Buying a Senior railcard for a US resident

[cav1975]

My American brother is coming to the UK soon for a holiday. Could anyone advise how I can get a senior railcard for him, or if he can buy one here? The various websites seem to insist on UK or EEA supporting documents being presented.

Thanks

 

[alistairlees]

My American brother is coming to the UK soon for a holiday. Could anyone advise how I can get a senior railcard for him, or if he can buy one here? The various websites seem to insist on UK or EEA supporting documents being presented.

Thanks

The senior railcard website requires that you have a passport. He's going to have one of those, so there should be no problem. I don't know of any residency requirement.

 

[ainsworth74]

As far as I'm aware any passport can be used at a station and online (as long as they're "machine readable" which I think any issued in the last decade or so will be). No EEA/EU/UK documents required.

 

[Joshua_Harman]

I Purchased a 16-25 one with my Israeli passport at the ticket office, the guy said my Israeli issued ID would work also, but Id like to see them try as it doesn’t have Latin script on it!! I presume the rules for the senior railcard would be the same..

 

[cav1975]

Thanks for your quick responses, I can see that I have misread the website which states: -

• Proof of eligibility (UK Driving Licence, Passport, EEA National Identity card)

In my mind the UK relating to the driving licence also applied to passports.

If I can misread it, I suspect many others will too so they should ideally clarify it, maybe by chnaging the word order so that passport is first in the list thus de-emphasising the UK bit.

 

[alistairlees]

The words "UK" and "EEA" should be removed. It's age, not nationality, that is being determined. However, the people who wrote this did not think, clearly. The should also really add "e.g." at the begining of the list, as it is likely non-exhaustive.

 

[Class800]

Thanks for your quick responses, I can see that I have misread the website which states: -

• Proof of eligibility (UK Driving Licence, Passport, EEA National Identity card)

In my mind the UK relating to the driving licence also applied to passports.

If I can misread it, I suspect many others will too so they should ideally clarify it, maybe by chnaging the word order so that passport is first in the list thus de-emphasising the UK bit.

It doesn't say UK Passport, the comma is sufficient surely to separate. Anyway, you'll be fine with any passport that has Latin script/is in English

 

[Haywain]

The words "UK" and "EEA" should be removed. It's age, not nationality, that is being determined. However, the people who wrote this did not think, clearly. The should also really add "e.g." at the begining of the list, as it is likely non-exhaustive.

For buying online the set up is to accept the UK Driving Licence number, so the UK reference is correct. I suspect the same applies to National Identity cards from the EEA.

 

[alistairlees]

I think the crrespondence here demomstrates that the wording on the website is unclear.

 

[cav1975]

It doesn't say UK Passport, the comma is sufficient surely to separate. Anyway, you'll be fine with any passport that has Latin script/is in English

I agree, it is absolutely correct legally. However, it isn't clear. Both my brother and I independently misread it.

 

[Andrew1395]

I think the specification of “UK“ Driving licence is because issuing staff would not be familiar with all national documentation issued in other administrations. They may not include photos and dates of birth as the UK equivalents do. So would not be useful in proving eligibility.

 

[danm14]

For buying online the set up is to accept the UK Driving Licence number, so the UK reference is correct. I suspect the same applies to National Identity cards from the EEA.

The website is set up to accept three different types of age verification:

"Passport" will accept any document with an ICAO 9303 Type 3 machine readable zone. This includes most passports from any country.

"UK Driving Licence" will accept any document with a number matching the proprietary GB driving licence number format - that is Great Britain and Guernsey full and provisional driving licences (but not Northern Ireland, Isle of Man or Jersey driving licences)

"National Identity Card" will accept any document with an ICAO 9303 Type 1 machine readable zone. This includes not only EEA National ID cards but also many other documents - such as the UK Biometric Residence Permit, the Irish and US passport cards, many non-EEA national ID cards and even some US and Canadian driving licences.

Whether it is permitted to use a document other than a passport, GB driving licence or EEA national ID card is of course another matter.

 

[TUC]

For buying online the set up is to accept the UK Driving Licence number, so the UK reference is correct. I suspect the same applies to National Identity cards from the EEA.

When I lived in Northern Ireland I frustratingly found that the online system would not recognise the different format of NI driving licence numbers, even though it is a UK licence.

