Transport for Wales Delay Repay: How to claim compensation for late trains

All train operators strive to ensure their trains run on time but, when delays happen, Transport for Wales will offer fair compensation under the rules set out in its Passenger’s Charter.

The Transport for Wales Delay Repay scheme is a pledge to compensate passengers for trains that are delayed or cancelled, valid for all ticket types, including Season Tickets.

Essentially, the commitment means that if you arrive 15 or more minutes late at your destination, you can claim Transport for Wales Delay Repay. The full amount of your Transport for Wales refund will vary according to the length of the delay and your ticket type.

Crucially, Transport for Wales can only process Delay Repay claims for which it is responsible, which means that if your initial delay was caused by different train operator, you should submit your application with them instead.

Passengers have a window of 28 days from the day of their delayed journey to submit a Transport for Wales Delay Repay claim.

To make a Transport for Wales Delay Repay claim, you can head to the Transport for Wales online form or download and print a postal application.

By far the fastest and easiest way to submit your claim is through the dedicated online form, which you can access here.

Simply follow the instructions to input all the key information you need to provide, from the time of the train that was delayed and your date of travel, to the origin and destination of your journey and how you would like to receive your Transport for Wales refund. Options for repayment include bank transfer, debit/credit card, cheque, voucher, or a donation to charity.

You will also be prompted to add a scan or photo of the tickets purchased for your journey. Remember too that a claim can only be made if you possessed a valid ticket for your whole journey.

For postal applications, you should download the form here. Print it, fill it in and post it, along with your proof of travel, to the address indicated. To be eligible for compensation, Transport for Wales must receive your Delay Repay claim within 28 days of your journey.

It is possible to speak to a member of staff at any Transport for Wales help desk or get in touch with the operator online to find out more.

Note that all compensation requests for Transport for Wales Delay Repay must be processed by Transport for Wales, so Trip.com cannot help with this process.

Assuming that you are eligible for Transport for Wales Delay Repay compensation, your refund will be calculated as follows:

If you are travelling with a Season Ticket, your Transport for Wales refund will be the proportionate cost related to any individual delayed journeys.

The value assigned to each journey varies depending on your ticket type, as follows:

• Annual Season Ticket = divide by 464
• Monthly Season Ticket = divide by 40
• Weekly Season Ticket = divide by 10

Take, for example, a Monthly Season Ticket that cost £400. Each individual journey is worth £40, so (using the table above) we can see that a delay of 45 minutes would trigger 50% compensation. As such, you would be due a Transport for Wales refund of £20.

Note: Season Ticket holders can make a maximum of two claims per day.

Photo by Train Photos

Transport for Wales Delay Repay statistics are publicly available to view, in the interests of transparency and fairness. Like many operators, Transport for Wales publishes data on how many claims it has received and approved, how much compensation it has provided and the average amount of time it has taken to process all claims.

Here is a quick summary of some recent periods:

You can consult the last 12 months of updates here: TfW Delay Repay Performance

Browsing the Transport for Wales Delay Repay stats makes clear that the operator is keeping to its promise to compensate trains delayed by 15 or more minutes, with payouts of hundreds of thousands of pounds a month and a high percentage of claims approved.

Transport for Wales investigates every Delay Repay claim and may find that some are not valid. This could be because:

• You have provided incorrect journey information or your ticket was not valid for the journey you claimed for
• The delay was less than 15 minutes
• Your claim was submitted more than 28 days after the journey
• The delay occurred with a different train operator (TfW will pass the claim to them and let you know).
• You have exceeded the maximum compensation payable for a day’s travel.

If you believe your claim has been declined in error, you can submit an appeal with additional information to support your claim within one month of the decision.

Click on the Check My Claim Status button on the Delay Repay Claim Form (you will need your claim reference number and the email address you entered when the claim was submitted to log in).

Transport for Wales is clear that its Delay Repay scheme is for passengers who have travelled on a TfW service, completed their journey and arrived more than 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival time. This means that, if not all of these criteria apply, you might need to seek your Transport for Wales refund through a different method.

Specifically, if you decided not to travel because your train was cancelled or delayed, you should not submit a Transport for Wales Delay Repay claim. Instead, you could apply for a refund from the retailer where you bought your ticket.

• Submit your Transport for Wales Delay Repay claim within 28 days of your journey.
• On all applications, use the details of your original planned journey with TfW, not the route you ended up taking after any changes to your travel plans.
• Find out if planned engineering works may have led to updated timetables being published on your day of travel.
• Attach or upload a high-resolution scan or photograph of your ticket(s).
• Double check all the details of your journey, ticket, dates and times very carefully!

Transport for Wales general information

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