here it seems. All they have to do is claim more than average, an average that is created by there being people who claim more than it, and they're essentially guilty. We have seen this process has caught out a lot of people that have done it wrong (deliberately or otherwise) but if they're just picking on those who have already suffered with the worst service then it's orders of magnitude more appalling than we might have initially thought.
Absolutely, this is fairly common and in many businesses where it would be deemed acceptable to do this, its less likely that the railway would believe it anyway.
Agree, and in most cases here we have seen they have had every right to question it, even if they haven't gone about it in the best way (which is subjective). However, any claims on a line with 1tph would always return a 1hour delay if it is cancelled, or indeed if it was a connection from a busier line that had a short (but valid) connection time.
Essentially, what we are saying here is, even if you have done nothing wrong, if you just pay a few hundred quid to a Train Operating Company who have consistently let you down time and time again over the years (which is the sole reason for this farce to exist in the first place) that'll be the end of it. And, perhaps don't claim the money you're due for the failings of the Operator and/or railway in general moving forward lest you find yourself in trouble for doing what you're told to do again. Remind me who is the fraud again?