Who should get the delay repay money for train ticket?

[MarmaladeMarxist]

The payer, or the traveller?

I occasionally travel by train for work - I have the use of a company card to pay for things like this.

Last week this happened and I had a nightmare journey with a cancelled train, long wait on a platform with no shelter in driving rain, replacement bus etc. As I was travelling in the evening to stay overnight (with a family member, not in a hotel) and attend a meeting first thing in the morning, I wasn't late for the meeting despite being 3 hours late arriving.

This means that I can claim delay repay and get a full refund on the ticket - but should this money be paid to my company (who paid for the ticket) or to me (who had the inconvenience and stress of a horrible cold wet journey)?

I think my company's policy is that its for me. I'm normally working on the train so they dont lose out, its often my own personal time thats impacted and I'm personally inconvenienced

Since we don’t do “payment for pain & suffering”, but recompense for not providing the service or good purchased, it’s the payer. Obviously.

This.
The replies here range from it goes to the passenger obviously to no, it goes back to whoever paid for the ticket.
Best to check I think !

I agree with this in principal but I think where it gets tricky is that compensation for planes is a flat amount defined by distance and quite a long time whereas train ticket refund / compensation depends on the type and the parameters are much smaller. We were allowed to book Anytime / Open Return tickets to allow us to be super flexible to benefit both the company (meetings etc) and ourselves but I would never book a long personal train journey like this due to the cost. Obviously though, the refund / comp is bigger for Anytime etc tickets and I have seen this incentivise bad habits eg booking trains that are likely to get cancelled at vast expense for bigger refunds.

Ticket booking is centralised where I work and recently the company got a notification that part of my ticket was eligible for a refund / compensation (for some reason I had a paper ticket so they asked me if I had it still, but most tickets are e-tickets and this made me aware they are checking them for delay repay) - I was super thankful I hadn’t already claimed as it would have been awkward!

Whatever the decision, a policy is probably best so everyone knows where they stand.

I’ve know three people get fired or disciplined for expenses fraud in a (very big) company I worked for, so am always a bit nervous myself!

There must be thousands of people who get delayed on trains who aren't aware of or don't bother to claim through the 'delay replay' scheme. (although to be fair it is widely advertised by the train companies).

If an employer buys a train ticket for an employee and then expects the compensation back if that train is delayed or cancelled, then in my view it should be up to the employer to follow up on whether there were any delays (there are websites to enable you to do this) and put a claim in - it's not up to the employee to go out of their way to do so if they're not getting the compensation.

I had this exact situation and I kept the money as I was the one inconvenienced (like you, I wasn't late for a meeting or anything, I was just late home).

Don’t you like your family?

It's a good question. I'm self-employed so I often wonder this myself. I just give it to the traveller though (ME).

If it's the company then make sure you do the delay repay admin in company time!

The traveller who is inconvenienced.

Yep ok I couldn’t remember if the op said the wording included refund.

I wouldn’t ask the company what the policy was or would I bother claiming for it unless I paid on my card.

I'm a public servant, our policy is that we must apply for the refund and any compensation money goes back to our employer. We can take flexi time to cover any additional travel time resulting from a delay - but most of us don't bother due to workload pressures.

You are correct. I made this mistake in my post at 08:54. "You can specify where the (delay repay) refund goes ...", despite me already referring to it as compensation and saying refunds are different!

The NRCT and TOC Passenger Charters clarify this. You have a different contract as purchaser (refund) and passenger (delay repay).

Sorry, but those are different things.

Are you talking about a refund or compensation? If you apply for a refund and they give you the refund then that goes back to your employer. If you apply for compensation then that’s in your name as the passenger and the passenger gets the compensation.

You’ve used two different words to describe it, and they’re not the same thing.

Even public sector, they can’t take your compensation and it would be worth taking that to HR.

@Bobiverse that's interesting, I thought the compensation offered by the railway company was in the firm of a partial or full refund depending on how long the delay was? That goes directly back to my employer who paid for the ticket. My employer then offers me Flexi time to cover the additional time I spent travelling due which I suppose is my 'compensation' in the form of paid time off if that makes sense. But may be worth me checking with my union to make sure that's as it should be.

Love the family, but not the relatives.

Any delay repay amount is based on the price paid for the ticket, but it is not a refund of that price. Compensation equal to a proportion of that price is calculated, based on the length of the delay.

My work policy also says technically we are meant to surrender those loyalty points as well. 🙄

Even better claim it back via personal bank account. It's compensation to the person who suffered from it.

You were the one inconvenienced so it should go to you.

When this happens to me, my work allows me to keep it.

They paid for me to get to my destination, and that is what happened. The delay repay is compensation for my time and inconvinience. You can get it paid to a Paypal account.

I’d be careful, is my advice.

Your company might well take umbrage at you claiming ’back’ money that you didn’t fork out for in the first place.
I know my own employer certainly does.

The train operating company (TOC) has a contract with your employer for the issue of a ticket in return for payment. The TOC has a contract with the passenger for its conduct of the journey. Compensation for the latter is calculated from but is not a refund of the ticket price. This is governed by the TOC's Passenger Charter derived from NRCT, Employers might misunderstand or ignore this, or might apply variations if you were also paid and/or expensed by them for the time delayed or subsistence. Delay repay compensation is not taxed, while employer payments may be.

When I travelled with work and I was delayed I took the money, it's me who had the hassle, time wasted and stress.

This happens to me ALL the time.

The company have paid for my ticket to get from A-B as required.
Regardless of delay, the company has had the journey fulfilled. I got there as intended.

The delay repay is compensation to me for having to be the one delayed/inconvenienced.