Delay Repay | Great Northern

We are currently in a period of ongoing Industrial Action which may impact your journey. For the latest information and guidance please visit our Industrial Action page.

What is Delay Repay?

Delay Repay is a national scheme that train companies use to compensate you for unexpected delays and cancellations.

If you arrive 15 minutes or more late at your destination because of a delay or cancellation to a Great Northern service, you can claim Delay Repay compensation. Delay Repay is a national scheme train companies use to compensate passengers for delays or cancellations.

You will find details of the scheme outlined in our Passenger's Charter which is available at all our staffed stations or online on the Passenger's Charter page.

Apply online now

Donate your Delay Repay

We have set up a new partnership with both Samaritans & Railway Children, following customer feedback, giving you the option to donate to either cause if your train is delayed for 15 minutes or more.

We have chosen to partner with these organisations as they support mental health and young people, two key focus areas for us. 100% of the funds raised by passengers will go to ensuring that Samaritans and Railway Children can continue their life-saving and life-enhancing work.

Simply apply for Delay Repay and select the charity that you would like to donate to.

How to claim Delay Repay

You need to apply for compensation online or by post within 28 days of your delayed journey. We’ll respond to your claim within 20 working days, however unless there has been a period of disruption you should hear back from us within 5 days.

Applying online is quick and easy, and you can create an online account to store your details for future visits.

To complete the online or printed form, you’ll need proof of travel. Valid proof of travel depends on what type of ticket you have.

Paper ticket

Your original ticket
A ticket receipt, if you no longer have your ticket
A scan or photograph of your season ticket and photocard

Key smartcard

Your key smartcard number (shown on the front of your card)

Smartcard from another train company

Your smartcard number
A receipt or booking confirmation showing details of the tickets held on your smartcard

Oyster season ticket

A receipt showing the date of purchase, the price you paid and the zones covered by your Oyster card

Oyster pay as you go or contactless payment

A printout showing where you touched in and out and the cost of your journey
You can get detailed information about your Oyster and contactless journeys from your account page on the TfL website

If you’re claiming by post, send your form to:

Freepost RTGL-ELXC- HAUU
Govia Thameslink Railway
Unit 16
Coalfield Way
Ashby-De- La-Zouch
LE65 1JT

Please note that each individual traveller must submit their own delay repay claim (unless it is for a child or under mitigating circumstances - more information here). If you submit multiple claims for the same journey these will be declined and will add a delay to you receiving any compensation due.

All claims are checked and verified. Great Northern reserves the right to prosecute fraudulent claimants. Claims must be made by the person who experienced the delay except under mitigating circumstances.

What are you entitled to?

If you have a season ticket

We’ll calculate your compensation by working out the value of each single journey your ticket covers:

an annual season ticket covers 464 single journeys
a six-monthly season ticket covers 240 single journeys
a quarterly season ticket covers 120 single journeys
a monthly season ticket covers 40 single journeys
a weekly season ticket covers 10 single journeys

So if you're delayed by:

15-29 minutes you're entitled to 25% of the cost of a single journey
30-59 minutes you're entitled to 50% of the cost of a single journey
60-119 minutes you're entitled to 100% of the cost of a single journey
120+ minutes you're entitled to 100% of the cost of a return journey (a full day’s travel)

Flexi season ticket holders

To calculate the compensation value of each journey, we divide the cost of your Flexi season ticket by 16.

If you're delayed by:

15 to 29 minutes you’re entitled to 25% of the cost of 1 single journey using the above calculation
30 to 59 minutes you’re entitled to 50% of the cost of 1 single journey using the above calculation
60 to 119 minutes you’re entitled to 100% of the cost of 1 single journey using the above calculation
120 minutes or longer you’re entitled to 100% of the cost of 2 single journeys using the above calculation

If you have a day ticket

If you're delayed by:

15-29 minutes you're entitled to at least 25% of the single fare paid, or if you bought a return ticket at least 25% of the fare paid for the affected portion
30-59 minutes you're entitled to at least 50% of the single fare paid, or if you bought a return ticket at least 50% of the fare paid for the affected portion
60-119 minutes you're entitled to 100% of the single fare paid, or if you bought a return ticket at least 50% of the fare paid
120+ minutes you're entitled to 100% of the cost of the fare paid whether it was for a single or return journey

How we'll compensate you

The full range of repayment options available through the online claim form is:

Amazon account balance (you must have an Amazon account)
Electronic bank transfer (BACS)
E-voucher (you must have an online account with us)
PayPal (you must have a PayPal account)
Credit or debit card (we are currently unable to process MasterCard and AMEX repayments)
National Rail vouchers

The online form is the most secure way for us to receive your payment details. We can’t accept financial information by post, so the repayment options are more limited.

We now offer compensation payment to your Amazon account. Select Amazon account balance in the repayment options and sign in to your account. To do so login and grant access using your amazon email address. You have the option to associate these details with your Great Northern account to speed up this process in future. Once your claim is processed we will reimburse your Delay Repay claim directly into your Amazon account balance.

National Rail vouchers can be used as payment (or part payment) towards any National Rail ticket, including season tickets. You can also exchange National Rail vouchers for cash at any Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern or Thameslink ticket office, as long as they were issued by one of these four train companies.

National Rail vouchers and E-vouchers are valid for 12 months.

Applying by post

Download, print and post your form to claim compensation.

We’ll check your claim against our train running records and get back to you within 20 working days.

You’ll need to send your claim, including proof of travel, within 28 days of your delayed journey.

Send your form to:

Freepost RTGL-ELXC-HAUU
Govia Thameslink Railway
Unit 16 Coalfield Way
Ashby-De-La-Zouch
LE65 1JT

Download the form

Applying online

Use the online form to claim Delay Repay compensation for delayed or cancelled journeys.

All fields marked * are required.

Scanning and uploading images

You can only upload one image per claim. If you are uploading images of several documents, please scan them all as a single image
The maximum size for scanned images is 1MB each

Apply online

Avoiding failed BACS and PayPal payments

Repayments using BACS or PayPal can fail if the payment information you give us is inaccurate or incomplete.

If you select BACS payment, double-check that the sort code and account number you supply are correct and are for the account you want the payment to go into.

If you select PayPal:

you must have a PayPal account
the email address you enter must be valid
the email address you enter must be the one that relates to your PayPal account

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Delay Repay compensation