Do claims companies handle train delays at all?

Some do, usually as a sideline to flight compensation, and they take a percentage in the same way. The difference is that the percentage is of a much smaller number, so the value they add has to be smaller too.

How much is a train delay claim worth?

A share of the single fare for the delayed journey: a quarter at 15 minutes late on operators that start there, half at 30 minutes, and the whole single fare at an hour. On a typical commuter fare that is often a few pounds.

Is claiming Delay Repay difficult?

Not usually. Operators have been required since April 2022 to run a simplified claims process, and most now take a claim through an online form in a couple of minutes if you have the ticket details.

What about season tickets?

Compensation is worked out on a pro rata daily basis from the cost of the season ticket, which is fiddlier than a single fare but still handled by the operator’s own form.

Do you need a claims company for Delay Repay?

Almost certainly not, and the arithmetic is what settles it. Train delay compensation is a share of one fare rather than a fixed three-figure sum, so a percentage of it is small, while the form that claims it is short and getting shorter. This is the category where doing it yourself is least arguable.

Last checked July 2026

Why the maths does not work

Flight compensation is a fixed statutory amount, so a percentage of it is a meaningful sum and a company can build a business on it. Train compensation is a proportion of the fare you actually paid, which makes it an order of magnitude smaller.

A 30 minute delay on a £12 single is worth £6. A company taking a quarter of that leaves you £4.50 and takes £1.50, for a form you could have completed while waiting for the next train. The percentage that is arguable on £520 is simply not arguable on £6.

The thresholds themselves are in our Delay Repay guide, and the estimatorwill total up a commute's worth for you.

How short the form actually is

This is the part that has changed, and a lot of advice has not caught up. Operators have been required since April 2022 to run a simplified claims process, and the regulator has kept pushing on it since.

In practice a claim now needs the date, the journey, the scheduled and actual times, and a photo or reference for the ticket. Several operators pre-fill most of that if you booked through their own app, and a few pay automatically on advance tickets without any claim at all.

There are 23 operators with their own thresholds and their own forms, and we have a page for each of them with the rules that apply and where the form lives.

The one case worth considering

Volume. If you commute daily on a line with chronic problems, you may have dozens of small claims a year, and the barrier stops being any single form and becomes the tedium of remembering to do it every time.

Even then, handing a percentage to a company is only one answer, and usually not the best one. The others are your operator's own app, which often keeps your journey history, or something that watches your bookings and tells you which ones are claimable. That is what Untap does, and it takes no percentage.

What to do instead

Claim direct. The operator pays the same whether you ask or somebody asks for you, so the only effect of an intermediary is that less of it reaches you.

If the operator refuses and you think that is wrong, the escalation is free: rail complaints go to an independent ombudsman, and it costs you nothing to use. Paying a share of a few pounds to avoid a free process is a bad trade in either direction.

Flights are the genuinely arguable case, and that argument is on the fees page.

Common questions

Do claims companies handle train delays at all?: Some do, usually as a sideline to flight compensation, and they take a percentage in the same way. The difference is that the percentage is of a much smaller number, so the value they add has to be smaller too.
How much is a train delay claim worth?: A share of the single fare for the delayed journey: a quarter at 15 minutes late on operators that start there, half at 30 minutes, and the whole single fare at an hour. On a typical commuter fare that is often a few pounds.
Is claiming Delay Repay difficult?: Not usually. Operators have been required since April 2022 to run a simplified claims process, and most now take a claim through an online form in a couple of minutes if you have the ticket details.
What about season tickets?: Compensation is worked out on a pro rata daily basis from the cost of the season ticket, which is fiddlier than a single fare but still handled by the operator’s own form.

Other Transport for London refunds

Back to the full claims companies guide

Untap helps people in the UK find money they are already owed. We do not file claims for you and we do not take a share of any refund. Transport for London changes its fares and rules from time to time, so their own pages are always the final word.