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Dear [Name]

Thank you for you Delay Repay claim for your journey with us on 18 September 2014.

I understand that your claim has been approved by our Delay Repay team, and National Rail Vouchers to the total value of 31.60 have been awarded to you in recognition of the inconvenience caused. If these vouchers have not yet arrived with you, they should arrive shortly.

Because your Delay Repay claim was accompanied by a complaint regarding our staff at East Croydon station as well as comments pertaining to the restriction code of your tickets, it has been passed to me to look into.

In the first instance, I am very sorry to hear that you feel you have cause to complain regarding members of our staff. We aim to provide excellent service at all times, so it is disappointing to hear that we did not meet your expectations on this occasion.

Please rest assured that I have recorded your comments on the matter for review by the responsible management, in the hopes that they may go some way towards helping us to improve our service.

Having said this, I must also advise you that our staff were in fact correct to advise that your ticket was not valid until after 19:00, and the barrier had also read your tickets correctly when it did not allow you to access the platform.

This is because tickets such as yours, with the restrction code BE are not valid for travel on services departing the London Terminals before 19:01. The link you have provided in your letter, www.nationalrail.co.uk/BE, confirms this as under "return travel" it states that these tickets are "[...] not valid on trains timed to depart:

-London Terminals (except Paddington or Vauxhall or Clapham Junction) before 11:00 or after 15:59 until 19:01;
[...]"

Because both your intended service (16:48 to Southampton Central) and the service you actually boarded (17:51 to southampton Central) both departed London Victoria inside this time frame, your tickets were not valid for travel on either service.

From your letter I understand that the conductor of the 17:51 service to Southampton Central allowed you to travel on that occasion, however in future please bear the above in mind.

Furthermore, in your letter you say that our website, www.southernrailway.com, indicates that these tickets are valid on the 16:48 service to Southampton Central. Having run this search through our website myself, I can confirm that this is not the case. In a search for a return journey from Southampton Central to East Croydon (I understand that your journey was more complex than this, hwever for the sake of simplicity I have isolate this leg only, because it is the only leg in question), when a Super Off Peak ticket is selected (which have the restriction code BE) the 16:48 and 17:51 services, as well as several others, are clearly omitted from the list of possible return services, with a statement that this has been done.

Finally, in your letter you also indicate that you experienced difficulty in finding the definition of "delay" that is worked with by our Delay Repay team. For clarify, our Delay Repay team calculates delays based on variance between your scheduled arrival time at the destination of your overall journey, and your actual arrival time.

I am very sorry for the confusion, however I hope I have been able to clarify this matter for you.

Thank you for taking the time to write to us, and I hope that all your future journeys are pleasant and incident-free.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us directly at [generic contact information].

Yours sincerly,

[Someone with Manager in their job title]
Southern & Gatwick Express Customer Services