Alex Sobel has today hailed the announcement that the 15 minute ‘Delay and Repay’ scheme is to be extended on the Northern Rail franchise.
Delay and Repay is the common name for a compensation scheme that reimburses passengers who are delayed for more than a set amount of time. Northern has operated a 30-minute scheme which, as the MP for Leeds North west pointed out to them over several meetings last year, is out of step with many other rail franchises. Southern, Thameslink, South Western and many others operate a 15 minute scheme.
In December, the Department of Transport wrote to Mr Sobel informing him of the extension of the 15 minute scheme to Northern. In the letter, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Andrew Jones MP said, “Passengers travelling on Northern’s services are now entitled to claim for delays of 15 minutes or more, extending the compensation that already exists for journeys delayed by 30 minutes or more.”
Mr Sobel said, “I have been banging the drum for the extension of this scheme to Northern for some time now, raising it in meetings with Northern and with the Department of Transport directly. I have had a huge volume of correspondence from train passengers who are sick of delays and cancellations. This has been compounded by the recent timetable chaos.”
“It is important that people know that this compensation is available to them. Two thirds of passengers don’t claim for delays which lets train companies off with millions in owed compensation. Only by hitting the operators in the pocket will we see an improvement in services.”
Alex Sobel MP