Delay Repay is a national scheme that covers most train operators in England.
If your train operator is part of the scheme, you’re legally entitled to compensation of:
- 50% of your ticket price if you get to your destination between 30 minutes and an hour late
- a full refund if you arrive more than 1 hour late
Some operators will also offer a 25% refund for delays of more than 15minutes. Thameslink - which serves Bedford, Luton and London Bridge campuses - is one of these operators.
Top tip: take a photo of your train ticket (front and back) or note down your ticket number as soon as you realise you are being delayed - you will need to quote your ticket number and price in your claim, so you don’t want the ticket barrier to snap it up from you before you have those details.
Most companies require you to claim within 28 days. Claims can take a couple of weeks to be processed before any refund comes back to you.
If you have a season ticket, check with the ticket office or your train company for what you need to do. Some companies will apply these refunds automatically to season tickets.
If your train company doesn't offer ‘Delay Repay’
You can still get compensation under rules called the ‘National Rail Conditions of Carriage’ if the train company doesn't offer Delay Repay, but you won’t get as much.
You won’t get anything if the delay wasn’t the train company’s fault - for example if you were delayed because of bad weather.
If you arrived at your destination more than an hour late you’ll be entitled to:
- 50% of your ticket price if you bought a single ticket
- 25% of your ticket price if you bought a return ticket
- 50% of your ticket price if you bought a return ticket and were delayed on both journeys for more than an hour
How to claim
- Find your train operator’s website online
- Look for “Delay Repay” or “delay compensation”
- Most websites will have an online form that you can complete (you will normally need to upload a photo of your ticket) - simply follow the instructions to complete.
If you’re not happy with the response
The Citizen’s Advice Bureau advise that you can take your complaint further if you’re not happy with the response from your train company.
Contact the Rail Ombudsman - they can investigate complaints about most train companies. If they can’t help with your issue, they’ll put you in touch with another organisation which can help.
If the Rail Ombudsman decides they’ve done something wrong, the train company has to put it right.
Rail Ombudsman
Telephone: 0330 094 0362
Textphone: 0330 094 0363
(Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 8am to 1pm)
Website: www.railombudsman.org
Email: info@railombudsman.org
Post: FREEPOST – RAIL OMBUDSMAN