Every claim we send is one a train company can trust

What we check, on every claim

• The train really was late. We work out the delay from live train running data, never from what someone tells us they think happened. The evidence record shows the data and where it came from.
• The passenger says they were on it. We never assume. For every late train we ask “were you on it?”, and claim only after a yes. Passengers say no to a large share of late trains, and that is exactly what we expect: they work from home, take another train, go on holiday.
• They hold a ticket that covers it. Every claim needs a ticket for that journey and date. We read and check each ticket against the route and dates; a ticket that doesn’t match is sent back.
• One ticket, one person. A ticket, ticket photo or Key smartcard that appears on more than one account stops the claim until a person on our team has looked.
• Journeys that can’t both have happened. Two claimed journeys that overlap in time (the 07:48 and the 08:12 on the same morning) are held for a person to check, and the one that can’t be right is never sent.
• Unusual patterns. Someone who claims for nearly every late train, every weekday, for weeks, is looked at by a person. Usually there’s a good reason. When there isn’t, we act.
• One free month per person. We keep one-way fingerprints of each free month’s details so the same person can’t keep starting new ones.
• Optional proof of travel. Passengers can choose to share their phone’s location once, around the time of the train. If they were at a station on the journey, the claim is marked “travel checked”. We keep only the distance and time, never where they were.

What we refuse to do

• Claim for a journey the passenger hasn’t confirmed.
• Invent, round up or guess a delay.
• Claim twice for the same journey, or claim something a train company has already compensated automatically.
• Get around a train company’s own safeguards on its claim form.
• Take a cut of anyone’s compensation. The train company pays the passenger directly.

When something isn’t right

We suspend accounts that make claims that can’t be genuine, withdraw any of their claims not yet sent, and co-operate with the train company concerned. Every claim, every answer and every decision our team makes is recorded and kept.

For train companies

Every claim latemate sends carries an evidence record: the train data and its source, when and how the passenger confirmed they travelled (and how long after the train arrived), the ticket and how it was checked, the checks run before sending, and any proof of travel. Your Delay Repay team can look any claim up by your own claim reference, at latemate.app/operators/lookup, with a key we give you. To get a key, or to talk about how we work, email info@latemate.app.

Think a claim we sent is wrong? Report it and a person will look at it, usually within one working day.