 

[danm14]

When I lived in Northern Ireland I frustratingly found that the online system would not recognise the different format of NI driving licence numbers, even though it is a UK licence.

The Railcard website is not checking any form of database. It is merely checking that a mathematically valid GB driving licence number (or passport/ID card machine readable zone) is entered. These all contain in encoded form (among other things) the person's date of birth.

The Northern Ireland driving licence number is just an 8 digit number, with nothing encoded in it - it therefore cannot be used in this way - access to the DVA (NI) driving licence database would be needed.

 

[island]

When I lived in Northern Ireland I frustratingly found that the online system would not recognise the different format of NI driving licence numbers, even though it is a UK licence.

This is because the Railcard site does not have a link to DVA (or DVLA) to verify the particulars entered, and NI driving licence numbers are just serial numbers, as opposed to GB which incorporate the holder's name, gender, and date of birth.

 

[Haywain]

When I lived in Northern Ireland I frustratingly found that the online system would not recognise the different format of NI driving licence numbers, even though it is a UK licence.

Yes, I hadn't realised that a UK driving licence doesn't actually get issued to all of the UK!

 

[TUC]

This is because the Railcard site does not have a link to DVA (or DVLA) to verify the particulars entered, and NI driving licence numbers are just serial numbers, as opposed to GB which incorporate the holder's name, gender, and date of birth.

The problem is that the requirement is described as a UK driving licence. If they mean a GB driving licence they should say so.

 

[Haywain]

If they mean a GB driving licence they should say so.

No, they mean a UK Driving Licence - there is nothing on it to distinguish it as a GB licence but it bears the letters UK (in a larger font than anything else on it, on my new one that arrived this morning).

 

[TUC]

No, they mean a UK Driving Licence - there is nothing on it to distinguish it as a GB licence but it bears the letters UK (in a larger font than anything else on it, on my new one that arrived this morning).

The problem is that, as established, they don't meam all UK licences. 'UK driving licence issued in Great Britain' would be accurat.

It does cause a problem for people in NI who want to use a railcard for a SailRail fare, so waiting to buy it when they get to GB won't work.

 

[paul1609]

The problem is that, as established, they don't meam all UK licences. 'UK driving licence issued in Great Britain' would be accurat.

It does cause a problem for people in NI who want to use a railcard for a SailRail fare, so waiting to buy it when they get to GB won't work.

I didn't think Sailrail fares had railcard discounts?

 

[TUC]

I didn't think Sailrail fares had railcard discounts?

I just checked on BRFares and railcard discounts are shown.

 

[paul1609]

Strangely, there's 16-25 and senior railcards on the via Cairnryan route but not the Holyhead or Fishguard routes.

 

[danm14]

I didn't think Sailrail fares had railcard discounts?

Certain Railcards (16-25, 26-30, Senior and Disabled) can be used to obtain a discount on SailRail fares to Northern Ireland, but only via Cairnryan. The discount is the standard 1/3 of the full fare.

Railcard discounts are not available via Holyhead or Fishguard, nor on through tickets to/from the Republic of Ireland via Cairnryan.

 

[Gaelan]

I Purchased a 16-25 one with my Israeli passport at the ticket office, the guy said my Israeli issued ID would work also, but Id like to see them try as it doesn’t have Latin script on it!! I presume the rules for the senior railcard would be the same..

Surely your picture plus a birthday (which is presumably written in arabic numerals, and can be distinguished from any expiration date or issuance date with a bit of common sense) is clear enough?

 

[kieron]

My American brother is coming to the UK soon for a holiday. Could anyone advise how I can get a senior railcard for him, or if he can buy one here? The various websites seem to insist on UK or EEA supporting documents being presented.

You may have already done this, but, before paying for anything, I would compare the cost of buying a railcard and tickets for your brother against buying a BritRail or Eurail pass. I don't know much about the latter, but I know they can be very good value for a visitor from abroad.

It does cause a problem for people in NI who want to use a railcard for a SailRail fare, so waiting to buy it when they get to GB won't work.

Does it cause much of a problem, though? There's a contact form and phone number on the web site, so you could get in touch if you could prove your age, but didn't have any documents the form accepts. I wonder what they would advise in that situation.