TRAIN FIRMS PAY FOR RAIL DELAYS
More than a million people were paid compensation for delayed trains this summer, as the threshold for liability drops to just 15 minutes
MORE and more people are claiming for compensation over late trains, as networks now pay out for delays of 15 minutes or more. New figures from the Office of Rail and Road revealed that 1.4 million people filed a compensation claim for train delays between July 21 and October 12 last year.
That’s up by 13% compared to the same period in 2018.
The vast majority of those claims nearly 1.2 million - received a payout. The number of successful claims was also up by 16% compared to closer to 1.0 million during the same period in 2018.
The main reason for the increase is the fact that many train networks now allow passengers to claim compensation if their train is delayed by 15 minutes or more.
The threshold was first lowered by eight companies from the beginning of 201920, and three others have since done the same.
They are c2c, East Midlands Railway, Govia Thameslink Railway,
Great Western Railway, Greater Anglia, Northern, South Western Railway, Southeastern, TfW Rail and West Midlands Trains.
These companies allow a passenger to claim 25% of the cost of a single ticket if they are delayed between 15 and 29 minutes. Meanwhile, passengers delayed between 30 and 59 minutes are entitled to 50% of the cost of a single ticket, and those delayed by 60 minutes or more are entitled to a full refund. Most of the remaining train companies in Britain only allow for the above claims for delays of 30 minutes or more.
A handful of companies run other schemes that often have different time frames to be eligible, and compensation levels can vary between each.
Because of the different compensation thresholds, and the different number of services run by each train operator, it is not possible to compare the number of payments between companies.
The rise in compensation being paid out for delays has happened despite a drop in the total number of complaints received by rail operators.
Between July and September 2019, there were around 30 complaints for every 100,000 journeys taken. That’s down by 9% compared to 33 complaints for every 100,000 during the same period the year before.
This decrease is partly due to an increased number of complaints in 2018 related to the temperature of the train in the hotter than usual summer in 2018, as well as the disruption caused by the May 2018 timetable changes.