I have a ticket for a strike day – what should I do?

If you had an Advance ticket for a train that was scheduled for a strike day, and you decided not to travel, you can get a fee-free refund or change of journey. This includes customers who purchased their tickets through SWR but are travelling with another Train Operator affected by strike action.

If you had 2 x Advance tickets (an outbound and a return), to be used as a return journey, you can get a fee-free refund or change of journey for any unused legs/tickets, if one (either) of the legs was scheduled for a strike day. The ticket(s) need to have been purchased directly with SWR.

Your ticket should be submitted for refund within 28 days of expiry. Click here for further information.

If you purchased your tickets through another Train Operator or Third Party Retailer please see our FAQ: "I purchased my ticket through another retailer such as Trainline, where should I claim a refund or compensation?" on this page.

If you had a daily walk-up single or return ticket for travel on a strike day and you decided not to travel because the service you originally intended to travel on was cancelled, delayed or rescheduled or your seat reservation could not be honoured, you will be able to claim a fee-free refund. This includes customers who purchased their tickets through SWR but are travelling with another Train Operator affected by strike action.

Your ticket should be submitted for refund within 28 days of expiry. If you purchased your ticket through SWR (non-Advance tickets only), you can claim a fee-free refund whatever the circumstance as long as you claim your refund prior to the travel date.

If you were making a return journey and you are unable to make either your outward or return journey due to the strike (even if the other leg is unaffected), you can claim a fee-free refund on the outward and return ticket.

If you held an open return ticket and you were unable to use the return portion of your ticket due to strikes, please contact us and we will arrange a refund of 50% of the ticket cost.

Full details of how to apply can be found on the Train ticket refunds page.

If you travelled during the strike period, you can make a claim under Delay Repay based on the revised timetable, if your advertised service was delayed by more than 15 minutes. All claims must be made within 28 days of the journey. To find out more information about our Delay Repay compensation scheme and to claim, please visit this page.

Refunds should be claimed through the retailer you purchased your ticket from. Compensation should be claimed through the Train Operator you travelled with where the delay occurred. To claim Delay Repay for South Western Railway, please visit this page.

It is not possible to get a refund for one day of a season ticket, please see FAQ on claiming Delay Repay. If you no longer need your Season Ticket, it can be surrendered for a refund. The refund calculation will take into account the tickets you would have required to travel for the period up to when you asked for a refund less an administration fee. Please note that in some cases, there may be no refund value remaining. For further details on our refund policy and to apply, please visit this page.

You can claim back any unused day tickets within 28 days of the start date of the Flexi Season Ticket. Refunds are calculated based on the difference between the price you paid for the Flexi Season and the cost of an Anytime return ticket for each day you have already travelled, less an administration fee. Once the ticket has expired you are unable to claim for any unused day tickets. For further details on our refund policy and to apply, please visit this page.

If you were unable to travel or followed our advice and chose not to travel due to strike action, you can claim compensation through our Delay Repay scheme. You should make one claim for each day affected claiming a delay of 120+ minutes which will provide you with the value of one day’s travel. Flexi ticket holders must have activated a days' worth of travel. This can be done using the National Rail Smartcard app which can be downloaded for free from app stores.

This only applies to monthly and longer season ticket holders.

If you travelled during the strike period, you can make a claim under Delay Repay based on the revised timetable, if your advertised service was delayed by more than 15 minutes. All claims must be made within 28 days of the journey. To find out more information about our Delay Repay compensation scheme and to claim, please visit this page.

Automated Delay Repay will only work if you actually travelled because it relies on us collecting and analysing the tap data at the origin and destination station.

If you are a season ticket holder and you did not travel, you will need to submit a manual claim here.

Refunds should be claimed through the retailer you purchased your ticket from. Compensation should be claimed through the Train Operator you travelled with where the delay occurred. To claim Delay Repay for South Western Railway, please visit this page.

If you wish to apply for a refund on your car park season ticket, you will need to apply at the ticket office if purchased at the station. Refund requests must be made within 28 days of ticket expiry.

If you bought your parking ticket through RingGo, you will need to apply for a refund directly with them. Please visit https://myringgo.co.uk/ for further details.

The refund calculation will be based on the period used until the ticket is submitted for a refund and an administration fee (unless the parking refund is processed alongside a travel season ticket, then only one administration fee will be charged for both refunds).