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John Wareing’s Lunch Time Train preston To London Arrived with a slightly frustrating 18 minute delay on December 1st. But Forward West Coast There is a generous delay reimbursement policy that applies when trains run less than a quarter of an hour behind schedule. So a 72-year-old man from Lancashire put an online compensation claim.
Mr Wareing, a retired human resources manager, was hoping to get £10.10 back – an eighth of the cost of his £80.85 return ticket. But three days later he received an email from the rail firm saying: “If your claim for the delay you lodged is approved, you can expect to receive compensation Of £10,106.25.”
Forward West CoastPolicy to reimburse 12.5 per cent of return ticket cost in case of delay of 15-29 minutes in one stage. But this figure is 1,000 times more than the fixed amount.
If paid, it will allow Mr. Wareing to purchase a round trip preston To London Every week for over two years.
he told Independent: “As of now, I’m still waiting for my compensation. It will be interesting to see how automated the process is or whether they have some human intervention to prevent my windfall. I will definitely let Avanti know if they pay out the £10k.”
But when the investigation was conducted at the request of the railway company IndependentStaff discovered that Mr Wareing had made a mistake when completing the online form. Instead of entering the actual price of the ticket, £80.85, he mistakenly entered £80,850.
The software is programmed to calculate the period of delay and the potential payout based on that passenger Says he paid.
A spokesperson for Avanti West Coast said: “This delay was an automated response based on data provided by the customer as part of the repayment process. The claim will be looked into and they will be paid the correct amount as a result of the delay.”
Mr Wareing has not yet received any compensation, but he spoke warmly of Avanti West Coast: “On late payments, I have always found making a claim straightforward and reliable and this is based on considerable experience.
“To be fair to Avanti, I would say 80-90 per cent of the delays we have faced over the last few years have been due to Network Rail infrastructure issues, not because of Avanti. But naturally they have to take all the criticism.
“Although the other two long-distance trains we have taken recently – in Uzbekistan, from Tashkent to Samarkand and then to Bukhara in October – were both right on time.”
Uzbekistan Railways’ policy on delayed trains differs from that of Avanti West Coast. The state-run Central Asian Rail Company issues refunds for highly delayed trains only if the passenger decides to abandon the journey – but they won’t get their money back if the “passenger is intoxicated”.
Read more: Will Great British Railways really make a difference to my journey?