If a Tube or DLR journey is delayed by 15 minutes, or an Overground or Elizabeth line journey by 30 minutes, for a reason within Transport for London's control, you can claim back the single fare for that journey. You have 28 days to claim, the money comes back as pay as you go credit or a bank transfer, and buses, trams, strikes, bad weather and planned engineering works are all excluded.
This is TfL's service delay refund. It is not compensation for a ruined evening, and it is not the same as the Delay Repay scheme on National Rail trains. It is a small, rule-bound refund of one fare, and most visitors never claim it because they do not know it exists or assume a foreign card cannot be used. This page sets out the rule as TfL publishes it, the route to claim for each way of paying, and the delays that do not qualify.
For the wider picture of complaining and claiming in Britain, including train companies, shops and hotels, see our guide to consumer rights and complaints. How the Underground itself works is in our visitor's guide to the Tube.
TfL service delay refunds at a glance
- Tube and DLR
- Delay of 15 minutes (see the wording note below)
- London Overground and Elizabeth line
- Delay of 30 minutes
- Buses and trams
- No service delay refunds
- Time limit
- Claim within 28 days of the delay
- What you get
- The value of a single fare for the delayed journey
- Paid as
- Pay as you go credit or a transfer to your bank account
- Review time
- Up to 10 working days, TfL says
- Help and appeals
- 0343 222 1234, 08:00 to 20:00, seven days a week (charges may apply)
- Checked
- November 2026, against TfL's refund page and its Conditions of Carriage dated 24 September 2026
Fifteen minutes or more than fifteen: the two wordings
TfL states the threshold in two places, and the two do not use the same words. Its refund page says you can apply if your journey was delayed by "more than 15 minutes" on the Underground and DLR, or "more than 30 minutes" on the Overground and the Elizabeth line. Its Conditions of Carriage, the contract you enter when you travel, says "15 minutes or more" and "30 minutes or more".
The difference matters only for a delay of exactly 15 or exactly 30 minutes, and in practice nobody times a delay to the second. The Conditions of Carriage are the legal document, and their wording is the more generous one. If your delay was right on the line, claim; the worst outcome is a refusal.
The DLR and the Overground use different thresholds, as our page on the DLR and the Overground notes; the Overground's six new line names, explained in our guide to the line names, did not change the 30-minute rule.
What TfL actually pays back
If TfL accepts the claim, you get back what one single fare for the delayed journey costs. The Conditions of Carriage put it as "the single pay as you go fare" for that journey. If you used a paper single or return ticket, TfL refunds the cash value of the delayed journey instead.
There is nothing for the time lost, a long delay or a missed show or onward train. On a typical Zone 1 journey the sum is a few pounds, and our page on daily fare caps explains why the price of one journey and the price of your day are not the same thing. TfL's pages do not say how a refund is calculated when your card had already reached the daily cap, so we cannot tell you whether a capped day produces the full single fare.
The refund comes back the same way you paid. TfL lists two forms: pay as you go credit, which suits an Oyster card, or a transfer into your bank account, which is how a contactless card claim normally ends.
The delays that do not qualify
The exclusions are the part of the rule that decides most claims, and TfL lists them plainly. You will not get a service delay refund:
- For any delay on a bus or a tram. The scheme covers rail services only.
- For delays outside TfL's control. Its examples are strikes, security alerts, bad weather, engineering works and customer incidents, such as a passenger falling ill on a train.
- For planned service changes. The Conditions of Carriage exclude planned changes and engineering works, so a weekend closure announced in advance, of the kind described in our guide to weekend closures and replacement buses, does not count however long it adds.
- When you travelled free. That covers the Freedom Pass, the 60+ and Veterans Oyster photocards, and children under 11 travelling free with an adult.
Strikes get their own clause. The Conditions of Carriage say service delay refunds "will be suspended during strike action", and that a longer journey or a higher fare on an alternative route during a strike is not refunded either. For what still runs on a strike day, see our page on Tube strikes.
"A person ill on a train" means no refund. Visitors are often surprised that one of the commonest causes of a long Tube delay, a passenger taken ill, is on TfL's list of reasons outside its control. A signal failure or a train fault is within it. The announcement on the platform is usually your best record of which kind of delay it was.
Claiming on a contactless card or phone
A contactless claim needs an online TfL account with the card registered in it. TfL's page is direct about this: you need to register your contactless card online to apply. The steps it gives are:
- Create a contactless and Oyster account at tfl.gov.uk/account, or sign in to the one you have.
- Add the card you paid with. If you paid with a phone or watch, the journeys sit against that device's card number, which is why TfL treats a phone and a watch as different devices.
- Open "Journey and payment history".
- Choose "Service delay refund" and pick the delayed journey.
A card issued abroad can be added to an account in the same way, and our page on using a foreign bank card on London transport explains the registration and the charges your bank may add. If you cannot apply online, TfL's published route is the phone line on 0343 222 1234.
Claiming on Oyster, and the Visitor Oyster problem
For an adult Oyster card, TfL's instruction is to apply online in your contactless and Oyster account and select "Service delay refunds". If you need help, it gives the Oyster contact form on its website or the same phone number, open 08:00 to 20:00, seven days a week.
