TfL delay refund rules explained
The headline rule is simple, but the service, cause and date all matter. Use this guide as a pre-claim checklist, then confirm against TfL's current wording.
Published threshold for London Underground and DLR journeys.
Published threshold for London Overground and Elizabeth line journeys.
Time from the delayed journey to submit a Service Delay Refund claim.
TfL assesses the cause and pays any approved refund directly.
Which threshold applies?
TfL publishes different minimum delays for different services. For Tube and DLR journeys, the delay must be at least 15 minutes. For London Overground and Elizabeth line journeys, it must be at least 30 minutes.
A mixed journey needs care. The statement may show only the origin and destination, while the route used more than one service. The dashboard uses TfL journey-planning data to infer a route family and applies the safer relevant threshold when Overground or Elizabeth line travel is involved. Check that service before relying on the result.
How the delay is measured
Your gate-to-gate journey duration is not itself the delay. The delay is the difference between how long the trip actually took and a reasonable expected time for that route and departure.
For example, a 40-minute Tube journey is not automatically a claim. If the expected trip was 29 minutes, the calculated delay is 11 minutes and does not reach the Tube threshold. If the expected trip was 23 minutes, the calculated delay is 17 minutes and is worth checking.
Interchanges, station access and alternative routes can change the expected time. That is why the dashboard presents the expected duration beside the actual duration and lets you inspect the route rather than showing only a yes-or-no badge.
A long journey is not always eligible
TfL states that some events outside its control are not eligible for a Service Delay Refund. Its Tube and DLR guidance gives examples including security alerts, bad weather, customer incidents, strikes and planned engineering work. The exact wording and treatment can change, so read the reason shown by TfL before claiming.
A line-status record can help explain what was happening, but it is not proof of the cause of your trip. A delay logged on the same line and time may have affected a different section. Equally, an individual train or station problem may not appear in the public line status. Treat disruption matches as context and describe only what you experienced.
The 28-day deadline
TfL asks for Service Delay Refund claims within 28 days of the delayed journey. Do not wait for a monthly statement if that would take you past the deadline. Import recent history regularly and submit directly through TfL's official form.
The deadline is about submitting the claim, not when you receive the outcome. Once submitted, keep the TfL reference and mark the journey as pending so the trip does not remain in your action list.
What an approved refund covers
TfL's published guidance describes a refund based on the fare paid for the affected journey, with equivalent calculations for some pass or season-ticket journeys. It is not general compensation for lost time or consequential costs. TfL determines the amount from its own fare and ticket records.
The dashboard's fare value is therefore an organising estimate. It helps total submitted or received claims, but the amount TfL confirms is authoritative.
Pre-claim checklist
- Confirm the journey date is within 28 days.
- Check the origin, destination, entry time and exit time against your statement.
- Confirm whether the route was Tube, DLR, Overground, Elizabeth line or mixed.
- Compare actual and expected duration; do not mistake total journey time for delay.
- Check the likely cause and TfL's exclusions.
- Use TfL's official form and describe the journey truthfully.
- Record the submitted claim and later outcome in the dashboard.
Screen recent journeys
The dashboard applies these thresholds, keeps the underlying calculation visible and separates action-needed journeys from submitted or resolved claims.
Import a statement