Have you arrived at least 15 minutes late when travelling on a Southern Rail train? Under Southern’s Passenger Charter, any traveller who experiences a delay above a quarter of an hour due to a delay or cancellation on a Southern service will be entitled to some or all of their money back. This guide explains the details of the Southern Rail Delay Repay scheme and sets out the steps you can take to seek compensation.
Photo by Shaquille Gurung
How does Southern Rail Delay Repay work?
Delay Repay is a national scheme used by train companies to compensate passengers for unexpected delays or cancellations. With Southern Rail Delay Repay, anyone who travels on a Southern service could get compensation on journeys with delays of 15 minutes or more.
Southern says that it “knows how frustrating train delays can be” and will therefore offer monetary compensation for any delayed train. You can get money back through Southern Rail Delay Repay up to 28 days after the date of travel, and Southern will respond within 20 working days (usually within five, except for significant periods of disruption).
Any compensation owed is calculated by looking at the difference between your train’s arrival time and the time stated on the timetable, though this can vary when planned engineering works or holidays prompt an amended timetable. In any case, the refund you receive will also depend on factors like the cost of your original ticket and the type of ticket you have.
Southern checks and verifies all claims individually and reserves the right to prosecute fraudulent claimants.
How to claim Southern Rail Delay Repay
When you have travelled on a delayed train, you want to get compensation efficiently – not waste more time waiting on the phone or filling in multiple forms.
Thankfully, claiming Southern Delay Repay is quick and easy with the online application form you can access through this page.
Even easier, if you create an online account with Southern, the operator will store your personal information, Season Ticket details (where appropriate) and repayment preferences, saving you time if you ever need to apply for Southern Rail Delay Repay again.
On the online form, you’ll be given the chance to fill in key information such as length of delay, ticket type, date of travel, and how you would like to be reimbursed. Then Southern will verify the claim and, if valid, process your compensation.
Repayment options through the online claim form are:
- Amazon account balance (you must have a UK-registered Amazon account)
- Electronic bank transfer (BACS)
- E-voucher (you must have an online account with us)
- PayPal
- Credit or debit card (except Mastercard and AMEX)
- National Rail vouchers
- Charity donation
Alternatively, Southern Rail offers a paper form for passengers who prefer to use this method. These can be collected from most Southern Rail staffed stations or downloaded and printed from this page.
Since Southern cannot accept financial information by post, the repayment options are more limited. Once completed, send your form and supporting documents to:
Freepost RUET-ZEJB-TKKZ
Govia Thameslink Railway
DE1 9RQ
Passengers wanting to claim Southern Rail Delay Repay can also speak to a member of staff at a Southern help desk at any relevant station. If you still have questions, contact Southern through this page.
Note: All Southern Rail Delay Repay claims are processed by the train operators that you travel with, not with Trip.com.
How much will I be compensated by Southern Rail Delay Repay?
The refund you are entitled to with Southern Rail Delay Repay depends on your delay and ticket type. Essentially, the amount of compensation due is as follows:
| Length of Delay | Single tickets | Return tickets | Season tickets (% cost of a journey) |
| 15-29 minutes | 25% | 12.5% | 25% |
| 30-59 minutes | 50% | 25% | 50% |
| 60-119 minutes | 100% | 50% | 100% |
| Over 120 minutes | 100% | 100% | 200% |
How much compensation can I claim as a Season Ticket holder?
If you are a Southern Rail Season Ticket holder, your compensation you will be calculated as the proportionate cost of the price of your Season Ticket. In other words, it is first necessary to work out the “journey fare”, using the following figures:
- Annual Season Tickets - 464 Single journeys
- Six-monthly season ticket - 240 single journeys
- Quarterly Season Tickets - 120 Single journey
- Monthly Season Tickets - 40 Single journeys
- Flexi Season Tickets - 16 Single journeys
- Weekly Season Tickets - 10 Single journeys
So, if you have a Weekly Season Ticket that cost £150 and want to claim for a delay of 20 minutes, the calculation is:
% compensation (25%) of ticket cost (£150) divided by expected number of journeys (10)
Which gives 25% of (150/10) = £3.75
Photo by My another account at English Wikipedia
Does Southern Rail deliver on its Delay Repay promise?
If you have ever wondered whether Southern Rail really delivers on its compensation duties, you are in luck! The operator publishes the number of claims received and approved, as well as the total value compensated and the average time for the claim to be processed. The following table breaks down some recent periods; you can find the full data set here.
| Period | Volume of claims received | Number of claims approved | Total value of compensation paid per period | Average time for a claim to be processed (days) |
| 18/08/2024 - 14/09/2024 | 25,114 | 20,254 | £127,674.60 | 2.4 |
| 15/09/2024 - 12/10/2024 | 31,644 | 26,758 | £198,743.30 | 2.9 |
| 13/10/2024 - 09/11/2024 | 23,500 | 18,922 | £131,600.70 | 2.3 |
| 10/11/2024 - 07/12/2024 | 31,267 | 23,930 | £145,247.00 | 2.2 |
| 08/12/2024 - 04/01/2025 | 17.393 | 15,338 | £107,215.40 | 2.6 |
From this table, it should be obvious that Southern Rail is compensating most of its claimants. Better yet, the operator does not delay in processing claims, with an average turnaround time around two days.
Why was my Southern Rail Delay Repay claim declined?
Although most Southern Rail Delay Repay claims are paid, your claim may be declined for a number of reasons. Helpfully, Southern will provide details of the rejection in its response.
Common reasons for turning down a claim are:
- Southern received your claim more than 28 days after your travel date
- The service you claimed for wasn’t scheduled to run on that date
- You didn’t provide sufficient proof of purchase or the tickets provided were not valid for the journey you claimed
- You have already submitted an identical claim
- Southern could not find a delay of 15 minutes or more for the tickets you submitted
- Your train was delayed but this delay was caused by a different train operator
- You have exceeded the maximum compensation payable for a day’s travel.
If for any reason you are still confused about whether you are entitled to claim with Southern Rail Delay Repay, or you would like to challenge the outcome of your claim, reach out to the Customer Support Team here.
Should I get Delay Repay compensation or a Refund?
Southern Rail Delay Repay is for passengers who have arrived at least 15 minutes late on any Southern service. This means that you should not claim Southern Delay Repay if you did not finish your journey. Instead, if a delay or cancellation caused you to abandon your travel, you should contact the retailer you bought your ticket from to find out if you are eligible for a full refund.
Things to look out for when claiming Delay Repay with Southern Rail
After suffering a delay, it can be tempting to rattle off a Delay Repay claim and hit submit in record speed. But to ensure your claim is processed quickly and efficiently, it is important to check first that:
- You have followed all the relevant conditions of Southern Rail Delay Repay.
- Your claim uses the details of the journey you booked (i.e. the route you planned to take before the delay), rather than the journey you ended up taking after the delay.
- Your journey was not impacted by any planned engineering works or amended timetables.
- You have uploaded a high-resolution scan or photograph of your ticket, such that Southern Rail can verify the validity of your ticket.
- You haven’t made any mistakes in the details of your ticking, cost, timings, etc.
If you have checked all of the above, go ahead and make your Southern Rail Delay Repay claim. You should find out if it is successful in a matter of days!