Refunding a UK train ticket
Quick refunds – for direct access to refund and changes for a particular booking, find your confirmation email and click ‘Manage booking’. Can't find the email? Search your inbox for an email from auto-confirm@info.thetrainline.com. If you have an account, login to view all your bookings in one place.
The following information relates to standard refund requests if you want to cancel the ticket
Which tickets can I refund?
Flexible tickets (Off-Peak, Super Off-Peak and Anytime tickets)
These types of tickets can be refunded online for a fee.
You have 28 days from expiry of the ticket to request a refund and return your ticket. If you have a mobile ticket and it has already been activated, you can no longer claim a refund on that journey.
Advance Single ticket
Advance Single tickets cannot be refunded but they can be changed.
Changes are only allowed for a different time/date of travel, so you need to stick to the same departure and arrival stations. Visit this page for more information on changing.
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Similar rules apply to a combination of tickets.
The Flexible tickets can be refunded. The Advance Single tickets can only be changed. However, if you have a combination of Advance and Flexible then all the tickets can be changed.
Refund fees
If you originally got your ticket by calling our contact centre then we charge a set £5 fee.
For tickets bought online or using our apps, the refund fee is based on the value of the ticket that is being cancelled. The breakdown of refund fees for tickets bought online or using our apps is as follows -
| Ticket Value | Refund Fee |
| Up to £1.99 | No fee |
| £2 to £2.99 | £1.00 |
| £3 to £3.99 | £1.50 |
| £4 to £4.99 | £2.00 |
| £5 to £5.99 | £3.00 |
| £6 to £6.99 | £4.00 |
| >£7 | £5.00 |
Refunds for delayed or cancelled trains
Refund for a cancelled train
If your train is cancelled, you can use your existing ticket to travel on the next available service...
Advance Singles – hop on the next available train with the same train operator.
Flexible tickets – such as Off-Peak and Anytime tickets offer flexibility and you can travel at various times of the day.
Remember to check the conditions of your ticket in case you can only travel with a certain operator/route.
If you can't take the next train or decide not to travel, you’ll be entitled to a refund.
The quickest and easiest way to refund your ticket is to do it online. Login to My Bookings, select your booking, and click on refund tickets.
Can’t find your booking? – click here
Compensation for a delayed train
If your train was delayed but you still managed to complete your journey then a ticket refund is not available. However the train operators themselves do offer compensation. Please see this article on how to claim compensation.
How to request a refund online
If you have an account:
- Find your booking on our website in My Bookings or within our App under 'My Tickets'
- Select 'Refund my tickets'
If you don’t have an account:
- Find your confirmation email and click ‘Manage booking’.
- Follow the steps above to request a refund
When will I get my refund?
Refunds can take an average of 3-5 days to process. You can check the status of your refund in your account.
Here's a guide to what the statuses mean.
- Refunded/ Refund Approved - You've done everything you need to and your refund is on the way back to you, it will appear in your account within 5 days.
- Refund Processing/ Refund - Action Required – Before we can process your refund we may need you to return your tickets.
- Refund Rejected– We’re unable to refund your tickets. This could be because you've scanned your eticket or activated your Mobile Ticket.
My card has expired
We only refund the card that was originally used to make the booking – this is to make sure that the refund goes to the right place and avoids any problems. If your card has expired then normally this won’t make any difference to money being refunded.If your account is closed and the refund still isn't appearing in your account after 15 days, please contact your card issuer. They'll be holding the funds for you and will be able to arrange a transfer to your new account. If your card issuer has confirmed that the refund funds have been sent back to us, please obtain an ARN number from them to allow us to trace the returned refund.
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