You can claim Delay Repay compensation if you have travelled on South Western Railway and were delayed by 15 minutes or more getting to your destination.

A delayed train is usually when your train service is running behind the planned and advertised timetable. If we make a change to the timetable, such as for poor weather or planned engineering and improvement work, Delay Repay will be based on the amended timetable that we advertise.

Our journey planners are updated up to 12 weeks before travel, and we recommend checking your journey before you travel, particularly for late evening, weekend and bank holiday services.

If your journey involved more than one train operator, please submit your Delay Repay claim to the train operator that caused the first delay to your journey. If you submit your claim to South Western Railway and another train operator is responsible for the delay, we will forward your claim to the correct operator and let you know.

Compensation is based on the value and type of ticket you hold, as well as the length of your delay.

This means that customers travelling on the same train may receive different compensation amounts depending on:

• The ticket type (e.g. Advance, Off-Peak, Anytime, Oyster, Contactless Pay As You Go)
• The price paid
• How their journey was structured for example if it included multiple or split tickets

Oyster and Contactless Pay As You Go are treated as Single tickets for the journey taken and the amount charged against the tap-in/tap-out times.

The table below shows the amount of compensation available for each ticket type:

If you're travelling with a Season Ticket, your Delay Repay compensation will be based on (and will never be more than) the total cost of two single journeys. This will be calculated in the following way

• Weekly ticket: 1/10th of the ticket price
• Flexi Season ticket: 1/16th of the ticket price
• Monthly ticket: 1/40th of the ticket price
• Annual ticket 1/464th of the ticket price

More information can be found in our Passenger Charter.

Please watch the video at the top of this page that provides you with guidance and a step-by-step guide to submitting a claim.

Claiming Delay Repay is simple:

• You can claim online. Once you’ve registered, we will remember your details, how you want to be paid and your season ticket details (if you have one). So, if you do need to claim again, it’ll be much quicker.
• Download a form (PDF, 183Kb) from this page and apply by post
• Collect a Delay Repay form from our stations and apply by post.

If you have never made a claim online before, you will need to register.

Please Note: Knowingly claiming delay compensation for a journey you did not take or did not intend to take is an act of fraud and if identified you may be prosecuted.

 Having the information below to hand will make the process effortless and ensure you get the right amount of compensation.

1. Your ticket

We’ll need a few of the details from your paper ticket, eTicket or Touch Smartcard:

• A scan, photo or screenshot of your daily or weekly season ticket including the barcode if travelling by eTicket
• A scan, photo or screenshot of your monthly, Period or Annual Season Ticket
• A scan of your Photocard (if a season ticket holder)
• eTicket receipt or booking confirmation, displaying your booking reference, journey details and price paid. If you brought your ticket from another retailer, please ensure you provide a copy of the ticket or eTicket reference. We cannot use order references from third parties
• Touch Smartcard number and the receipt or booking confirmation (remember you can sign up for Automated Delay Repay)
• A journey statement/receipt if you are an Oyster or contactless user, available from the TfL website. We cannot accept Contactless card payment statements which don’t show the time of travel or the journey paid for
• If you no longer have your ticket, please provide a receipt showing your journey details, including the price paid
• If you travelled with split tickets or SplitSave, please see our "Travelling with Split Tickets or SplitSave" FAQ below

Please Note: Any image that you provide of your ticket must be clearly legible so that all details can be retrieved and enable us to accurately process your claim as quickly as possible.

Remember, if you don’t have a scanner you can use your built-in phone or tablet camera to take a photo of your ticket or photocard. You can then make a claim for Delay Repay compensation straight from your smart device. Alternatively attach the photo to an email and send it to yourself. You should then be able to save the image to your computer.

2. Your journey information

You’ll have to tell us where you were travelling from and to and the time of your journey.

3. Your payment details

You can choose to be repaid by:

• Electronic bank transfer (BACS)
• Credit or debit card
• Cheque
• National Rail Vouchers (which can be used as payment or part payment towards any National Rail ticket, including season tickets).
• Donate your compensation to our chosen charity, Action for Children.

Our Delay Repay website is the most secure way for us to receive your payment details.

Remember if you apply by post you can only receive compensation in the form of National Rail Vouchers or a cheque.

