Compensation and Refunds

Refunds work differently depending on the type of ticket.

You can claim a refund on an unused Anytime, Off-Peak or Super Off-Peak ticket. Advance tickets are non-refundable unless you didn’t travel because your train was delayed or cancelled.

We will only process a refund if the ticket was bought from GWR. If you bought your ticket elsewhere, contact the original retailer.

• we need to receive your claim within 28 days of the ticket's expiry
• we charge a £5 admin fee* for every application made

*The fee will be waived if you do not travel because your train is delayed or cancelled

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

If your train is delayed or cancelled and you decide not to travel, you can claim a full refund of your ticket from the original retailer.

If you bought your ticket from us, wherever possible we will give you a full refund at any GWR ticket office. This also applies if you have started your journey and abandon it due to disruption. You need to claim a refund no later than 28 days after they expire, this also applies to Advance tickets.

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

If you travel with us using Oyster, pay as you go (PAYG) or contactless then you will need to claim any refund from TfL.

Once your refund has been processed you’ll receive an email confirmation with the amount that’s been credited to your payment card. From receipt of the confirmation email it can take up to 10 days for the credit to appear on your statement.

Log into My Account, navigate to 'My Bookings' and click on the ticket for which you require a refund. The conditions relating to that ticket will be displayed. Ticket conditions can be viewed at anytime during the booking process.

Refunds on unused tickets are normally subject to a £5 administration fee.

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.

If you have an Advance ticket bought from GWR.com, or travel with a GWR touch smartcard using pay-as-you-go (PAYG) in the Bristol area, in many cases we can tell you when you may have been delayed and when you're owed compensation.

We will notify you via email within 48 hours of the day of your delayed journey. The email will contain a link that will allow you to click and confirm your GWR Delay Repay claim. We will prepopulate the claim with your journey and ticket details to save you time.

If you were delayed whilst travelling with a different train operator, we will still send you a notification, but you will need to claim for Delay Repay directly from them.

You can opt in to receiving Automated Delay Repay notifications if you travel with a GWR touch smartcard using pay-as-you-go (PAYG) in the Bristol area.

From 14 October 2022, you can also opt in to receive automated notifications if you have an Advance ticket bought from GWR.com.

If you were delayed on a GWR train, our email will contain a link that will allow you to click and confirm your GWR Delay Repay claim. We will still send you a Delay Repay notification if you were delayed with a different train operator, but you will need to claim directly from them.

If you have an Advance ticket bought from GWR.com, or travel with a GWR touch smartcard using pay-as-you-go (PAYG) in the Bristol area, you can opt in to receive automated notifications for delays.

To do this, go to the Delay Repay page and either login or register.

Once logged in, choose to opt in to Automated Delay Repay notifications. You must use the same email address associated with your GWR.com account to receive notifications.

Advance tickets
Advance tickets are for travel on specific trains and times. If we find a delay of 15 minutes or more on your booked journey, we will automatically notify you that you may be owed Delay Repay compensation.

You will have the opportunity to review the information and accept, amend, or reject the claim.

Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) in the Bristol area
At the end of the day, we analyse all your entry and exit taps to work out the journeys you made and the most appropriate fares.

We compare how long it took you to complete your journey based on your tap activity, against how long your journey should have taken based on the scheduled timetable. Where there is a discrepancy, we look to see if there were any corresponding service disruption, and if we find a delay of 15 minutes or more, a claim will be created.

You will have the opportunity to review the information and accept, amend, or reject the claim.

If you have not tapped in or out, or have had to change your tap-in or tap-out location, we will not be able to send you an automatic notification. Don’t worry, you can still make a manual claim for Delay Repay here.

This allows our system to analyse all entry and exit taps data and to check for any delayed journeys.

It’s important we provide you with the opportunity to review the details of your claim to ensure they are accurate before we process it.

Yes. You will have the opportunity to review the details of your claim and either accept, amend, or reject it. You can also change your preferred payment method.

As with all Delay Repay claims, you will have 28 days from the date of your delayed journey to submit a claim.

You are entitled to Delay Repay compensation if your GWR journey is delayed by 15 minutes or more. The level of compensation paid depends on the ticket held and the length of delay.

The amount you receive will not change if you accept a claim after receiving an Automated Delay Repay notification or if you submit a claim manually.

We'd always recommend reserving a seat in advance to avoid disappointment. This is free of charge and can be done at the same time you buy your ticket, or through our Customer Support and Social Media teams.

• if you reserved a Standard seat but had to stand for your whole journey, because neither your booked seat nor an alternative seat was available, we will provide compensation; this will be 50% of the cost of a single ticket, or 25% if you have a return
• if you have a First Class ticket and no seats are available in First Class but you were able to get a seat in Standard or had to stand in First Class, then we’ll refund the difference between the First Class ticket held and the equivalent Standard ticket; if there are no available seats in Standard, we will cover the full cost of the affected journey
• if you have a Season Ticket, we’ll work this out based on its daily rate, not the cost of the journey

To claim compensation, we’ll need a copy of your ticket, reservation, and journey details.

Get in touch with our Customer Support team

All individual train operators have their own recompense policies which can be found within their Accessible Travel Policies.

If you travel with GWR and your booked assistance fails, you will be compensated. If GWR fail to provide your booked assistance this will be 100% of the cost of a single ticket, or 50% if a return ticket is held. If another train operator was responsible for the failure, you can contact them directly, or we can liaise with them on your behalf.

We will need your journey details, assistance reference, address, and a copy of your ticket to process a claim.

Get in touch with our Customer Support team to make a claim

Our Passenger’s Charter describes the compensation available for any other problems you might have experienced.

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

If you forgot or mislaid your valid Railcard and were unable to produce it when requested but can produce it at a later date, get in touch with us within 28 days of your journey. We will arrange reimbursement of any additional charge incurred; for one claim in any 12 month period. We will need to see the Railcard, and all relevant journey tickets.

Get in touch with our Customer Support team