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Refunds & compensation

Refunds are for unused tickets - Compensation is paid for delays of over 60 minutes on your journey

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If you have already raised a request for a refund or Chartered Compensation, you do not need to contact us. Thank you for your continued patience and please bear with us while we process your case. 

  • Refunds - Your ticket is unused and you want to claim a refund from your point of purchase

    • Advance tickets

    • We can only refund ticket purchased through Grand Central. Please refer to your Ticket Retailer for a refund for an unused ticket. 
    • Advance tickets are non-refundable, unless the service they were valid for is cancelled, disrupted or amended and, as a result, you choose not to travel, you can receive a full refund from your point of purchase.
    • Purchases via Grand Central, you will need to provide your booking reference number (beginning B-GRANDCNTRL) and a photograph of your tickets cut or torn in half to demonstrate they are invalid.
    • Amending your journey - If you purchased your tickets from Grand Central directly, please purchase the new journey you want to take either through the Grand Central Website or App before emailing both booking references to refunds@grandcentralrail.com. You can also call our Telesales team on 0345 603 4852 (option 4, then option 2). The ticket type and operator must remain the same to be eligible for an amendment and is subject to a £10.00 admin fee per ticket, per person. 

    • Anytime, Off-Peak or Super Off-Peak tickets

    • If you have purchased an Off-peak or Anytime ticket from grandcentralrail.com, you can refund your tickets via My Account (not available for e-tickets); by contacting our Refunds team via email at refunds@grandcentralrail.com, attaching your booking reference number (begining B-GRANDCNTRL) and a scanned copy of your tickets. Please note an administration fee of £5.00 per person, per ticket maybe applicable for refunding the ticket if your journey is not disrupted or cancelled. 
    • Please make sure that your address is included in your e-mail when applying for a refund or compensation.
    • If you bought your tickets from the Grand Central website, please follow the instructions above to process a refund. Alternatively send your original tickets to:
      • Grand Central Refunds
      • PO Box 6625
      • Arbroath
      • DD11 3RQ
    • You can also send a photograph of your tickets cut or torn in half to refunds@grandcentralrail.com.
    • Ticket refunds are subject to a 28 day time limit from date of travel if you did not travel due to disruption.
    • We recommend postal requests and tickets are sent via recorded delivery, we do not accept liability for lost or damaged tickets.
    • If you have not received it after 10 working days, please contact the booking support team on option 3, then 2 using the above number. 
    • Please note the standard admin fee of £10.00 will be charged per ticket, per person. 
  •  Charter Compensation - Delays of 60 minutes or more on your Grand Central Service

    • Delay compensation

      Our new Charter Compensation system, makes claiming for delays simpler and faster to get your compensation. You can track your claim, follow it's progress, manage your payment preferences and check the status of all your current and past claims - giving you more control than ever before.

    • If you're delayed by 60 minutes or more on any of our services, you can claim a minimum of 50% of your ticket costs for the journey. Check our Passenger Charter and National Rail Conditions of Travel  for more details, including the total amount of compensation you can claim, depending on the length of delay. 

    • Claims must be received within 28 days your journey and you need to provide an image of each paper ticket or e-ticket you want to claim for. If your travelled in a group or family, load all the tickets on one claim for the same journey to save time. If you had to complete the journey using rail replacements or another Train Company due to disruption, please tell us the details on your claim form as it helps validate your claim quicker.

      Please note, the system won't accept itineraries, seat reservations or receipts instead of tickets. It will cause delays to your claim and will auto-reject the claim if the ticket isn't included. 

      Grand Central delay compensation policy
      Delays of 1 to 2 hours50% of the cost of a single ticket or 50% of the relevant portion of a return ticket.
      Delays of 2 to 3 hours75% of the cost of a single ticket or 75% of the relevant portion of a return ticket.
      Delays over 3 hours100% of the cost of a single ticket or 100% of the relevant portion of a return ticket.

      Am I eligible for compensation?

      If your Grand Central train is delayed by 60 minutes or more, you will be eligible for delay compensation.

      How will I be paid?

      • You can decide between PayPal or BACs payments or you may be eligible for a free single journey and you'll be asked to select an option on your claim form. 
      • The levels of compensation described above sets out our general policy regarding compensation but do not in any way limit or exclude your legal rights as a consumer under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 or otherwise we offer compensation via:
      Complimentary Grand Central single journey - if your journey started or completed at London Kings Cross

      We will send you a discount code for a replacement journey. The code can be used to book an Advance Single ticket on any Grand Central service, where Advance Single tickets are available. 

      - Codes are issued in the class of travel of your original ticket.

      - You must start or finish your journey at London Kings Cross.

      - They are valid for six months from the date of issue. If you do not use the codes within the agreed six months, they will expire and will not be replaced.

      - Codes can only be redeemed on a single Grand Central journey for one person at once. You can not book multiple journeys or for multiple people on the same booking. 

      - Once issued these are not exchangeable for any other form of compensation.

      -We reserve the right to provide complimentary journeys as Charter Compensation at our discretion.

      PayPalCompensation will be paid directly to your PayPal account, which can then be transferred to your Bank or Building Society account. Please ensure that the email address provided on the form is correct email for your PayPal account email address.
      BACs PaymentWe will refund you via BACs direct to your Bank or Building Society account. To do this we will need your six digit customer sort code, your eight digit customer account number and the account holder's name (this is not the Bank or Building Society's name).
    •  
      • To process your claim, we need information about your tickets. The easiest & quickest way is via our online compensation form. Please complete the form within 28 days of the date of the delay. A readable, scanned copy or photograph of your ticket is required to make a claim - JPEG or PDF format. 
        • Most claims will be resolved within 10 working days, however all should be responded to within 20 working days, and our new system will show your claim's status keeping you informed throughout. If you have any issues, please call us on 0345 603 4852 (option 4, then option 1) quoting your claim reference and we will be happy to help. 
        • If we are unable to respond to your correspondence or process your refund within 10 working days, you will not be entitled to additional compensation. 
        • Alternatively, you can download our Compensation claim form (PDF) and post it, but this will take considerably longer to resolve than requesting it online. We recommend sending postal claims by recorded delivery as we do not accept liability for lost or damaged tickets/claims forms.
        • Please do not send your claim to the Sheffield address on the form. It must be posted to our Wakefield address below - 
        • Post:
          Customer Relations Manager
          Grand Central Rail
          Ground Floor, Wakefield Kirkgate Station,
          Monk Street, Wakefield
          WF1 4EL
        • Did you buy your ticket from Grand Central? We can only view booking details for tickets which were purchased through the Grand Central website, app or our telesales team. If you have booked via a third party, you must attach a copy of your ticket or booking confirmation in the 'Image of your ticket' field in the claims form - remember attachments must be JPEG or PDF format. 
      • View the National Rail Conditions of Travel