Compensation and Refunds

If you arrive at your destination 15 or more minutes late because your GWR train was delayed or cancelled, you can claim Delay Repay compensation. We need to receive your claim within 28 days of your delay.

Find out more about Delay Repay and make a claim here.

If you give yourself plenty of time but still miss a connection because our train is late, we’ll help you get to the destination on your ticket. You may be entitled to compensation if this delayed you by 15 minutes, or more.

Delay Repay compensation can be claimed using our online form.

If you travelled with more than one train operator and you experienced a delay, it is important that you submit your claim to the operator you were travelling with when the initial delay occurred. Compensation is only available for missed connections when the connection was scheduled and shown in journey planners. The overall delay to your final destination will be taken into account.

GWR is an impartial retailer and sells tickets on behalf of all train operators. If you were delayed on a train operated by a company other than GWR, please direct any complaints to that operator. Each train operator has its own Passenger’s Charter.

Find a list of other train operators and their contact details here

To handle your Delay Repay claim we'll need:

• your contact details
• a copy of your ticket or proof of purchase
• details of your journey, along with the origin and destination station, scheduled departure time, and how late you arrived at your final destination

We’ll also need to know how you would like to be paid (bank transfer, debit/credit card, cheque, voucher, or a donation to charity)

This will depend on your ticket.

Paper ticket
An image or scan of your paper ticket. If you no longer have your ticket, we will accept a receipt as long as we can identify the journey details, ticket type, the price you paid, and the ticket number.

GWR Touch Smartcard
An image or scan of your smartcard, as long as we can see the unique reference number.

eTicket
A screenshot of your eTicket or a scan of your booking receipt, showing your booking reference, journey details and price you paid.

Oyster card
A copy of your Oyster card statement showing the disrupted journey, the stations where you touched in and out, and the cost of your journey.

Contactless
An image or scan of your contactless statement showing the disrupted journey, the stations where you touched in and out, and the cost of your journey.

Smartcard (other train company)
An image or scan of your receipt (or booking confirmation) showing details of the relevant ticket held on your smartcard and the cost of your ticket.

We know that it’s not always possible, or practical, to claim individually. For example, when you’ve travelled with children. Our online form lets you submit a claim for multiple passengers in one go.

Just upload a copy of all the tickets you are claiming for and let us know how much each of them cost.

Our online form lets you submit a claim if you used split tickets to complete your journey. Just upload a copy of all the tickets covering the full journey you made.

If you are claiming using the paper form, all tickets must be enclosed, and the total cost provided.

Delays are calculated by comparing recorded train running data against the planned and advertised timetable. This means compensation is not usually offered for extended journey times caused by pre-planned engineering works.

How much you get will depend on the type of ticket you have and how late you arrived at your destination.

How we work out the cost of a return journey:

Type of season ticket	Return journey price calculations
Weekly	1/5 of the ticket price
Flexi	1/8 of the ticket price
Monthly	1/20 of the ticket price
Annual	1/232 of the ticket price

If you have a carnet or rover ticket, we divide the price you paid by the number of days it is valid for to give a daily return rate.

Use our Delay Repay calculator to see how much you could be due.

Yes, Season Ticket holders are eligible to claim Delay Repay from 1 April 2021.

Find out more about Delay Repay and make a claim here

It is important that you provide the complete details of the train you intended to catch, and not details of the train you ended up catching (if different).

Please make sure that the correct date is selected. The timetable on weekdays can vary from weekends.

Our online web form uses the 24-hour clock format, so it’s important the departure time is entered correctly – for example if you travelled at 5pm, enter the time as 17:00 and not 05:00.

Delays are calculated by comparing recorded train running data against the planned and advertised timetable. This means compensation is not usually offered for extended journey times caused by pre-planned engineering works.

Amended timetables are normally in place when Network Rail carry out scheduled engineering works. If you booked your journey more than 12 weeks in advance and did not check your journey again closer to your travel, it is possible that the timetable was since updated to reflect the works.

