Finished by Lift, Taxi or Bus, or Got Off Early: Delay Repay

You Finished by Lift, Taxi or Bus

Delay Repay is based on how late you reached your destination station, compared with the timetable in place on the day (National Rail Conditions of Travel, condition 32.1). The Conditions don't say the whole journey has to be made by train. Southeastern puts it plainly: "If you commenced your journey by train, but then completed it by other methods, then please claim Delay Repay".

• A lift: the delay counts the same way. Fuel or parking isn't part of Delay Repay.
• A taxi: the delay counts too. The fare is a separate request to the train company: see Train Cancelled and You Got a Taxi.
• A bus the train company laid on: measured when it gets you there. See Rail Replacement Buses and Delay Repay.

On the form, give the train you planned to catch and the time you reached your destination. Took another train, the Tube or a service bus instead? See Went Another Way: Can You Still Claim Delay Repay?.

Northern's Own Rule

Northern says its Delay Repay is for customers who complete their journey by train or by alternative transport it provided, and lists not doing so as a reason it rejects a claim, offering a refund instead. If Northern's trains stopped and it laid on nothing, say so in the claim: the Conditions say a train company will, where it reasonably can, provide another way to your destination (condition 28.2).

You Got Off Before the Station on Your Ticket

You may end your journey before the destination shown on your ticket, in either direction on a Return (condition 16.2). The Conditions measure the delay at your destination station (condition 32.1) and don't say a shorter journey loses Delay Repay.

So claim for the station where you got off, and how late your train got you there. If the form asks for your destination, give that station and say in the notes that you ended your journey there, as condition 16.2 allows.

Did the train stop short, not you? That's a cancellation at your station: see Train Terminated Early or Short of Your Station.

You Broke Your Journey

Most tickets let you break your journey: stop off at a station on the way and carry on later, within the ticket's validity (condition 16). Advance tickets don't, and the outward half of some longer distance Off-Peak Returns doesn't; the ticket's restrictions say so.

A break doesn't remove Delay Repay. The claim names the trains you intended to use (condition 33.1), so give the train you caught after the break, and the delay is how late it got you to your destination.

You Gave Up, or Never Boarded

If you set off, couldn't finish because of a delay or cancellation, and went back to where you started, you get a full refund of the tickets for that journey with no admin fee (condition 30.1). The same refund applies if your train was cancelled and you went by car instead without using your ticket. It's a refund or Delay Repay, not both (condition 33.5): see Train Cancelled? What Are My Rights.

Season Tickets are different: see what happens when you're told not to travel in Delay Repay with a Season Ticket.

If the Claim Is Refused

A refusal because you "didn't complete the journey by train" or "ended the journey early" can be appealed. Reply with the train you planned to catch, where and when you got off, how you finished and when you arrived, and what staff told you, and point to the Conditions:

• Condition 32.1: compensation is based on the delay in reaching your destination station. It doesn't require the journey to be finished by train.
• Condition 16.2: you may end your journey before the destination on your ticket.
• Condition 33.1: the claim names the train you intended to use, with a ticket valid for the journey.
• Condition 28.2: where disruption stops you finishing the journey, the train company will, where it reasonably can, provide another way to your destination.

Still refused after the company has replied? Take it to the Rail Ombudsman. More in what to do if a Delay Repay claim is rejected.

How Railhop Helps

1. Tell Railhop the train that let you down. Give the train you planned to catch and the station where you ended your journey. Railhop checks how that train really ran from National Rail's data and works out how late you got there.
2. Railhop fills in the train company's claim form. In the Railhop app, or with Railhop's browser extension on a computer, Railhop opens the claim form of the company that ran your train and fills it in for you, with your journey, your ticket and your details.
3. Check it and press submit. You check the claim and press submit on the train company's own form, within 28 days of travelling. Say in the notes how you finished the journey, or where you got off. The train company pays you directly. Railhop never submits a claim for you.

Railhop shows the claim-by date for every delay it finds, and the app reminds you 3 days before it runs out. More on how Delay Repay works.

Questions

Sources

• National Rail Conditions of Travel (30 July 2026)
• Rail Ombudsman
• Southeastern: Delay Repay
• Northern: why have you rejected my claim?

Train company terms checked 6 October 2026. Terms change: if something here doesn't match the train company's own page, the company's page is right. Tell us and we'll fix it. Railhop fills in the train company's own claim form, and you check it and submit it yourself. Railhop is not affiliated with any train company, TfL or National Rail.