Is there a statutory basis for rail operators' so called "delay repay" schemes?

Question

Fee fi fo fum...

They all have them across the sector, and they seem to be uniformly so named, so I smell an underlying statutory basis. What could it be?

Answer 1

Yes

In the EU, EU Regulation 1371/2007 dictates, when and how railway companies need to repay you for late times.

This was incorporated in UK law and is currently still active, but changes are allegedly incoming. Do note that there's a 2020 guidance, indicating that this regulation became fully enforced on December 4th 2019:

Regulation 1371/2007 on Rail Passengers’ Rights and Obligations (‘the regulation’) became law in Great Britain (GB) on 4 December 2009, although most parts of it were not initially applied to GB domestic services. The regulation has applied in full to international services from that date.

Allowable exemptions were put in place for domestic services by the government for 2 periods of 5 years under SI 2009/2970 and under SI 2014/2793.

All parts of the regulation come into effect from 4 December 2019 when the second, five year GB exemption expired for domestic services.