Repayment options for claims made online are:

• card (Visa/Mastercard)
• bank (BACS)
• Rail Travel Voucher
• a donation to charity

We can only pay by cheque, voucher, or charity donation for paper claims.

We cannot change the option you have chosen so please make sure you select the right one for you when filling in your claim.

No, Delay Repay only compensates for delayed journeys and the Delay Repay compensation we pay is based on the cost of your ticket.

You can't receive more than the cost of your ticket under Delay Repay, but you may be entitled to further compensation if you’ve incurred additional costs through our service not being provided with reasonable care and skill.

To make a claim for additional compensation you will need to get in touch with our Customer Support team along with details of your journey, a copy of your ticket, and evidence to support your claim.

Get in touch with our Customer Support team.

Read our Passenger’s Charter for more details.

Delay Repay provides compensation for delayed journeys. If the GWR train you planned to catch was cancelled or delayed, and you didn’t travel, you can claim a full abandoned journey refund from your point of purchase. We will only process a refund if the ticket was bought from GWR. If you bought your ticket elsewhere, you’ll need to contact the original retailer.

Find out more about unused ticket refunds and make a claim here

If a claim was successfully submitted, a message to confirm receipt this will appear on your screen. We will also send you a confirmation email with your claim reference number. You can check all your submitted claims when logged in to your Delay Repay account.

Log in to your Delay Repay account here

You will have the opportunity to appeal our decision if your claim was approved but you believe the amount is incorrect. Please submit an appeal with any additional information to support your claim. If any of the details previously provided are incorrect, you can correct these in your appeal.

To appeal our decision, log in to your Delay Repay account or click on the link in our email. We’ll look at your claim again and get back to you as soon as we can.

Claims can be declined for many reasons. We’ll explain this when we reply. Delay Repay can only deal with claims for delayed journeys. If you would like to claim for any other reason, please get in touch.

Get in touch with our Customer Support team

Common reasons for turning down a claim are:

Your claim was submitted outside of 28 days
Under our Passenger’s Charter and the National Rail Conditions of Travel, to qualify for compensation you must make the claim within 28 days of completing the relevant journey.

Your ticket was not valid for the journey you have claimed for

Proof of purchase provided is not acceptable
We couldn’t identify the journey details, ticket type, amount paid, and ticket number (for paper tickets)

We were unable to find a delay of 15 minutes or more

• you gave us details of the train you travelled on, rather than the one you planned to board
• there were planned engineering works in place which meant that the timetable was amended. Compensation is not usually offered during planned engineering
• the date of the journey was incorrectly entered

The delay occurred with a different train operator
We can only deal with claims which were initially caused by GWR. If we find that the delay was caused by a different train company, we will pass the claim to them and let you know.

We offer compensation to a maximum of a full day’s travel (pro-rata)
You can’t claim more than the amount you paid for the ticket. Further claims will be rejected if the full cost of a ticket has already been paid

If you have more information to give us, need to change any details, or think we’ve made a mistake, you can appeal. Log in to your Delay Repay account or click on the link in the email we send you. We’ll look at your claim again and get back to you as soon as we can.

If we identify that the delay was caused by another train operator, we will securely forward the details of your claim to them. Normally you don’t need to take any further action, but if you do, the other train operator will contact you directly.

Find a list of other train operators and their contact details here

When we process compensation via BACS or card payment, we will use the details you have submitted when making your claim. It can take up to 10 working days (from the day we confirm your compensation) for the payment to be cleared and appear in your account.

If your BACS or card payment is rejected, we’ll be notified by the bank. This notification can take up to 28 days. When this happens, a cheque will automatically be sent out to the address you provided, and this should arrive within 14 days.

Please allow up to 14 days from the day we confirm your compensation to receive cheque or Rail Travel Voucher payments.