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

Customers with daily tickets such as singles (including Advance) and returns valid for travel on a strike day can instead use their ticket on an alternative date as set out below:

ASLEF strike:

• Tickets for Saturday 30 September can be used on Friday 29 September or up to and including Tuesday 3 October
• Tickets for Wednesday 4 October can be used on Tuesday 3 October or up to and including Friday 6 October 

Time restrictions will still apply which means off peak tickets cannot be used during peak periods. If you have an ‘Advance’ ticket, please travel as close as possible to the original day and time of travel as possible.

Please be aware that if you have a through ticket which includes London Underground, these will not be valid on London Underground on dates other than shown on the ticket.

Please note there is no validity extension for the return portion of period returns as these are already open for 1 calendar month and are very flexible. If you are unable to use the return portion of your ticket, please contact us and we will arrange a refund of 50% of the ticket cost.

This is a national strike which will significantly affect all train companies. Because of this, we do not expect cross-operator ticket acceptance to be possible, however, TfL will accept paper tickets only for travel on bus, tube, tram and DLR on reasonable routes. You are also advised to check for updates on the day of travel.

If your ticket is valid for travel with another operator or via a different route and train services are running, then other services can be used. You can check the route validity of your ticket here: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/TicketAndValidityFinder.aspx

If you have a London Travelcard as part of your ticket on paper or smartcard then this is already valid for use on London Underground, Trams and buses.

Customers with Advance tickets

If you have an Advance ticket for a train that is scheduled for a strike day, and you decide 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 have 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 is 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 contact them directly.

Customers with other ‘walk-up’ single or return tickets

If you have a daily walk-up single or return ticket for travel on a strike day and you decide not to travel because the service you originally intended to travel on is cancelled, delayed or rescheduled or your seat reservation will 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 are 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 hold an open return ticket and you are 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 here.

If you travelled on a strike day, 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: https://www.southwesternrailway.com/contact-and-help/delay-repay

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: https://www.southwesternrailway.com/contact-and-help/delay-repay 

No, ‘Advance’ Tickets have been removed from sale for affected strike dates.

Where possible, we will identify any Group bookings made centrally that are affected by strikes and contact will be made. For any other queries on Group bookings contact us through the normal Group travel email address: groups@swrailway.com 

Where possible, we will identify any Business Travel bookings made centrally that are affected by strikes and contact will be made. For any other queries on Business Travel bookings contact us through the normal Business travel email address: business.travel@swrailway.com

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 a £10 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: www.southwesternrailway.com/contact-and-help/train-ticket-refunds

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 a £10 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: https://www.southwesternrailway.com/contact-and-help/train-ticket-refunds

If you were unable to travel or followed our advice and chose not to travel due to the 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.

Customers who normally purchase a weekly season ticket to carefully consider whether this is the correct ticket for them given the strike action taking place. If you purchase a Weekly season ticket and do not travel, you will not be able to claim compensation. As a Weekly season ticket holder, you will only be able to claim Delay Repay if you travel, this will be against the revised timetable.

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: www.southwesternrailway.com/contact-and-help/delay-repay 

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: https://www.southwesternrailway.com/contact-and-help/delay-repay

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 a £10 administration fee (unless the parking refund is processed alongside a travel season ticket, then only one administration fee will be charged for both refunds).

 If you have a car park season ticket, you can use it at any other South Western Railway car park on the strike day (space permitting). If you normally buy a car parking ticket on the day, you will need to pay the usual parking fee for that station.

 The SWR app contains live car park availability. Please note that Guildford car park is Network Rail managed and therefore not covered by this arrangement. 

 We cannot guarantee that a space will be available at alternative stations; some car parks do reach capacity and you may need to allow time to find alternative parking.

If you can get to an alternative station, you can use your season ticket to travel on an alternative SWR route that is running but only where travel is absolutely necessary. The limited services we can run are likely to be extremely busy and services will start later and finish much earlier than normal. Please check train times carefully if you are considering this option.

Flexi Season ticket customers: You must ensure that you activate your Flexi Season if you travel from a different station than your ticket is valid for. You will need to download the National Rail Smartcard Manager app in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and follow the instructions to activate your Flexi Season ticket as it will not work at another station’s gates or validator.

If you booked your travel before amendments were made to the timetable, please check your journey carefully.

If your service no longer ran, you can:

• Apply for a fee-free refund. For further information please visit this page. 

You can make a claim under Delay Repay based on the amended 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.

Customers with Advance tickets

If you had an Advance ticket for a train that is 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.

Customers with other ‘walk-up’ single or return tickets

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 here.

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 a £10 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 a £10 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 a £10 administration fee (unless the parking refund is processed alongside a travel season ticket, then only one administration fee will be charged for both refunds).