The bands — measured at your destination
| Arrived late by | You get back |
|---|
| 15–29 minutes | 25% of the single fare (50% of a return’s relevant leg) |
| 30–59 minutes | 50% of the single fare |
| 60–119 minutes | 100% of the single fare |
| 2 hours + | 100% of the RETURN fare |
- Most operators start at 15 minutes; a few still start at 30 — their Delay Repay page says which.
- Season tickets count — paid pro-rata per delayed journey (the daily value of your ticket, banded the same way). Commuters who claim every delay quietly recover serious money over a year.
- Cancelled and you didn’t travel? Full refund, no admin fee, from wherever you bought the ticket. Travelled later and arrived 15+ minutes behind your original plan? That’s a Delay Repay claim.
- Missed connection caused the delay? It’s the arrival time at your final destination that counts — claim from the operator that caused the delay.
No excuses clause
Flights can dodge compensation with “extraordinary circumstances”. Delay Repay has no such escape hatch — storm, signal failure, staff shortage, it pays the same. If the minutes are there, the money is owed.
Claim in minutes — and pick cash
- Photograph your ticket (or note the e-ticket/smartcard booking reference) before it disappears into a barrier.
- Find the operator’s Delay Repay form — search “[operator] Delay Repay” or start from National Rail’s compensation page. The form takes a few minutes: journey, delay, ticket evidence.
- Choose bank transfer where offered — you don’t have to accept rail vouchers.
- Within 28 days of the journey — set the reminder the same day.
- Automatic Delay Repay: several operators pay automatically on Advance tickets bought direct from them — worth buying direct for exactly this reason.
- Bought through an app or third party? You still claim from the train operator, using the booking reference.
Refused or ignored?
Appeal through the operator first, then the
Rail Ombudsman — free, independent, binding on the company. Keep the claim reference and ticket evidence. Automated first-pass rejections get overturned with persistence. And anyone offering to claim “on your behalf” for a cut is selling you a five-minute form —
check anything unsolicited.
Do this now
Delayed in the last 28 days? Dig out the ticket or booking email and put the claim in tonight — five minutes, real money.
Commute by rail? Make it a habit: every 15-minute delay is a claim. Track them as cases in My Sorted so the 28-day windows never slip.