Veterans Railcard eligibility

[blimmo]

Because it provides some relief against commuting costs for young people at the start of their working lives when they will generally be earning less than later in their career.

Take Stevenage to London as an example:

Anytime Day Return £28.80
7 Day Season ticket £122.70

A 16-25 or 26-30 Railcard holder can travel for £19.15 per day with no need to part with a large sum of money up front for a season ticket.

This is an important feature of railcards for younger people that is often overlooked.

In my opinion this doesn't explain why the minimum fare exists, just why it's not completely invalid. Why do Coventry to Birmingham commuters not get a discount on their commuting costs at the start of their working lives?

 

[MrJeeves]

Why do Coventry to Birmingham commuters not get a discount on their commuting costs at the start of their working lives?

They do, albeit not for anywhere near as long as a Railcard would afford.

Get cheaper travel to work

Starting a new job? Get 3 months of discounted travel, including two months for free, with Workwise. Workwise discount tickets are valid on any bus, train or tram in the West Midlands.

www.tfwm.org.uk

Workwise offers two 4-week travel passes free and a third pass at half price, to help new job starters get to their place of work.

You can benefit from Workwise if you’re:

starting, or have just started, a new job earning £30,000 a year or less
working 16 hours or more in your new job / increasing your hours to 16 or more per week in a job you already have
not getting help with the cost of a travel pass

You can also apply for Workwise if you’ve been getting unemployment benefit. If you have, you can apply even if your salary now is more than £30,000 a year.

As an actual answer, I'd hypothesise that subsidising shorter journeys for local employment is considered a regional problem to be solved by local councils/PTEs, whereas a longer commute is seen as a "national" issue, or something like that.

Perhaps one for a speculative discussion?

 

[DH1Commuter]

Here's the rub. Go and ask your CO if applying for it meets the Army's core value of Integrity.

This.

 

[Bill57p9]

Here's the rub. Go and ask your CO if applying for it meets the Army's core value of Integrity.

cf. The rules for the Politicians Railcard, which offers a generous 100% discount on all personal travel if you claim it as an expense

 

[Adam Williams]

I'd hypothesise that subsidising shorter journeys for local employment is considered a regional problem to be solved by local councils/PTEs

I'd argue it already has. When I commuted from Brum to Coventry (well Canley) towards the start of my working life every weekday it was £109 a month (that covered nNetwork Z1-5, and of course also had validity on buses and trams). If I'd been commuting into Leamington it would've been about double that just for a season ticket valid on the trains.

 

[BigCj34]

Just saw this on the Veterans Railcard FAQS...

The Veterans Railcard is for former members of the UK armed forces. You may also be entitled to apply for a Veterans Railcard if you have served as a UK Reservist or in the UK Territorial Army (TA) or have served as a UK Merchant Mariner and seen duty on legally defined military operations.

You will need to prove your eligibilty. Please see here for more details on the documents you will need to provide to prove your eligiblity criteria.

So after a bit of digging the answer is a resounding no if you are already in the forces. If a serving merchant mariner has seen duty then they could still get one while still employed as a merchant mariner (the Royal Fleet Auxiliary would be a likely example).

Which would beg the question why they would willingly accept an intact MOD90 as proof, as that proves someone is currently in service.

 

[Hadders]

cf. The rules for the Politicians Railcard, which offers a generous 100% discount on all personal travel if you claim it as an expense

That's not correct. A politician cannot claim personal travel as expenses.

Non London MP travelling to Westminter from their constituency can claim travel on expenses to and from London because they have two places of work - their constituency and Parliament.

 

[spyinthesky]

According to the conditions of the HM Forces Railcard, this cannot be used for 'commuting' and is only for leisure purposes - the Veteran's Railcard however has no such condition about commuting.

Have you sought any allowances that you maybe entitled to already by doing this commute?
JSP 752 stipulates the things that qualify or the authority that is required.
If you don’t mind me asking, what is the commute as distance can be a factor with certain claims.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Aug 2026 ==

That's not correct. A politician cannot claim personal travel as expenses.

Non London MP travelling to Westminter from their constituency can claim travel on expenses to and from London because they have two places of work - their constituency and Parliament.

So a certain MP gets a fully discounted ticket to and from London to say Clacton on Sea but cuts their journey short at say Chelmsford.
I am sure there are many examples where MP’s can bend the rules

 

[Hadders]

So a certain MP gets a fully discounted ticket to and from London to say Clacton on Sea but cuts their journey short at say Chelmsford.
I am sure there are many examples where MP’s can bend the rules

Was the ticket to London purchased for legitimate business as an MP, that’s the issue.

 

[spyinthesky]

Was the ticket to London purchased for legitimate business as an MP, that’s the issue.

Probably not, the intention of the original ticket is claimed as a valid expense but used as personal gain. But there is very little in the audit trail.
Heading a little off topic now but I have been involved with investigating some very spurious travel claims in my former life

 

[Haywain]

Probably not, the intention of the original ticket is claimed as a valid expense but used as personal gain. But there is very little in the audit trail.
Heading a little off topic now but I have been involved with investigating some very spurious travel claims in my former life

Sounds like you are getting into mind reading territory.