The Visitor Oyster card is the awkward case. It cannot be registered to an online account, so the online route is closed to it, and TfL publishes no separate delay-refund route for an unregistered card beyond the help line. If you want this refund to be easy to claim, a registered contactless card is the better way to pay; our page on the Visitor Oyster card sets out its other limits.
Wait 48 hours before claiming on an Oyster Travelcard. TfL's Conditions of Carriage say that for a Travelcard on Oyster you should wait two days before applying, because in some circumstances the refund is made automatically. They also say claims by e-mail are not accepted for that route, and phone claims are taken where you cannot get online.
Paper tickets and National Rail smartcards
If you paid with a paper ticket or a National Rail smartcard, there is no online form. TfL asks you to send your e-mail address and phone number; the journey details (date, time, where it started and ended, the route, and how long the train was delayed); and images of the front and back of the ticket or smartcard. They go by post to TfL Customer Services, 9th Floor, 5 Endeavour Square, London E20 1JN, or to the customer services e-mail address on TfL's refund page. TfL then contacts you to process the claim.
The same 28-day limit applies, and the Conditions of Carriage are firm that claims cannot be made after it.
A delay that leaves you with a maximum fare
A long delay can trigger a second, separate problem. Pay as you go journeys have a maximum journey time, and if a delay keeps you inside the system past it, the system can charge you a maximum fare as if you had not touched out. That is a fare correction, not a service delay refund, and it has its own process.
Our page on maximum journey times explains the limits, and our guide to what happens if you forget to touch out covers the automatic corrections TfL makes when a delay pushed a journey over the limit. Check your journey history for both: one bad evening can produce a refund claim and a maximum fare at the same time.
When you take another route to get round the delay
The Conditions of Carriage add a rule most people never read. If a delay within TfL's control forces you onto an alternative route and you have to pay additional or higher fares, TfL "may refund the difference". If the alternative route was needed because of planned or advertised service changes, there is no refund.
The same section also points to the Consumer Rights Act 2015: train services must be provided "with reasonable skill and care", and where the service falls well below that standard you might be able to claim a full or partial refund. That is a general consumer right, not part of the delay refund scheme, and the Conditions of Carriage send you to gov.uk for it.
Trains that are not TfL's
The service delay refund covers the Tube, the DLR, the London Overground and the Elizabeth line. It does not cover National Rail operators that run through London, such as Thameslink, Southern, Southeastern or c2c, even when you paid with the same contactless card. Those companies pay compensation under their own Passenger's Charters, usually through Delay Repay, and the claim goes to the operator that ran the late train. The consumer-rights guide linked at the top of this page covers that side, and if the delayed train was your train to the airport, see our page on what to do when the airport train is cancelled.
Both systems sit inside a wider set of rules about what TfL owes you and what you owe TfL, which our page on TfL's Conditions of Carriage and the byelaws explains.
If the claim is turned down
TfL says it may take up to 10 working days to review a claim. If it is refused and you believe you are entitled to the refund, you can appeal by calling 0343 222 1234. The likeliest reason for a refusal is that TfL puts the cause outside its control, so note the reason announced at the time.
For a family the sums are small. Each adult card is a separate claim for its own single fare, and children under 11 travelling free produce nothing to refund. The claim takes five minutes if you already have the account, which is the practical case for registering your card on the first day.
Frequently asked questions
How late does the Tube have to be for a refund?
Fifteen minutes on the Underground and the DLR, and 30 minutes on the London Overground and the Elizabeth line. TfL's refund page says "more than" 15 or 30 minutes, while its Conditions of Carriage say "15 minutes or more" and "30 minutes or more". The delay must be for a reason within TfL's control.
Can I get a refund for a late bus in London?
No. TfL does not give service delay refunds for delays on buses or trams. The scheme covers the Tube, the DLR, the Overground and the Elizabeth line only, and even there it excludes strikes, bad weather, security alerts, engineering works and customer incidents.
How long do I have to claim a TfL delay refund?
Twenty-eight days from the delayed journey. TfL may take up to 10 working days to review the claim, and it pays the value of one single fare as pay as you go credit or by bank transfer. Claims on paper tickets made after 28 days are not accepted.
Can tourists claim a delay refund with a foreign contactless card?
Yes, provided the card is added to a TfL contactless and Oyster account, because TfL requires an online account to claim on contactless. A Visitor Oyster card cannot be registered, so the online route is not available for it, and the TfL help line on 0343 222 1234 is the remaining option.
Do I get money back if a Tube strike makes me late?
No. TfL's Conditions of Carriage say service delay refunds are suspended during strike action, and higher fares or longer journeys on alternative routes during a strike are not refunded. Strikes are also on TfL's own list of delays outside its control.
Sources
- Transport for London - Apply for service delay refund (checked November 2026)
- Transport for London - Conditions of Carriage, 24 September 2026, section 8.2 Refunds for delays (checked November 2026)
- Transport for London - Terms and conditions (checked November 2026)
- National Rail - Compensation and refunds (checked November 2026)
- GOV.UK - Consumer protection rights (checked November 2026)