Commuters on the c2c services between Fenchurch Street and Essex will get automatic compensation if their train is more than two minutes late, reports The Daily Telegraph. From 2016 credits will be issued to holders of annual, monthly, weekly or one-day travelcards via electronic smartcard tickets.  In addition to the normal “delay-repay” scheme of reimbursement of half the cost of a single journey for a delay of 30 minutes or more, customers on c2c will also receive 3p per minute for any delay lasting between two minutes and 29 minutes.

Automatic compensation is long overdue.  A report by the Office of Rail Regulation in February 2014 found that 68% of passengers never claim compensation for delays, and that only 18% of passengers considered that they knew even a “fair amount” about delay compensation arrangements.  It has been estimated that more than £100 million in compensation goes unclaimed each year.

We’ve asked Southeastern whether they have plans to follow c2c’s example.

Update:  Southeastern tell us that their submission to the DfT for the Direct Award Franchise until 2018 is focused on customer service and ticketing improvements, but that they can’t say much more until the Award is signed off by the Department for Transport, probably next month.