Passengers on Scotland's flagship overnight rail service have received nearly £3 million in compensation for delays since it was brought into public ownership by the Scottish Government.
A Costly Tab for Taxpayers
Since the Caledonian Sleeper was nationalised by SNP ministers in June 2023, a total of £2.73 million has been paid out to travellers under the Delay Repay scheme. This equates to more than £22,000 every week in compensation, with the bill ultimately covered by the public purse.
The figures, obtained by the Scottish Conservatives via freedom of information requests, reveal the breakdown of payouts. A sum of £492,846 was paid for delays of 30 minutes or more, while a further £1,937,022 was issued for journeys delayed by over an hour. An additional £296,482 was paid for other manual claims.
Political Row Over Rail Performance
The substantial compensation costs have ignited a fierce political debate over the Scottish Government's management of the rail network. Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Sue Webber accused the SNP of "making a mess" of running the popular service, which connects London with stations across Scotland.
"The SNP promised that nationalising our sleeper service was the best option," Webber stated. "But these figures show that passengers are being let down by a service that’s too often late and taxpayers are picking up the tab for compensating them."
She linked the issue to the earlier nationalisation of ScotRail, arguing that "shelling out almost £3 million on reimbursing travellers is the last thing we can afford" amidst wider spending pressures.
Government Defends Service Amid High Demand
In response, a spokesman for Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop provided context for the figures. They argued that opposition critics ignore the operational realities, where trains "may need on occasion to be cancelled" for safety reasons.
The spokesman highlighted that the compensation cases paid since nationalisation represent approximately 3.4% of almost 480,000 journeys in the same period. They also noted that more than half of all delay compensation claims are the responsibility of other parties, not the Sleeper operator.
"With bookings at a high and great passenger satisfaction results," the spokesman said, "we are focused on ensuring the publicly owned Caledonian Sleeper is a success rather than criticising on past disruption."
The service, which offers cabin accommodation on overnight trips between Scotland and London, was previously operated by Serco under a franchise agreement. The Scottish Government formally took control two and a half years ago, a year after ScotRail returned to public ownership.
