Train delays and cancellations Getting a refund

If you decide not to travel because of delay or cancellation, you can get an immediate refund on your ticket. 

Refunds are run on a separate and more generous system than compensation. Within refunds, there are various different scenarios – only one of which gets you a full and immediate refund in the format in which you paid.

If the train you were going to take is cancelled or delayed – or your reservation was not going to be honoured – and you decide not to travel you are entitled to a refund.

This must be a full and immediate one if you go to any ticket office at the time you decide not to travel. You will pay no administration fee (which can be up to £10) and you should be repaid in the format in which you paid, if the ticket office can do this.

Unused train tickets

If you return an unused ticket bought from a ticket office or ticket vending machine no later than 28 days after that ticket’s validity expires, you will get a refund minus an administration fee of up to £10. The same goes for tickets bought online, over the phone or via a travel agent.

You should claim the refund from the retailer you bought the ticket from.

Remember that advance tickets (that means those labelled ‘advance’, which commit you to a particular train and are usually fairly cheap) are not refundable. For more guidance on which ticket type to get, read our cheap train tickets guide.