Great Western Railway customers delayed by 15 minutes will now be automatically informed of their right to claim compensation.
The train operator’s new Automatic Delay Repay service covers all Advance tickets bought online from GWR and used on GWR services, and automatically calculates and notifies customers who are due compensation.
Advance ticket holders will be notified by email and simply need to log into their Delay Repay account to accept the claim.
Customers travelling with another train operator as part of their journey will also be notified if that part was delayed. GWR will not process their claim directly, but will provide a link to the relevant operator to find out how to claim Delay Repay.
Automatic refunds are unique to the railway industry in the UK and part of a phased project to simplify claiming compensation where the technology allows for the ticket type.
Until now, customers looking to make a claim have had to complete an online claim form at GWR.com/delayrepay
The launch of the Automatic Delay Repay service speeds up that process even further for Advance ticket holders, and already exists for customers using pay-as-you-go smartcards.
GWR Interim Sales & Marketing Director Lee Edworthy said:
“This fulfils a promise to our customers to make claiming compensation for any delays of 15 minutes or more even easier.
“We are always looking at ways to improve our service and it’s important that when people are delayed, we proactively notify them and ensure they are adequately compensated for their loss.
“We do all we can to get people to their destination on time, but when things do go wrong customers need to trust in a fair system. This new Automatic Delay Repay service is an extension of our commitment to passengers.”
GWR launched its Delay Repay scheme on April 1 2019, since when more than 1.05m claims have been made, totalling more than £17m in compensation.
How much you receive depends on the length of the delay on arrival at your destination and your ticket type:
| Length of delay | Compensation | ||
| Single tickets | Return tickets | Season tickets* | |
| 15 to 29 minutes | 25% | 12.5% | 12.5% |
| 30 to 59 minutes | 50% | 25% | 25% |
| 60 to 119 minutes | 100% | 50% | 50% |
| 120 minutes or later | 100% | 100% | 100% |
*For season tickets, this is a % of the cost of a return journey
To qualify for Automatic Delay Repay, you will need to create an account here. Make sure you register with the same email address used to purchase your tickets with GWR and to access your online account.
You can opt-in for Automatic Delay Repay simply by clicking on the Opt into ADR button displayed. If you already have a registered Delay Repay account with GWR you will be automatically Opted In for Automatic Delay Repay.
