East Midlands Railway approved almost 66,000 delay repay compensation payouts last summer

Almost 14,000 refunds were being issued for rail delays every day on the UK rail network at the last count, according to new figures released by the Office for Rail and Road, which says there has been a deterioration in train punctuality and reliability across all operators, which has also contributed to the rise in the number of compensation claims.

The figures show how many compensation claims for delayed journeys have been dealt with by 24 railway operators across England, Wales and Scotland, and cover a period between July 24 and October 15 last year.

In that three-month period, EMR approved 65,940 claims – a rate of 103 per 10,000 journeys, which is three times higher than the national average, putting the operator seventh overall on the UK list.

EMR operates mainline and regional services across the East Midlands, including the Robin Hood Line between Nottingham and Worksop, via Bulwell, Hucknall, Newstead, Kirkby, Sutton, Mansfield, Mansfield Woodhouse and Shirebrook.

Top of the pile was Avanti West Coast, which operates between London, Birmingham, the North West and Scotland, which approved 167,002 delay compensation claims.

Claims are most commonly made via the national Delay Repay Scheme.

Passengers can claim if they arrive at their destination 30 or more minutes late because of delays or cancellations – 15 minutes for some operators – and are entitled to a 100 per cent refund for delays of 60 minutes or more.

An EMR spokesman, said: “Delay Repay is a national scheme train operators use to compensate passengers for delays.

“EMR has actively increased efforts to make customers aware of compensation arrangements leading to an increase in the number of claims made to train companies.

“Furthermore, the increase in delay compensation claims compared with the previous year reflects an increase in passenger usage as pandemic restrictions have eased.”

Across the UK, operators have closed 1.45 million delay compensation claims from passengers in the last year, with 1.16m, 81 per cent, resulting in a payout, an average of 13,900 payouts per day.