A new not-for-profit enterprise is using “sophisticated technology” to provide delayed commuters in London with automatic rail refunds.
Reeclaim is a platform that automatically scans a person’s tube and train journeys to determine if they are due a refund.
It then submits a refund request to Transport for London on behalf of the passenger, who will then be credited the full amount.
The London-based company says its service has arrived at a much-needed time following recent reports that rail companies pocketed £180m from delays in the last year alone.
Reeclaim founder Zevi Sternlicht used his programming background to develop the platform after he attempted to request a refund himself and realised just how long the process takes.
“With almost two million commuter hours lost on average each month due to delays, we are here to give consumers the refunds they deserve, minus the hassle of having to manually claim back on every delayed journey,” he said.
“We are not associated with TfL, nor do we take any commission, so the user gets to keep the whole amount of the refund – we intend to keep it that way too.”
Reeclaim has already processed over one million journeys in the past year and claims to have assisted in putting over £80,000 worth of refunds back into the pockets of passengers.
Commuters registered to Reeclaim are entitled to a refund following delays of 15 minutes or more on London Underground and DLR services, and 30-minute delays on the Overground and TfL Rail.