News about the new train fare compensation for travellers if they are delayed more than 15 minutes will be met with muted joy. While it is very annoying to arrive in Victoria time after time 28 minutes late and therefore unable to get any compensation for the delay.
The new extra level of delay compensation paying after 15 minutes will give just 25% of the single fare. And for those with season tickets they will first of all have to divide their annual cost by 464 and then divide that by four to get the level of their compensation.
No date is given for the implementation of the 15 minute compensation and there is no sign of rules being implemented for consequent losses because of the delays.
Two hours late before you get full fare
Trains that arrive more than two hours late will allow passengers to be compensated by the refund of their whole return ticket. But if they miss a connecting train, bus or plane it is tough luck.
It is still worth making a claim for such losses but these are dealt with on a case by case basis and you tend to have a greater chance of success if your delayed train was not rammed with passengers and you write a polite letter to the chief executive of the rail company.
The last few months have seen a greater number of passengers claiming for delays. This is possibly because the rail companies have delayed more of us and are advertising the claim schemes on their websites
Keep your tickets and apply often
Remember to keep your tickets when you finally leave the station and scan your season ticket into your computer to make it easy to claim lots at once. It can be annoying to be stuck in the queue behind someone with 30 vouchers but there is no good time to convert them to cash or a new ticket. And we are all getting used to arriving in time for earlier trains to give us a better chance of reaching our destinations on time.