SNP accused of 'making a mess' of Caledonian Sleeper after compensation bill revealed
The Caledonian Sleeper service was nationalised by the SNP government in 2023.
Almost £3 million has been paid out in compensation since the Caledonian Sleeper was nationalised by the Scottish Government.
But SNP ministers have stressed that the figure accounts for just 3.4 per cent of journeys and that services are occasionally cancelled for safety reasons with the payments made to ensure passengers can return home.
Freedom of Information responses, obtained by the Scottish Conservatives, show that £492,846 was paid out for 30-minute delays, £1,937,022 was paid out for one-hour plus delays, and £296,482 was paid on manual delay repay - totalling more than £2.7m since the service was taken under public ownership in 2023.
Scottish Conservative transport spokesperson, Sue Webber, said: “The SNP promised that nationalising our sleeper service was the best option. 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.
READ MORE: Scotland's Caledonian Sleeper gets new stop off in biggest timetable shake up in 30 years
“As with their botched ScotRail nationalisation, it appears the SNP are making a mess of running the Caledonian Sleeper.
“Shelling out almost £3m on reimbursing travellers is the last thing we can afford at a time when the SNP’s financial mismanagement is leading to swingeing spending cuts and tax rises.”
She added: “Rail users have consistently been let down by the SNP failing to deliver on their promises. Their incompetence is driving people back into their cars and onto the roads.
“If the SNP insist on nationalising Scotland’s rail services, they must make sure they’re able to efficiently run them – instead of running them into the ground.”
A spokesperson for SNP Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop, said: “Opposition MSPs repeat this attack without understanding the context of the fact that trains, for safety and other reasons, may need on occasion to be cancelled and Caledonian Sleeper works hard in these circumstances to get people home.
“The number of compensation cases paid out since Caledonian Sleeper entered public ownership until the end of October 2025 represents approximately 3.4 per cent of almost 480,000 journeys during the same period. Any disruption to passengers is regrettable and it is only right that Caledonian Sleeper do all they can to compensate where journeys are delayed or cancelled.
“With bookings at a high and great passenger satisfaction results, we are focused on ensuring the publicly owned Caledonian Sleeper is a success rather than criticising on past disruption - particularly when blame for more than half of all delay compensation claims rests elsewhere.”
A Caledonian Sleeper spokesperson said: "On average 84 per cent of our services arrived within 60 seconds of their published arrival time over the last 12 months. Guest satisfaction levels are tracking strongly too, with the annual average to date showing that 86 percent of guests would rate Caledonian Sleeper highly.
"However, the rail network is complex, involving multiple stakeholders and many factors beyond Caledonian Sleeper’s direct control. Delays caused by external factors such as weather, emergency speed restrictions, police incidents, engineering works or infrastructure damage on the rail network accounts for much of this overall compensation value.
"Our commitment to providing excellent customer service is our top priority and it is right that our guests are compensated when due. Nevertheless, we continue to work closely with our rail industry partners to minimise delays wherever possible and thus reduce the requirement for compensation."
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