Train companies
Thameslink Delay Repay
Independent site, not a train company or claims service. You claim only through your operator’s own form.
Type your Thameslink fare and how late you reached your destination: the calculator above, locked on Thameslink, gives the band and the amount.
Thameslink would pay
£17.25
50% of the single fare paid
| Scheme | Delay Repay 15, from 15 min |
| Band applied | 30–59 min |
| From 60 min late | £34.50 |
| Claim by | 23 November 2026 (28 days left) |
Estimate from the scheme Thameslink publishes, read on 26 October 2026. The operator checks the train you were on and decides the claim.
Thameslink Delay Repay compensates any journey that ends 15 minutes or more late because of a delay or cancellation to a Thameslink train. The share of the fare grows with the delay: 25% of a single from 15 minutes, 50% from 30 and all of it from 60. A £34.50 single that reaches its station 41 minutes late gives back £17.25. On a return, each late leg is worth a share of the return fare, 25% at 30 minutes for instance, and a delay of 120 minutes or more returns the whole ticket. Seasons are valued per journey, with the divisors of the Govia Thameslink Railway group, now publicly owned since 31 May 2026. Claims must be sent within 28 days, online or by post, and the money comes by bank transfer, PayPal, e-voucher, rail travel vouchers and charity donation, the last of these through a partnership with two charities.
Delay Repay on a return ticket
You would get
£22.50
| Share of the return fare | 25% |
| Outward band | 30 min and over |
| Return band | none |
| Capped at | £90 |
Schemes and rules read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
A cross-London route, and the right company to claim from
Thameslink trains run through central London, linking Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire with the south coast and Kent. Many passengers board or leave them in the middle of a longer trip that also uses the Underground or another train company. That makes the first question practical: was the late train a Thameslink one? Thameslink's Delay Repay page says to claim only from the operator responsible for the original delay. The delay is measured at the destination on your ticket, so a short late running on Thameslink that made you miss a connection can still add up to a full band at the end.
Under the National Rail Conditions of Travel, a claim sent to the wrong company is passed on rather than refused, but sending it to the right one first saves time. Thameslink asks you to wait until you have arrived before claiming, so that the minutes you enter match the real arrival.
Returns, one leg at a time
The return fare covers two journeys, and the bands apply to each leg in turn. The table shows what a £60 Thameslink return pays depending on which legs were late; the calculator above and the return tool give the same result for your own fare.
| Outward | Return | Paid | Share of the fare |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 min | on time | £7.50 | 12.5% |
| 47 min | on time | £15 | 25% |
| 70 min | 25 min | £37.50 | 62.5% |
| 130 min | on time | £60 | 100% |
The cap matters on open returns. Thameslink pays a delay of 120 minutes or more only once a day, and the whole fare is the most a ticket can earn, so a return travelled over two days still gets one long-delay claim.
Seasons and Flexi
Thameslink values a season journey by dividing its price: 10 journeys in a weekly season, 40 in a monthly one and 464 in an annual one, with Flexi Season tickets divided by 16. A monthly season at £480 is worth £12 a journey, so a 32-minute delay pays £6. Two hours or more pays two journeys, a full day of travel.
Payment, donation and the post
The online form offers bank transfer, PayPal, e-voucher, rail travel vouchers and charity donation. Thameslink partners with Samaritans and Railway Children for the donation option, chosen in place of a payment. A paper form can be posted, but it cannot carry bank details, so electronic payments need the online route. Automatic claims are available to key Smartcard holders who sign up in their account.
How the group handles claims
Thameslink belongs to Govia Thameslink Railway, which also runs Southern, Great Northern and Gatwick Express and passed into public ownership. The ORR publishes one line for the whole group, so the figures here are not Thameslink's alone.
How an operator handles Delay Repay claims
Claims approved
80.6%
| Closed within 20 working days | 99.9% |
| Claims closed | 1,054,079 |
| Period | April 2025 to March 2026 |
Office of Rail and Road, Table 4410 (OGL v3.0). Where the ORR reports a group, the figure covers all its brands.
Across April 2025 to March 2026, 99.9% of the group's closed claims were dealt with inside 20 working days and 80.6% were approved. The provisional figures for April 2026 to March 2027 give 80.1% approved so far. If your claim is refused, the claim guide explains how to ask for a review before going to the Rail Ombudsman.