Southeastern Delay Repay: The Complete Guide to Claiming for a Delayed Train

The 08:09 from Sevenoaks arrived at London Bridge twenty-three minutes late. You knew it. Your phone knew it. The gateline at London Bridge certainly didn't seem to care.

What you may not have known is that you were owed money — and that a 28-day window had just started counting.

How Southeastern's Delay Repay Scheme Works

Southeastern runs the Delay Repay 15 (DR15) scheme, which means any journey that arrives 15 or more minutes late at your destination qualifies for compensation. Not your departure — your arrival.

The compensation is calculated as a percentage of the single-leg fare for your journey:

The scheme applies to all ticket types: annual season tickets, monthly season tickets, day returns, singles, and advance fares. If you used a Railcard discount, the compensation is calculated from the discounted price you paid — still worth claiming.

The 28-Day Rule

Under the National Rail Conditions of Travel (2025, Clause 32), you have 28 days from the date of the delay to submit your claim. Southeastern enforces this strictly. Once the window closes, the compensation is gone — regardless of how clear-cut the qualifying delay was.

Twenty-eight days sounds like plenty of time. It isn't. The frustration of a delayed morning fades within 48 hours. By day fourteen, most passengers have half-forgotten which service it was. By day twenty-eight, the window closes and the money stays with the train operator.

How to Claim from Southeastern

The official Southeastern Delay Repay portal is at: delayrepay.southeasternrailway.co.uk

For season ticket holders:

• ·Register on the portal and upload your season ticket (do this once — it's saved for future claims)
• ·Log in after a qualifying delay
• ·Find the delayed service (date, route, scheduled departure time)
• ·Select your delay tier based on actual arrival time
• ·Choose your payment method — bank transfer is recommended
• ·Submit. You'll receive a confirmation email. Keep it.

For day return or single ticket holders: The guest claim form on the same portal does not require registration. You'll need:

• •The date and route of the delayed journey
• •Your ticket price
• •Proof of purchase (booking confirmation email or ticket receipt)
• •Bank details for payment

Most approved claims are processed within 5 working days.

A Note on Smartcard and One Click

If you travel with a Southeastern Smartcard, you may have heard of "One Click Delay Repay." This is an automated feature that can process claims for eligible journeys where your card was used.

However, One Click has important limitations:

• •It only applies to future journeys registered in the system at the time of travel
• •It does not automatically cover journeys from before you registered
• •It may not cover all delay scenarios (partial journeys, missed connections, cancelled services)
• •A claim may not fire even when a qualifying delay occurred

This means your past 28 days of qualifying delays may not have been processed automatically — even if you have a Smartcard. Rail Repay checks your route's actual delay data and alerts you when a claim may be worth making, regardless of whether One Click fired.

What Rail Repay Does

Rail Repay monitors your Southeastern route using official arrival performance data. When a qualifying delay is detected — 15 minutes or more at your destination — you receive an email alert the same day.

That alert arrives when the delay is still fresh. You open your Rail Repay account and find the claim details already prepared: the service, the delay, the relevant portal link. The whole process from alert to submission takes under five minutes.

Rail Repay does not submit claims on your behalf. You remain the claimant throughout. The tool prepares the information; you copy it, visit the Southeastern Delay Repay portal, and submit.

The Takeaway

If your Southeastern service arrived 15 minutes or more late in the past 28 days, you may be owed compensation. The deadline is strict. The process does not have to be.

Check what you may be owed — free, no card needed — at railrepay.co.uk.

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Sources:

• •National Rail Conditions of Travel 2025, Clause 32 — nationalrail.co.uk
• •Southeastern Delay Repay — delayrepay.southeasternrailway.co.uk
• •ORR Passenger Experience Research 2024 — orr.gov.uk