Southeastern Delay Repay: How to claim compensation for late trains

Under National Rail guidelines, if you experience a delay over a certain period when travelling by train you can claim compensation from the train operator responsible.

With Southeastern Delay Repay, any passenger who arrives 15 or more minutes late at their destination because of a delay or cancellation to a Southeastern service will likely be entitled to a full or partial refund.

Southeastern passengers can claim Delay Repay if delayed by at least 15 minutes, usually because the train service is running behind the planned and advertised schedule. In cases of poor weather or planned engineering work, an amended timetable will be issued and Delay Repay calculations will be based on these new timings.

Claims can be made up to 28 days after your journey and types of reimbursement include an e-voucher, Visa, PayPal or a donation to a charity of your choice.

Every Southeastern Delay Repay claim is checked by Southeastern and the amount of compensation owed is calculated based on the length of your delay and the type of your ticket you were travelling with.

To make a Southeastern Delay Repay claim, simply fill out the details of your journey and how you would like to be compensated in the online form available at this page.

Additionally, you will be asked to provide a scan or photograph of your ticket (or Season Ticket), or any relevant Smartcard / Oyster details, where appropriate.

When completing a Southeastern Delay Repay claim online, you can either proceed as a guest or register for an account. If you create an account, your details will be remembered for any future claims.

Alternatively, it is possible to submit a claim by post; to do so, pick up a Delay Repay form at any Southeastern staffed station or download a PDF copy to print out and fill in. You don’t need to worry about the address or paying postage, as the form is self-addressed and freepost.

A valid claim with Southeastern Delay Repay will need to have all of the following details:

• Date of travel
• Time of scheduled departure
• Origin station
• Any interchange stations
• Destination station

If you have any doubts or would like to check your eligibility for Southeastern Delay Repay, you can contact Southeastern through this page or speak to a member of staff at any Southeastern staffed station.

Remember: all Delay Repay applications are processed by the train operator responsible for the delay, not the retailer where you bought your ticket.

Southeastern compensates passengers who experience delays of 15 minutes or more based on the length of your delay and the type of ticket. This table shows the amount of compensation available:

For Season Ticket holders, it is necessary first to calculate the proportionate journey fare. To do this, Southeastern uses the following calculation:

• Annual season ticket covers 464 single journeys
• Quarterly season ticket covers 120 single journeys
• Monthly season ticket covers 40 single journeys
• Flexi season ticket covers 16 single journeys
• Weekly season ticket covers 10 single journeys

So, if you have a Monthly Season Ticket that costs £800 and want to claim for a delay of 45 minutes, the calculation is:

1. Work out the journey fare, i.e. for a Monthly Season Ticket, this will be the ticket cost divided by 40

£800 divided by 40 = £20.00

2. Work out the compensation due (percentage of journey fare) i.e. for a 45-minute delay, this will be 25% of the journey fare

25% of £20 = £5.00

To inform customers about the rate at which Southeastern compensates delayed passengers, the operator publishes a full breakdown of its Delay Repay data. See here:

Looking at these figures, we can be reassured that Southeastern takes seriously its commitment to compensate passengers delayed on its services. As well as refunding the vast majority of its Delay Repay cases, Southeastern consistently processes the claims in just a couple of days, significantly faster than the average operator.

Photo by Mike Robinson

Claiming Delay Repay with Southeastern does not guarantee that you will be compensated, as the operator will need to investigate each case individually.

Although, as the data above shows, most claims are successful, there are a few common reasons why your claim may have been denied:

• Your journey was delayed by another operator, rather than by Southeastern
• Southeastern received your claim more than 28 days after the date of travel
• You gave inaccurate journey details or claimed for a ticket that was not valid for your journey
• Your travel day had an amended timetable
• Your claim did not have sufficient proof of purchase.

Can I appeal against my Delay Repay decision?

When you receive the outcome of your Southeastern Delay Repay claim, if you believe it has been incorrectly assessed, you should contact Southeastern by replying to the communication you received.

You can also get back in touch with Southeastern using the contact details on this page or by calling 0345 322 7021. Remember to include your Delay Repay claim reference number when contacting Southeastern to appeal.

Southeastern Delay Repay is specifically for passengers who have travelled with Southeastern on a service that arrived at least 15 minutes late. In other words, you should claim Southeastern Delay Repay only if you finished your journey (and it was delayed).

In contrast, if a delay or cancellation caused you to abandon your journey, you should check the conditions of sale of your ticket and contact the retailer you bought it from to find out if you are eligible for a full refund.

Prior to pressing submit on your Southeastern Delay Repay claim, it is important to check that:

• You have adhered to all the relevant rules and conditions governing the scheme (as explained on this page).
• There were no planned engineering works or amended timetables on your day of travel that might affect your ability to make a valid claim.
• Your claim uses the details of your original journey (i.e. the route you planned to take before the delay), not the journey you ended up taking after the delay.
• You have uploaded a high-resolution scan or photograph of your ticket.
• You have correctly input all the details of your journey – even a small error may hinder Southeastern’s ability to verify your claim.

Southeastern general information

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