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Delay Repay · SWR

South Western Railway Delay Repay: rates, claim form and time limit

South Western Railway pays Delay Repay when you arrive 15 minutes or more late, starting at 25% of a single ticket. At 120 minutes or more it pays 100% of the cost, single or return. You have 28 days to claim.

Checked against South Western Railway's own page on 8 October 2026

Go to the SWR claim form

Pays from

15 min

Deadline

28 days

Automatic?

Detected, you confirm

What SWR pays

Every tier is a percentage of the single fare for the delayed direction. If you bought a return, the single fare is half what you paid, which is how every UK operator calculates it. The one exception is two hours or more: on a return ticket, SWR pays back the whole return fare, not half of it. On a single, the top rate is the whole single fare.

What South Western Railway's own page says

How do we calculate delay repay compensation?

  • Length of delaySingle ticketReturn ticketSeason ticket (% cost of a return journey)*
  • 15 to 29 minutes25% of cost12.5% of cost12.5% of cost
  • 30 to 59 minutes50% of cost25% of cost25% of cost
  • 60 to 119 minutes100% of cost50% of cost50% of cost
  • 120 minutes or more100% of cost100% of cost100% of cost
  • Claims can be made up to 28 days after your journey.
  • If you're travelling with a Season Ticket, your Delay Repay compensation will be based on (and will never be more than) the total cost of two single journeys. This will be calculated in the following way
Copied word for word from South Western Railway's own Delay Repay page on 8 October 2026. Open the source

Will they claim for you?

Partly, and the wording matters. The scheme covers touch Smartcard and Advance tickets bought on the SWR site.

You get a short window to accept the pre-filled claim, so do not leave the email sitting unread.

Across the network only c2c pays with no action at all. Everywhere else, "automatic" means the operator fills the form in and waits for you to press the button.

How to claim from SWR

  1. Open the SWR claim form
  2. Have your booking reference from the confirmation email to hand
  3. Give the date, the departure and arrival stations, and the scheduled time
  4. Say how late you arrived, not how late you departed. The scheme scores arrival
  5. Attach a photo of the ticket or your e-ticket screenshot
  6. Submit within 28 days of travelling
  7. Expect a response within about 20 working days
  8. If it is refused and you think that is wrong, the Rail Ombudsman is free
Claim from SWR

Common questions

My South Western Railway train was 20 minutes late. Can I claim?
Yes. South Western Railway pays Delay Repay from 15 minutes late. A delay of 15 to 29 minutes pays 25% of the cost of a single ticket or 12.5% of a return ticket, and claims can be made up to 28 days after your journey.
My return ticket was delayed by two hours. How much do I get back?
For a delay of 120 minutes or more, South Western Railway's table pays 100% of the cost of a return ticket, the same as for a single. It says compensation is capped at that level for the day.
Does South Western Railway pay Delay Repay automatically?
Only for some tickets, and you have to sign up first. Automated Delay Repay covers a season ticket bought on the SWR website and loaded onto a Touch Smartcard, or an Advance ticket bought on the website. If a claim is generated you get an email and have 14 days to accept, decline or amend it, and if no email arrives you can still make a manual claim within 28 days.
How much does SWR pay?
A percentage of your single fare: 25% from 15 minutes, 50% from 30 minutes, 100% from 60 minutes. On a return, the single fare is treated as half what you paid, except at 120 minutes or more, when a return ticket gets the whole return fare back.
How long do I have to claim from SWR?
28 days from the date you travelled. After that they are within their rights to refuse, though it is still worth asking if you have a good reason.

The hard part is remembering

Only 45% of passengers with an eligible delay ever claim, and the most common reason is not that people think it is complicated. It is that 28 days pass. Untap watches your journeys and tells you while there is still time. Free, and we never take a share of what you get back.

Price an SWR journeyOr see how the watching works

Other operators

See every operator and how Delay Repay works

Thresholds, tiers and deadlines are taken from South Western Railway's own published Delay Repay terms, checked on 8 October 2026. Operators change these from time to time, so the claim form is always the final word. Untap helps people in the UK find money they are already owed. We do not file claims and we do not take a share of any refund.