We will process your claim within 20 days and pay your compensation back to you by your chosen method.

If you travelled using split tickets or SplitSave you can still claim Delay Repay.

When submitting your claim, select "Yes" when asked "Are you claiming for more than one ticket?" and upload a clear image of each ticket used for the journey. Please enter the journey details shown on each individual ticket when uploading them.

We need to see all tickets used for the journey so that we can verify that the tickets cover your entire route and calculate any compensation due.

Compensation is calculated using the value of each individual ticket, rather than the total purchase price of the booking. Any compensation due for each ticket is then added together to determine the total payment.

If you do not provide all tickets used for the journey, we may be unable to validate your claim and it may require manual review.

Yes, if you’ve travelled on our services and your journey has been delayed by 15 minutes or more you can claim compensation.

For claims on journeys made using Oyster or Pay As You Go or Contactless the refund will be calculated based on the equivalent pay as you go single fare for the delayed journey.

If you are an Oyster season ticket holder you will need to provide a receipt showing the date of purchase, the price you paid, and the zones covered by your Oyster card.

If you use Oyster Pay As You Go, please provide an image or scan of your TfL registered Oyster card statement showing the disrupted journey, the stations where you touched in and out, and the cost of your journey.

If you are using Contactless Payment, please provide an image or scan of your TfL registered Contactless statement showing the disrupted journey, the stations where you touched in and out, and the cost of your journey. Please note, images of debit/credit cards are not accepted.

You can get copies of these statements from Transport for London and remember to ensure the statement you provide shows the journeys you are claiming for.

Please Note: If your claim is rejected due to you being unable to provide your journey history you will still be able to claim compensation. Please escalate through the Delay Repay process stating you journey history was not available.

If you have lost your paper ticket, where possible we will accept either the white ticket receipt, purchase receipt, or collection receipt, so long as we are able to identify the ticket number.

For all season ticket claims a copy of your matching photocard is also required.

If you abandon your journey due to disruption, whether you claim Delay Repay or a refund will depend on what happened after your journey was disrupted.

Claim Delay Repay if:

• You started your journey by train but completed it using another method of transport.
• You travelled at least part of your journey and reached your destination later than the planned and advertised timetable.

Claim a refund if:

• You decided not to travel because of disruption.
• You abandoned your journey and returned to your original departure station.
• You have an unused daily ticket, including a single, return or Advance ticket.

You must submit your refund request within 28 days of your ticket's expiry date.

Season Ticket holders

Season ticket holders are not eligible for abandoned journey refunds.

If you hold a weekly, monthly, annual or Flexi Season Ticket and abandon your journey due to disruption, you should submit a Delay Repay claim rather than a refund request. To receive a full day's compensation, please submit your claim as a 120+ minute delay.

You can claim a refund by completing the online form.

Delay Repay compensation is based on the delay to your overall journey. If your train is cancelled and this results in you arriving at your destination 15 minutes or more later than planned, you may be entitled to Delay Repay compensation. We will base our assessment for your compensation on you catching the next available train from your origin to your destination station.

If your claim is rejected, please submit an appeal and tell us the route and times of your train journey so that we can review your claim again.

If your appeal is unsuccessful, please contact our Customer Relations Team for further assistance.

Auto Delay Repay only generates delay claims when you tap in and tap out, so if your train is cancelled and you haven't tapped in before that train's scheduled departure time, you'll need to make a manual claim. Please remember when making a manual claim to provide an image or scan of your smartcard ensuring we can see the unique reference number. For all season ticket claims a copy of your matching photocard is also required.

If you were unable to board a train because it was too crowded and this caused you to arrive at your destination 15 minutes or more later than planned, you may be entitled to Delay Repay compensation.

If your claim is declined, please submit an appeal explaining that you were unable to board due to overcrowding so that we can review your claim again.

If your appeal is unsuccessful, please contact our Customer Relations Team for further assistance.

Although our process is designed for the person who experienced the delay to make the claim, we understand this is not always possible or practical, for example when family members or a group are travelling together.

One person may submit a single claim on behalf of everyone who travelled, provided the journeys have the same origin and destination.

When submitting the claim, please select "Yes" when asked "Are you claiming for more than one ticket?" and upload a clear image of all tickets for everyone included in the claim. This allows us to verify each ticket and calculate the correct compensation.

