bb21
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Manual gateline at Euston are very diligent at checking one's passport. There is no other station quite like it.
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Britrail Passes - deliverable to UK addresses
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Ill rephrase this then in a nicer way for everyone.
You well know that the Britrail pass is to encourage tourists to use the railways to visit other parts of our country yet you seem to believe that the pricing structure we have to use as nationals is some sort of conspiracy to get us to drive?
Possibly. But remember you can get Interrail tickets for just one country in the EU too so why would you view this ticket as anything different?
berneyarms
Established Member
Again, I've passed through Euston numerous times on a Britrail pass and have never been asked for any ID.
bb21
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Probably not all Virgin staff, but I am willing to bet quite a few of them. I have not once managed to pass a Virgin manual barrier without being asked for ID in recent years, very oddly, and I use Euston at least once on each of my travel days.
Universediver
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I used to work for a company that was the sole seller of Brit Rail passes in the UK. We used to have their passport and a return ticket/coupon so to prove they were visitors.
nuneatonmark
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If a passport is not required to prove residency then what is? I have a place in Florida and have utility bills, bank statements etc which show my US address. Why couldn't anyone us that sort of thing as residency proof. Not that I would of course.
Although you could live in another EU country with a British passport and would not have any documentation such as a visa to prove you live there, as this is not required. You could also live in the Republic of Ireland with no need to even hold a passport.
According to the Britpass website you merely need to be an overseas resident thus you need to show proof of residency when you travel, which of course a UK passport is NOT, since many Brits work ex-pat and would be eligible to buy the pass.
On the other hand, you need to show a passport when first validating the pass. These conflicting requirements don't make sense in such circumstances. Maybe they genuinely haven't considered the possibility that ex-pat British citizens might want to spend their leave travelling up and down on trains.
On the other hand, you need to show a passport when first validating the pass. These conflicting requirements don't make sense in such circumstances. Maybe they genuinely haven't considered the possibility that ex-pat British citizens might want to spend their leave travelling up and down on trains.
berneyarms
Established Member
I have to contradict you here, as in 10 years of regularly using Britrail passes (four or five times a year), I have never been asked for my passport or any form of ID when getting the ticket date stamped.
I do always carry my passport with me, but as I said above, I have only been asked for it or any form of ID once in 10 years - and that's after about 40 trips!!
What may be stated as being required, and what actually happens in practice are two different things.
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bb21
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In theory ...
I have only once been asked for proof of ID when validating, and that was interestingly also run by Virgin, at Manchester Piccadilly.
On all other occasions staff just stamped the ticket and filled in the dates.
I guess the rule is there in case there is something dodgy suspected.
From experience holders of Britrail passes will have bags and such like with them so anyone just trying it on whilst not having said stuff on them would probably get asked.
rightly or wrongly - for most they are just happy to stamp the ticket and get a wriggle on elsewhere
You don't have to carry everything round with you on your entire visit do you?
No but as I said 'From experience' as these will be people who are travelling somewhere for a few days which will incur an overnight stay or two in said destination and for the vast majority of people they will have bags with them.
A commuter and someone trying it on to get cheaper travel more than likely would not have such things on them. I am sorry for not expanding on this in my post - I would've thought it a bit obvious you see.
Ryanair is so cheap these days, if someone was planning this, the Britrail is so cheap they could add on a £20-30 return flight ticket from outside of UK and it would still be cheap.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
And very similar to German policy, for example: in the Black Forest and elsewhere visitors get free local transport as a part of their holiday booking. Obviously to encourage local people to drive.
Normally this is funded via a tourist tax, which the UK generally doesn't have. Switzerland does it as well.
Neil
EU law prevents a member state discriminating against nationals (perhaps residents) of other EU states. It doesn't prevent states discriminating against their own people. (That is a matter for domestic law.)
That is why we have the strange situation where because Scottish universities don't charge fees to Scottish students, they are not permitted to charge fees to other EU students (eg Germans). But they can charge fees to other students within the UK. If Scotland gained independence, then they would no longer be able to charge English students.
Interesting about the passes being available in the UK.
On a side note, regarding ID, my last visit using a BritRail pass was last year in November and I had to show my passport just once during the whole trip.
I guess you can guess where?? Going from BB21s post.
Euston, boarding a Virgin train to Manchester, a young lady asked me for my ID.
Will be getting another Britrail pass soon, but from Sweden as I find that the envelope with the address it was sent in, comes in handy, plus I take a tax form with me as well with my Swedish address on. etc. I have a UK passport.
On a side note, regarding ID, my last visit using a BritRail pass was last year in November and I had to show my passport just once during the whole trip.
I guess you can guess where?? Going from BB21s post.
Euston, boarding a Virgin train to Manchester, a young lady asked me for my ID.
Will be getting another Britrail pass soon, but from Sweden as I find that the envelope with the address it was sent in, comes in handy, plus I take a tax form with me as well with my Swedish address on. etc. I have a UK passport.
pne
Member
I also hold a UK passport.
Travelled on a BritRail pass last April and never encountered any problems.
Apparently, you have to get the pass validated before first use; if this was the cast last year, I did not know about it, nor did I have any problems. This time around, I plan on getting a current certificate of residency from my local municipality as well as a bank or credit card statement or two, just in case anyone should ask.
Travelled on a BritRail pass last April and never encountered any problems.
Apparently, you have to get the pass validated before first use; if this was the cast last year, I did not know about it, nor did I have any problems. This time around, I plan on getting a current certificate of residency from my local municipality as well as a bank or credit card statement or two, just in case anyone should ask.
Consecutive passes are also open dated. They are valid for 6 months from date of purchase. Once validated they are then only valid for the period of the pass.
pne
Member
It was a flexi-pass (4 days in 1 month).
However, the place where I bought the ticket online had asked me for the first day I would like it to be valid on and I believe the period was pre-printed on the ticket ("valid on 4 days between 1 April and 30 April" or something like that - together with four boxes for filling out the specific dates later on).
bb21
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That's new to me, as the dates I provided were all used to open-date the pass for six months, eg. if I stated 15th March, it would be printed for the validity "15th March to 14th September" along the top, but with additional boxes at the bottom of the pass to be filled in at the time of validation.
We are a little short on samples of BritRail in our Ticket Gallery, so if you have a scan of the ticket, I would be more than happy to look at it, and include in our gallery if you have no objection.
pne
Member
I wonder whether I still have itI may.
I bought this year's at a different place and it looked rather different.
I can certainly let you have this one, and if I can find the previous one I'll let you know about that one as well.
As far as I'm aware, both types of pass are supposed to be validated at a Ticket Office before use. This entails completing the start and expiry dates as appropriate, and applying a station stamp...and checking passports of course.
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