Unable to buy a Railcard

[danm14]

Assume I order train tickets online with a Railcard intending to purchase my Railcard at the station on arrival.

When I arrive at the station in plenty of time with my form, photos, etc. all in order, I'm told that they've run out of Railcard stock, or I find the ticket office closed when it's scheduled to be open.

What happens - can I still travel? Do I need to buy full price walk-up tickets from the machine? Are these tickets refundable?

 

[mrmartin]

Why not buy it on the app? It takes a few seconds.

 

[higthomas]

Why not buy it on the app? It takes a few seconds.

Because one doesn't want it on the app?

I'm definitely not the only one who feels this way.

 

[island]

Strictly, if you choose to buy Railcard-discounted tickets without having the Railcard in hand, you take the risk of being unable to procure one before travel.

In practice, I suspect a ticket clerk would endorse your tickets for travel to the next interchange to purchase your Railcard there.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

A Railcard-discounted ticket simply isn't valid without a Railcard. It may as well be dated for the completely wrong day, that's how 'invalid' it is (yes, there are exceptions etc. but that's the gist of it).

Being unable to buy a Railcard to make your ticket valid isn't a valid defence for effectively boarding without a ticket. Now, if you board without a ticket because there were no ticketing facilities working/open when you boarded (e.g. the ticket office is closed, there's a card-only TVM but you only have cash) then you are fine to buy on board and you can get any Railcard discount for which you can produce a Railcard. But you can't board with a Railcard-discounted ticket without a Railcard.

In practice this rule won't always be fully enforced, but you should be prepared for it to be fully enforced just in case. Play it safe and either get a Railcard on your phone (not ideal, I realise) or buy a new ticket.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Just to note, physical Railcards ordered online and sent by post seem to be fulfilled very promptly - with delivery the next day being my experience (if the order is placed during the daytime).

 

[Haywain]

I'm slightly surprised to be saying this but I agree with ForTheLoveOf. By all means buy the discounted tickets ahead of buying the railcard, but don't leave buying the railcard until the last minute. As you say, the station could run out of railcard ticket stock but, more likely, you could run out of time. Don't risk it.

 

[Haywain]

Just to note, physical Railcards ordered online and sent by post seem to be fulfilled very promptly - with delivery the next day being my experience (if the order is placed during the daytime).

Two days for me.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Two days for me.

The official line from the Railcard website is "FIVE working days" (with that capitalisation!). They do add a week on to the Railcard's validity to cover for the delivery time.

I appreciate the desire to maximise a railcard's validity period and the idea one might feel a bit cheated by buying it ahead of travel, but I'd just swallow such notions and make sure you have bought the Railcard in good time before embarking on a discounted journey. Well, that or buy a Digital Railcard via the app on the day of travel.