Please note that any compensation due will be paid to the person who submits the claim.

Yes, but you will need to ensure that you include all required information (please see our paper form for details). However, it is worth noting it will probably be quicker for you to create an online Delay Repay account and save your details and preferences with us. This means you will only need to provide your journey and ticket details. It also means we can offer you the full range of repayment options, including BACS transfer direct to your bank account.

The 28-day limit for claims will still apply. Remember if you apply by post you can only receive compensation in the form of National Rail Vouchers or a cheque.

This will depend on the payment method you choose:

• Electronic bank transfer - Your payment should be with you within 5 working days after your claim has been approved.
• Credit or debit card – Your payment should be with you within 5 - 7 working days, after your claim has been approved.
• Cheque - This will be sent out to you in the post within 20 working days of your claim being approved.
• National Rail Vouchers – These will be sent out to you in the post within 20 working days of your claim being approved.
• Donation to our chosen charity, Action for Children will be sent within 20 working days of your claim being approved.
• If you have Tap2Go, claims may take longer to process because it takes up to 7 days to finalise the value of your ticket as it’s based on your actual travel.

Your claim may be declined for a few reasons and the specific reason will be detailed in our email response.

The most common reasons are:

• Your claim was submitted outside of 28 days
• You have provided incorrect journey information, for example the date or time you travelled
• The delay was less than 15 minutes
• The claim was a duplicate of one you've made before (for the same date/time)
• Your ticket had already been used for a claim
• We were unable to verify your ticket or supporting evidence
• Your claim was for a journey that wasn’t possible, meaning we could not match the claimed journey to a valid route or timetable 
• Your ticket was not valid for the journey you have claimed for – please check the details of your ticket
• The delay occurred with a different train operator. If this happens, we'll forward your claim to the train operator we believe is responsible for your delay
• You have exceeded the maximum compensation payable for a day’s travel**

**When a delay of 120 minutes or more occurs, the compensation calculation available to you is 100% of the cost of the delayed journey (whether you are a season ticket or daily ticket holder). As we provide the full cost of the ticket (or value of the day’s journey in the case of season ticket holders), compensation is capped at this level for the day.

If we have declined your claim, we will contact you by email to tell you why, sometimes this can be because your claim is missing important information.

If you think we’ve made a mistake you can appeal our decision.

Click on the link in the email we have sent you and follow the instructions.

Once we have received your appeal, we’ll look at your claim again and will get back to you as soon as we can.

Yes, you can donate to our chosen charity, Action for Children and the compensation will be sent within 20 working days of your claim being approved.

Action for Children believe every child should grow up safe and happy. They are a vital lifeline for vulnerable children and young people. They provide practical and emotional care and support ensuring their voices are heard and campaigning to bring lasting improvements to their lives.

Our policy does not in any way limit or exclude your legal rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Under the Consumer Rights Act, you may be able to claim extra compensation if you incur costs as a result of our failure to provide the expected service. If you think this applies to you, please get in touch with our Customer Services team and tell us what happened so we can look into it.

We look at each claim on a case-by-case basis and aim to get back to you within 20 working days.

For more information on the Consumer Rights Act and how it applies to the railway industry please see Consumer Rights Act Customer FAQs PDF from National Rail.

Automated Delay Repay (ADR) is only available to customers who have either:

• purchased a season ticket through our website and loaded it onto a SWR Touch Smartcard (including Tap2Go); or
• purchased an Advance ticket through our website.

Customers must also sign up for ADR before eligible delay claims can be generated automatically.

When you tap in and out on your rail journey, we’ll use those taps to assess if your journey has been delayed by 15 minutes or more, ADR will generate a claim and add it to your Delay Repay account.

Once a claim has been raised, we will send you an email to tell you this.

You must then follow the instructions in the email to accept, decline or amend the claim within 14 days of the claim being generated.

Once you approve the claim you should receive your compensation within 10 working days.

Eligible claims are usually generated automatically within 3 days of your journey. However, if you believe you are eligible for a claim and you have not received an e-mail, you should make a manual claim. You have 28 days to do this.

ADR does not guarantee that all eligible delays will be identified automatically. If you believe you are entitled to compensation and have not received an ADR notification, you should submit a manual Delay Repay claim.

