ScotRail Delay Repay on Split Ticket

[Lxd2]

On 1 February I travelled from Hebden Bridge to Inverness in a single journey using split tickets purchased on tickets.railforums.co.uk
The last leg of the journey was delayed by 61 minutes due to a signal / points failure at Carrbridge.
That evening I submitted a Delay Repay claim to ScotRail based on the complete journey, Hebden Bridge to Inverness, total cost £46.40, as I believed I should be due 100% compensation for my complete journey despite using split tickets. I sent in pictures of all my tickets and full details of them.
On 15 February, ScotRail paid me compensation of £13.70 which was just the Perth to Inverness ticket price, their email said:

"We're sorry for the delay to your journey between Hebden Bridge and Inverness on 01/02/2024 at 07:41.
I'm pleased to say that your delay repay claim has been approved for £13.70 and will be paid via your chosen method of payment within the next 3 working days.
Payment amount: £13.70
Payment method:Credit / Debit Card
Length of delay: 60+ Minutes"

I submitted an appeal using ScotRail's online process, saying that I thought they should have paid me compensation based on my full journey Hebden Bridge to Inverness.

On 18 February they replied rejecting my appeal:

"Thank you for submitting an appeal for your delay repay claim, reference quoted above. We have reviewed your claim and can confirm that the compensation paid has been correctly calculated."

I then wrote to ScotRail customer services as I still believed compensation should be paid on the full journey despite using split tickets, however they have today responded once again rejecting my appeal, they said:

"Thank you for contacting ScotRail Customer Relations regarding your recent journey.
I was sorry to hear that your journey was disrupted, and I appreciate that delays or cancellations for any reason are frustrating and can cause inconvenience.
Unfortunately, the amount you have been paid is correct. Although you paid £46.40 in total, you paid for four advance single tickets. As the part of your journey was the final advance single ticket of the journey, we can only refund the full cost of this ticket."

I am really surprised by this. I don't think I have had to make a split ticket claim from ScotRail before but I have never had this issue with other operators when using split tickets, other operators have always (so far) paid me Delay Repay based on the total cost of the journey.

The journey was:
Hebden Bridge 0741 - Preston 0844
Preston 0854 - Glasgow Central 1118
Glasgow Queen Street 1207 - Inverness 1529

Tickets were:

• Hebden Bridge to Preston (Lancs), Advance Single, 1 adult @ £5.50
• Preston (Lancs) to Glasgow Central/Queen St, Advance Single, 1 adult @ £16.00
• Glasgow Central/Queen St to Perth, Advance Single, 1 adult @ £11.20
• Perth to Inverness, Advance Single, 1 adult @ £13.70

A few questions I hope you can help with:
1. Are ScotRail within their rights to compensate me only based on one of my four tickets not the whole journey?
2. If not, is there anything further I can do about this?
3. Is this ScotRail standard practice? It could mean that for any future journeys with them I will have to seriously consider whether the savings from split tickets are worth the risk of not being fully compensated for delays and cancellations.

Many thanks for any help.

 

[Hadders]

Scotrail should compensate for the complete journey. Some rogue train companies tried these shenanigans a few years ago but this is the first time I've heard about it for some time.

You could ask Scotrail for a deadlock so you can take the case to the Ombudsman (although we don't get good feedback about their competence). ALternatively you could ask Trainsplit if they will assist.

 

[Adam Williams]

Send them the staff brief document

Delay Repay applies to the journey regardless of number of tickets held (mythbuster)

Rail Delivery Group (RDG) issued a staff brief regarding "split ticketing" on 10th January; included in this brief was the following clarification: Compensation for delays is usually paid when customers experience a delay on their full journey, regardless of the number of tickets held. When a...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[robbeech]

Indeed. I’m not aware of Scotrail practising this unlawful behaviour as a rule (lots of TOCs tried it on when split ticketing really started taking off a few years ago but generally they seem much better at handling it now. Some even use terms like ticket(s) and mention about photos of all tickets for the journey when claiming). It’s entirely possible there has been a dip in training for staff handling this although passenger unfriendly opinions and training does spread like a virus through the railway. If one person takes it upon themselves to do it, others will follow.

Clearly they’re in the wrong. I suggest sending the information Adam links to above and suggesting to them that if they are still unwilling to follow the guidelines and pay out the correct amount of compensation they should provide you with a deadlock letter. You may wish to add that speaking to the ombudsman is ONE OF the next steps you’ll take.
Additionally it would be worth asking them what steps they’re taking to ensure that staff are fully aware of the rules to minimise the chances of this failing happening again.

 

[Lxd2]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone - they are all really useful and give me a few things to go back to ScotRail with. For the moment I have sent them some highlighted excerpts from pages on TrainSplit which say that Delay Repay should be paid on the whole journey, if that fails I'll follow up with the staff brief, then contact TrainSplit and then the Rail Ombudsman.


Update 1 March 2024:
Good news - ScotRail have now agreed to pay the remaining £32.70 compensation for my delayed journey. Many thanks again for the helpful suggestions and for the encouragement to continue fighting for full compensation.

 

[Adam Williams]

Glad to hear it, thanks for coming back to post the outcome.

 

[yorkie]

That's great to hear you got the right outcome in the end.

Had they continued to refuse, I would have been happy to provide further assistance, as you booked through the forum's site.

Hopefully, Scotrail will ensure their staff are suitably trained to avoid erroneously claiming that incorrect calculations were "correctly calculated" in future (but I won't hold my breath on that!)

 

[Lxd2]

Thanks Yorkie - that's good to know that you could have provided further assistance if I needed it.

Just a quick update to say that the actual payment has taken a further 12 days to come through (ScotRail said it could take up to 14 days) but it is now showing as 'Pending' in my bank App.