If your Friday morning train commute was hit by delays or cancellations, you might be wondering if you can claim any money back.
Rush hour trains across England and Scotland have been hit by a “nationwide” communication system fault that means train drivers are unable to contact signallers.
It is mainly affecting trains that start their journeys by leaving depots – and operators impacted include the Elizabeth Line, Southeastern, Northern, South Western Railway, Gatwick Express, and ScotRail, according to National Rail.
Disruption is expected until midday on Friday.
Here we look at your rights to compensation.
What has National Rail said about refunds?
Customers are being advised to keep hold of their train tickets and make a note of how long they were delayed, as this information is needed to support any refund claims.
National Rail says that compensation levels will depend on:
• Which train company you travelled with
• The type of ticket you have – one-off or season ticket
• How long you were delayed for
How does Delay Repay work?
All train companies offer a “Delay Repay” scheme – whereby customers are reimbursed relative to how long they were delayed.
Generally, you can only claim if you were delayed by 15 minutes or more.
For most schemes, the amount you are refunded goes up incrementally up to two hours, when you are refunded the full amount.
Claims have to be submitted via individual companies’ websites or apps within 28 days of the journey. Refunds will usually appear in your account between three and 10 working days later.
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On Friday morning, passengers on impacted services have been told their tickets will be accepted on alternative routes – either on neighbouring train lines or buses.
If this still causes a delay, you can still claim through the company you booked your original ticket with.
South Western Railway has said customers on certain routes can use taxi services and reclaim for those costs.
If you were completely unable to travel, you can still claim by giving the details of the cancelled service.
What about season ticket holders?
Season ticket holders generally have two options when it comes to refunds.
Some passengers will have their season ticket as part of the train company’s app.
If this is the case, they can apply for automatic Delay Repay, which will calculate what compensation they are entitled to based on when they tap in at the barriers – compared to when trains around that time were scheduled.
Paper season ticket holders or those not using smartphone apps can apply in the normal way, by selecting the season ticket option on the Delay Repay form.
For most train companies, the amount of compensation will be based on the total cost of two single journeys.
For these ticket types this is calculated in the following way:
• Weekly season ticket – 1/10th of the price
• Flexi season ticket – 1/16th of the price
• Monthly ticket – 1/40th of the price
• Annual ticket – 1/464th of the price