Using ADR is simple:

• Create a Delay Repay account. Please note, the email address associated with your South Western Railway account & Delay Repay must be the same. So, if you already have an account with South Western Railway, please make sure you’re using the same email address when you set up your Delay Repay account.
• Select Automated Delay Repay in your account
• Set up your preferred payment method
• Set up your preferred journey

Remember to tap in and tap out whenever you travel, as ADR identifies if you were delayed and creates a claim on your behalf.

Claims will be set up in your Delay Repay account ready for you to approve via the ADR approval email.

We will send you an email to tell you the claim is ready for approval and simply select accept, amend [if you do not believe the claim is accurate] or decline.

Once you approve the claim you should receive your compensation within 20 working days depending on the payment method you choose.

• Electronic bank transfer - Your payment should be with you within 5 working days after you approve your claim.
• Credit or debit card – Your payment should be with you within 5 - 7 working days, after you approve your claim.
• Cheque - This will be sent out to you in the post within 20 working days of you approving your claim.
• National Rail Vouchers – These will be sent out to you in the post within 20 working days of you approving your claim.
• Donation to our chosen charity, Action for Children will be sent within 20 working days of you approving your claim.

Yes, without this information we will not be able to determine whether your journey was delayed.

If you break your journey, and the station you are breaking at has ticket gates, please make sure you touch out and back in on a gate smartcard reader.

Unfortunately, if you break your journey where there are no ticket gates you will need to submit a manual Delay Repay claim via the Delay Repay website.

ADR relies on accurate ticket and journey information. In some circumstances, ADR may not be able to automatically assess your travel, including:

• Missing tap in or tap out records
• Journeys that differ from your usual travel pattern
• Incomplete journey data received from external systems

Some split-ticket journeys may not be suitable for ADR and may require a manual Delay Repay claim.

If you believe you are entitled to compensation and do not receive an ADR notification, you should submit a manual Delay Repay claim within 28 days

Yes, ADR won’t work if you didn’t or couldn’t tap in and out, or if your journey was different to normal. You can always submit a manual claim via the Delay Repay website or complete and send us a Delay Repay form (PDF, 183kb).

Don’t worry if you’re not sure either, as ADR can detect if you've made a claim for a journey and won’t then automatically raise one for you. Similarly, if you make a Delay Repay claim and ADR has already generated a claim, we will let you know.

If you were unable to tap in or tap out, ADR may not be able to assess your journey automatically. You should submit a manual Delay Repay claim through the Delay Repay website or by completing a Delay Repay claim form.

If ADR subsequently generates a claim for the same journey, we will identify the duplicate and process the claim appropriately.

Automated Delay Repay supports Tap2Go journeys, however it can take up to 7 days to finalise the value of your ticket as it’s based on your actual travel.

When an Auto Delay Repay claim is triggered you will receive an email from us explaining that we believe you have been delayed and are therefore entitled to compensation.

You will be invited to review and complete your claim, however the value of compensation will not be known until the ticket value is finalised.

This is the simplest way to receive Delay Repay compensation. It also saves you from having to fill out claims (or having to remember to do so).

ADR claims are generated within 3 working days of travel and once approved your compensation should arrive within 20 working days, depending on the payment method you choose:

• Electronic bank transfer - Your payment should be with you within 5 working day after you approve your claim.
• Credit or debit card – Your payment should be with you within 5 - 7 working days, after you approve your claim.
• Cheque - This will be sent out to you in the post within 20 working days of you approving your claim.
• National Rail Vouchers – These will be sent out to you in the post within 20 working days of you approving your claim.
• Donation to our chosen charity, Action for Children will be sent within 20 working days of you approving your claim.

If you believe the compensation amount is incorrect, you can amend the claim by following the instructions in the email we sent you. If you weren't delayed, you can decline the claim.

Automated Delay Repay relies on matching your ticket and journey information with our train running data. In a small number of cases, we may not receive all the details needed to confirm your delay. This can happen for reasons such as incomplete ticket data, missing tap in or tap out records, or where real time train information cannot be linked to your specific journey. If we are unable to verify your delay automatically, you may not receive an ADR notification. You can still make a manual Delay Repay claim, and we will review it using the information you provide.

SWR Delay Repay claims