Train companies
Grand Central delay compensation
Independent site, not a train company or claims service. You claim only through your operator’s own form.
The calculator applies Grand Central’s Charter Compensation: with the minutes late and the fare you paid, it shows which of its three bands you reach.
Grand Central would pay
£27
50% of the single fare paid
| Scheme | Charter compensation, 60 minutes, from 60 min |
| Band applied | 60–119 min |
| From 120 min late | £40.50 |
| Claim by | 23 November 2026 (28 days left) |
Estimate from the scheme Grand Central publishes, read on 26 October 2026. The operator checks the train you were on and decides the claim.
Grand Central, an open access operator owned by Arriva, does not use Delay Repay. It pays what it calls Charter Compensation, and only from 60 minutes late, the same point at which the National Rail Conditions of Travel guarantee their minimum. Its policy has three steps: 50% of a single fare for a delay of one to two hours, 75% for two to three hours, and the whole single beyond three hours. A return is compensated on the "relevant portion"; read as half the return fare, that is 25%, 37.5% and 50% per late leg. A £54 single arriving 95 minutes late gives £27. Payment is by PayPal or bank transfer, or, for journeys to or from London King's Cross, a free single journey. Claims must arrive within 28 days. In April 2025 to March 2026, only 45.2% of the claims it closed were approved.
Delay Repay on a return ticket
You would get
£36
| Share of the return fare | 37.5% |
| Outward band | 120 min and over |
| Return band | none |
| Capped at | £96 |
Schemes and rules read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
A scheme built around hours, not minutes
Grand Central runs a small number of long-distance trains from London King's Cross to the North East and to West Yorkshire, using the East Coast Main Line. As an open access operator, it sets its own compensation in its Passenger Charter, and its bands are counted in hours.
| Delay at your destination | Share of a single | Paid on a £54 single | Return, per late leg |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 to 119 | 50% | £27 | 25% |
| 120 to 179 | 75% | £40.50 | 37.5% |
| 180 or more | 100% | £54 | 50% |
Compared with LNER, which runs on the same line, the gap is large. LNER pays half of a single from 30 minutes and the full single from one hour. Grand Central pays nothing until one hour, then half; the full single only comes back after three hours. On a £54 single delayed 70 minutes, the difference is £54 with LNER against £27 with Grand Central.
Every band for your fare
Grand Central, from
60 min
| 60–119 min | £27 |
| 120–179 min | £40.50 |
| 180+ min | £54 |
Single tickets. Return: 25% / 37.5% / 50% of the return fare per late leg.
Return tickets
The policy applies the same percentages to "the relevant portion of a return ticket" and does not say what share of the fare a portion is. Taking each leg as half of the return, an outward leg two and a half hours late on a £96 return pays £36. If the way back is also an hour late, the two legs together give £60. There is no separate rule refunding the whole return after two hours, as many Delay Repay operators have. Grand Central publishes no season ticket divisor either, so seasons are left out of the calculator.
Claiming and choosing how to be paid
The company replaced its old process with an online Charter Compensation system where you can track a claim, manage payment preferences and see past claims. It needs a readable scan or photo of the ticket, in JPEG or PDF, and details of fellow passengers if you claim for more than one ticket. When you claim, you choose between:
- PayPal, paid to the account linked to the email you give;
- bank transfer, for which you supply the sort code, the number of the account and the name it is held in;
- a complimentary single journey, sent as a discount code, if the trip started or ended at London King's Cross. The company keeps the right to offer this at its discretion.
Most claims are resolved within ten working days and all should be answered within twenty. The limit is 28 days from the end of your journey; the time limit page gives the exact last day. Grand Central also states that its policy does not limit your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
The lowest approval rate on the East Coast
The ORR figures show how the one-hour threshold plays out. In April 2025 to March 2026, Grand Central received 20,147 claims and approved 9,034, or 45.2% of those it closed. On the same line, Hull Trains approved 74.4% and LNER 81.9%. The statistics do not say why claims fail, but a claim for a delay under an hour has nothing to pay under this scheme. For the first 4 periods of April 2026 to March 2027, provisional figures give 46.6% approved and 96.5% closed within 20 working days.
Before claiming, check that your arrival really was an hour or more after the time in the timetable. For a shorter delay, the Conditions of Travel offer nothing either, since their 50% minimum begins at 60 minutes.