How to get a refund on your delayed Tube journey without any boring paperwork

If you live in…well, any part of London, you’ve probably experienced some disruption to a journey on public transport at least once. The Tube is generally extremely efficient, but it happens from time to time.

Many of us consider it part and parcel of traveling in a major city, and have not even thought about the possibility that we might be able to get reimbursed for our troubles. Probably too concerned with working out which Tube line is the hottest, aren’t you.

Even if you’ve got as far as looking into refunds, it can feel like too much of an effort, so you’ve probably given up partway through.

However, a new site has now been launched which automates everything, ensuring you can get the money you’re owed without even really having to do anything. Which is perfect if you’re as lazy as me.

OK, when we say you don’t have to do anything, that’s only mostly true – you do have to do a couple of things to set up the process, but that’s it.

The site you’ll need is called Reeclaim, and it works in tandem with your Transport for London (TfL) account.

However, rather than forcing you to jump through hoops every time your journey is delayed, the whole process is automated.

First of all, you’ll need to register your Oyster card and/or bank cards on the TfL site, but there’s every chance you’ve done this already.

After that, the next step is to register with Reeclaim and connect your TfL account with your account there.

Once you’ve done that, Reeclaim will figure out if any of your journeys qualify for refunds – to do so, they’ll need to have been caused by signal failures or other TfL-related unplanned delays of 15 minutes or more on the London Underground and DLR, or 30 minutes or more on the London Overground and TfL rail.

As this is TfL specific, other train services serving London stations are not covered by the site. However, as Reeclaim explain in their FAQ, “Once you’ve signed up to our service, our systems check automatically for delayed journeys so you can sit back and relax while your refunds come in”.

That means if you’re not sure whether you qualify for a refund, they’ll work it out for you.

Metro tested out the system, and – put simply – it works.

They received three refunds within a week of signing up, complete with notifications from TfL.

These things add up over the course of a year, and if you find yourself delayed a lot then you could find yourself saving more money than you realise.

(Images: Maria Molinero/Adrien Ledoux/John T/iStock)