Delay Repay rules
How to claim Delay Repay, step by step
Independent site, not a train company or claims service. You claim only through your operator’s own form.
Work out the amount first: the calculator shows what to expect, the last day to claim and a button to the form of the operator you choose.
Northern would pay
£10.75
50% of the single fare paid
| Scheme | Delay Repay 15, from 15 min |
| Band applied | 30–59 min |
| From 60 min late | £21.50 |
| Claim by | 23 November 2026 (28 days left) |
Estimate from the scheme Northern publishes, read on 26 October 2026. The operator checks the train you were on and decides the claim.
To claim Delay Repay, you fill in a form on the website or app of the train company that ran the late train, within 28 days of the journey. The form asks for the date, the stations, the scheduled departure of the train you meant to take, the minutes late at your destination, and a proof of the ticket: a photo of a paper ticket, the reference of an e-ticket or the smartcard number. You then choose how to be paid. Under condition 34 of the National Rail Conditions of Travel, at least one money option must be offered, such as a bank transfer, a refund to the card used or a cheque, so you never have to accept rail vouchers. If two operators ran your journey, you can send the claim to any company whose trains you used and it forwards the claim to the one responsible. Once the claim is agreed, payment is due within 14 days. The calculator above estimates the amount and links to the form of the operator you pick.
Last day to claim Delay Repay
Claim by
23 November 2026
| Time limit at Northern | 28 days |
| Counted from | 26 October 2026 |
| National Rail minimum | 28 days |
The operator’s form refuses claims after its limit; a late claim can only be asked as a goodwill gesture.
Schemes and rules read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Step 1: find the operator to claim from
Claim from the company whose train was late or cancelled. On a direct train, that is the company that ran it, shown on the ticket booking, the station screens or the train itself. On a journey with a change, it is the company that caused you to arrive late at your final station. Condition 32.1 adds a safety net: you can claim from any company whose trains you used and it must pass the claim to the one responsible. The missed connection page covers journeys with changes.
Step 2: gather what the form asks
| The form asks | Where to find it |
|---|---|
| Date and stations of the journey | your ticket or booking confirmation |
| Scheduled departure of your train | the journey planner, for the date of travel |
| Minutes late at your destination | the screens on arrival, or the train running record online |
| Ticket type and price paid | the ticket, the receipt or the booking email |
| Proof of ticket | photo of both sides, e-ticket reference or smartcard number |
| Payment details | bank details, or the card used to buy the ticket |
For a season ticket, the form also asks for the start and end dates and the price, and often accepts several journeys at once.
Step 3: choose how to be paid
Condition 34.1 of the Conditions of Travel lists the payment methods: cheque, bank transfer, refund to your debit or credit card, or rail travel vouchers. The first three are called money options, and every operator must offer at least one. Where the delay was the operator's fault, you can ask for the money back by the method you used to buy the ticket. Vouchers can be spent at any staffed ticket office on the national network, but cannot always be changed into cash.
The payment options of each operator, as read on its terms, are shown on its page and in the fact box above each operator's calculator.
Step 4: send it and keep the reference
Submit within 28 days of the journey. The form returns a claim reference, often by email: keep it until you are paid. If the claim is agreed, the money is due within 14 days. If it is refused, or the amount seems wrong, reply quoting the reference and ask which band and which arrival time the operator used.
Last day to claim Delay Repay
Claim by
23 November 2026
| Time limit at Avanti West Coast | 28 days |
| Counted from | 26 October 2026 |
| National Rail minimum | 28 days |
The operator’s form refuses claims after its limit; a late claim can only be asked as a goodwill gesture.
Claims that go faster
- Claim each journey soon after it. Claims sent the same week are easier to check against the train records.
- Use the scheduled departure, not the time you arrived at the station. The operator looks up that train.
- Enter the price you paid, including the railcard discount. A claim that states the full fare is corrected down, and slows things.
- Register once. Most operators keep an account so the next claim takes a minute, and some pay automatically when the ticket was bought on their own site, as the automatic Delay Repay page explains.
Across Great Britain, the Office of Rail and Road reports that 99.4% of claims closed in April 2025 to March 2026 were closed within 20 working days, and 80.5% were approved.