LNER Delay Repay — how to claim under DR30
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Piotr · Founder, Railly
Piotr built Railly after one too many commutes spent guessing platforms and chasing Delay Repay claims. He verifies every guide against live timetable data, operator portals, and National Rail station records.
In short: LNER runs Delay Repay 30 (DR30): no compensation under 30 minutes, 50% at 30, 100% at 60+. Claim within 28 days via delayrepay.lner.co.uk.
LNER Delay Repay — how to claim under DR30
LNER (London North Eastern Railway) runs the trains on the East Coast Main Line — London King's Cross to Leeds, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the branches to Bradford, Skipton, Harrogate, Hull, and Lincoln. When one of these trains is more than 30 minutes late at your destination, LNER pays compensation under the Delay Repay 30 (DR30) scheme.
If your LNER train was delayed or cancelled, the umbrella Delay Repay guide covers the general mechanism. This article is LNER-specific.
LNER's scheme: Delay Repay 30
LNER uses DR30 — the stricter of the two National Rail schemes. The thresholds are based on your arrival delay at destination, not your departure delay.
| Delay at destination | Compensation |
|---|---|
| 0–29 minutes | No compensation |
| 30–59 minutes | 50% of single fare |
| 60+ minutes | 100% of single fare |
| Cancelled train | Pay at the same thresholds based on your actual arrival delay if you took a later service. Or 100% if you chose not to travel. |
Cancellations are not automatically 100%. A cancelled LNER train you replace with the next service gets paid on the new train's arrival delay. Only a no-travel cancellation (you abandon the journey) pays the full single fare.
The compensation applies to single fares, return fares (proportional), and season tickets (proportional to the daily cost). It works for advance, off-peak, and anytime tickets.
Routes LNER runs
LNER operates the East Coast Main Line and several branch services. Their trains serve:
- London King's Cross ↔ Leeds — the southern end of the East Coast Main Line
- London King's Cross ↔ York — the historic cathedral city stop
- London King's Cross ↔ Newcastle — the North East corridor
- London King's Cross ↔ Edinburgh Waverley — the flagship Anglo-Scottish route
- London King's Cross ↔ Glasgow Central — via Edinburgh (some direct, most change at Edinburgh)
- London King's Cross ↔ Bradford Forster Square / Skipton — the Yorkshire Dales branches
- London King's Cross ↔ Harrogate — the North Yorkshire branch
- London King's Cross ↔ Lincoln / Hull — the East Midlands and Humber branches
Live boards for any of these stations: pick from the LNER TOC page or use the search on the homepage.
Where to claim
Claims for LNER go through their dedicated portal — not the main LNER website.
Claim portal: delayrepay.lner.co.uk
You'll need:
- The date of travel
- Departure and destination stations (CRS or station name)
- Scheduled departure time (as printed on your ticket)
- Actual arrival time at your destination
- Proof of purchase — a photo of your paper ticket, a PDF of your e-ticket, or a booking confirmation email
Railly saves you the first three items. Open a delayed LNER journey on Railly's Delay Repay page, tap the Claim button, and the LNER portal opens in a new tab with your date, stations, and times pre-filled — except proof of purchase, which only you can provide.
How Railly finds your LNER claims
You don't need to remember which trains you caught or what time you arrived. Railly does the bookkeeping for you — including applying the DR30 threshold filter so you don't waste time on sub-30-minute delays.
- Save your LNER commute — typical origin, destination, departure window, and the days you travel. Railly watches all matching trains.
- Run a Delay Repay search for any date range — Railly shows every delayed or cancelled LNER train above the 30-minute threshold, ranked by claimable amount. Trains delayed under 30 minutes are correctly filtered out.
- Tap Claim — opens the LNER portal with your journey details pre-filled.
- Upload your ticket — the only thing LNER still needs from you.
- Submit — LNER processes the claim and pays by bank transfer.
A Daily Commuter on the East Coast Main Line — say, King's Cross to Leeds or Newcastle — will find the DR30 threshold filters out minor delays but flags every meaningful one. Across a year, the recoverable amount is meaningful on a long-distance season.
Claim deadlines and record-keeping
- Deadline: 28 days from the date of travel. After this, LNER may still accept late claims at its discretion.
- Records to keep: ticket photo/PDF, confirmation email, any correspondence with LNER if they reject the claim.
- Season tickets: claim the daily equivalent (annual season ÷ 464 working days) — Railly's DR scan handles this automatically for commute profiles.
When LNER may reject the claim
LNER can reject claims for journeys where the delay was outside their control AND they took reasonable steps to mitigate. In practice this is rare — even delays marked "signalling problems" or "acts of vandalism" are claimable because LNER's contract is with you to run the service, not to control Network Rail.
If LNER rejects your claim and you believe the rejection is wrong, the independent Rail Ombudsman handles appeals. Their service is free and LNER is bound by their decisions.
Related content
- How to claim Delay Repay (general guide)
- Delay Repay — what you can and can't claim
- London to Edinburgh by train — LNER's flagship Anglo-Scottish route
- CrossCountry Delay Repay — the other DR30 operator, cross-country corridors
- LNER TOC page — live boards, station list, claim portal link