How to claim refunds for delays and cancellations on Southern

14 July 2016

If you are travelling on Southern and your train is delayed or cancelled you may be entitled to compensation. Read our step by step guide on how to claim.

Am I entitled to compensation?

Under the current delay repay scheme operated by Southern, passengers whose trains are delayed by 30 minutes or more (against the published timetable), regardless of the cause, are entitled to submit a claim for compensation. It does not matter what type of ticket you purchased. Typically you will be entitled to 50 per cent of the single ticket price or 25 per cent of the return price for a delay of 30 to 59 minutes. More details can be found on the Southern website here.

For delays over an hour the amount is increased. For season ticket holders compensation is calculated on the proportional daily cost of the ticket. Compensation is paid in the form of National Rail Vouchers, which can be exchanged at any Govia Thameslink Railway staffed station for cash (that’s Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern or Thameslink).

Revised timetable claims

Ordinarily passengers can only claim against the published timetabled, but given the significance of the disruption being experienced Southern are upholding claims against both the normal or revised timetable. So if your regular train has been removed from the timetable and there is a 30 minute gap until the next service, that counts as a 30 minute delay. If that train is then held up and you are delayed by a further 30 minutes (hopefully it won’t be!) you would be entitled to claim for a delay of one hour. You will need to submit one claim for each affected journey.

Enhanced compensation

If you are unfortunate enough to have successfully claimed for delayed journeys on 12 days in a four week period you are also entitled to claim for ‘enhanced compensation’. Click here for more information on how to claim.

If you don’t fancy the offer of two day return journeys anywhere on the Southern route, rail vouchers to the value of a single journey between the stations for which your Season ticket is valid will be issued. It’s not clear from the website whether, like Delay Repay vouchers, these are exchangeable for cash and it does unfortunately require you to fill out another form.

What about if I decide not to travel?

If you decide not to travel because of the revised timetable, and you purchased your ticket from a Southern ticket office or their website Southern will provide a full refund, without an administration fee. If you purchased your ticket from a Gatwick Express or Southern station or from the Gatwick Express or Southern websites then the station can arrange the refund for you. If you purchased your tickets from another train operator, sales office or website, you should return your refund application to them for processing.

Still not happy with your claim?

If you do not receive what you think you are entitled to, please contact Transport Focus. We may be able to take the complaint up with Southern on your behalf.