I was going to stop, but. . . .

I ended my 10-part series of blog posts on my battle with the railways over Delay Repay compensation by declaring victory (read again here) but lamenting that I was still out of pocket following not being able to use the non-refundable tickets I'd bought and paid for for a journey to Peterborough.  I said, however, that a few more Delay Repay claims might put that right.

I was going to stop writing about Delay Repay after that, but little did I know what Trans Pennine Express had in store for me.

  

When my first claim, for a delayed journey to Lincoln back in July, was wrongly refused and I had to resort both to an appeal and to get watchdog Transport Focus involved, Trans Pennine refunded me not just the 50% of my fare to which I was entitled but the whole 100%.  There was no explanation for their generosity and I assumed they were just feeling guilty about wrongly refusing me in the first place.

But this morning, what should arrive through the post - all the way from First Group (TPE's parent company) in Aberdeen - but another cheque for the same amount!  The first cheque had been accompanied by the usual grovelling letter of apology for the "inconvenience" I suffered (!) but this one had nothing more than a remittance advice slip asking me to "please use the attached cheque to clear the following outstanding items" and the reference number of my claim.

So for a 53 minute delay to my arrival in Lincoln, for which I'd claimed £9.23  I've now been awarded £36.90 from Trans Pennine.  

The only downside is I now feel mildly annoyed when my trains arrive on time!