THERE’S nothing more annoying than rushing on your way to work or an appointment only to be delayed by public transport.

The nail biting delays due to leaves on the line/the rails being too hot/heavy rain/unexpected snow have left many of us in a rage.

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However, the tides are turning for disgruntled delayed passengers, as train operators will be forced to refund passengers for delays of just 15 minutes.

The new Government proposals will halve the current threshold of 30 minutes.

The catchily titled “Delay Repay 15” scheme will be introduced onto Southern early next year.

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But red-faced officials last night admitted it may take until 2024 – EIGHT YEARS – for the scheme to be rolled out across every franchise in the country.

The Department for Transport admitted they cannot rip-up current agreements with train operators to enforce the new delay compensation rule – and have to wait until a new contract kicks-in.

Currently passengers are supposed to be able to claim compensation for delays of more than 30 minutes. Figures from the Rail Regulator showed there were 94,000 services delayed by between 15 to 30 minutes last year.

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Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: “We recognise that, above all else, passengers want a reliable train service but when things do go wrong it is vital that they are compensated fairly.

“Delay Repay 15 is a major improvement for passengers and we are working with train companies to make it as easy as possible for passengers to claim their rightful compensation.”

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So how do you go about claiming your ticket fare back after a quarter of an hour set back?

Don’t forget that until the beginning of next year Southern rail will only be refunding tickets for customers delayed by 30 minutes.

In order to claim you just need to .

You aren’t able to claim however if the train was late due to planned engineering works.