I've not had this happen before

[whole diary]

[froome]

I'm posting this a) as a warning for anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation, and b) to see whether the collective wisdom here is that a delay and repay claim would be successful or not (I do intend to submit one).

We were travelling back today from Bangor to Bath via Newport, a journey we usually make at least 3 times a year, but due to the lockdowns, we haven't for a year. Often something goes wrong (usually a missed connection somewhere), and I was starting to think that this journey had been going surprisingly smoothly, until...

Having made our connection at Newport, we got on the rear carriage of the 3 carriage train, and found it was rather busy, so opted to stand to allow for social distancing rather than share seats besides strangers. The guard came to check our tickets, and said that the front carriage had plenty of spare seats. As we had folding bikes and luggage, we said moving down the train wasn't practical, but we asked if it would be ok to alight at Severn Tunnel Junction, walk down the platform, and get back on the first carriage. He said that would be  fine, and carried on down the carriage checking tickets.

We duly alighted at Severn Tunnel Junction and walked quickly down the side of the train to get back on. While doing so, the doors closed, and when we pressed the button to open the door, it wouldn't open, and the train then moved off, leaving us on the platform. Discussing it afterwards, we think the guard who checked our tickets may not have been the one who was controlling the doors.

Severn Tunnel Junction really isn't a station you want to be stuck on for an hour (the Portsmouth Harbour trains to Bath are hourly), as there is nothing there, and the noise from the motorway is constant, but fortunately there was a train in half an hour to Temple Meads, so we got on that, and found we had just missed a connection there, and the next train to Bath was indeed the next Portsmouth Harbour service in another half an hour, so we arrived into Bath an hour later than we should have.

So no trains were actually late, but we were delayed by an hour. Will my claim be successful?

[IndustryInsider]

A claim would almost certainly be rejected, but might be accepted on appeal.  Might be better to just write to customer services?

[froome]

A claim would almost certainly be rejected, but might be accepted on appeal.  Might be better to just write to customer services?

Thanks. I will do that, though the online form seems to require me to make a complaint against a staff member (that is the nearest box I can click on for what happened to us), which isn't what I want to do.

[infoman]

I think most staff do their best to help passengers,may I just say their  "MIGHT" have been a change of guards at Bristol T.M.?