Disabled Railcard Question

[les.]

I'm sure this may have been asked before but I did a search and couldn't find anything.

I hold a Disabled Railcard and live in Grimsby, my friend lives in York.

In September we are going to The Belgium Beer Festival and traveling from St.Pancras on Eurostar.

My question is that I have bought a ticket to get to Kings Cross, TPE from Grimsby to Doncaster, changing at Doncaster onto VTEC. As my railcard covers 2 people, will my friend be able to travel on my Disabled Railcard from Doncaster if he get's a single from York to Doncaster and then a single from Doncaster to KX or does it only apply to 2 identical tickets.

 

[yorkie]

Technically the T&Cs state "The accompanying passenger for whom a discounted ticket is purchased must travel with the Railcard holder throughout the journey" although in practice there is unlikely to be any issue.

In order to be safe, you may need to "split" your tickets at Doncaster. I would recommend obtaining a reservation on a train that has come from York, and specify additional interchange time at Doncaster, to minimise any possibility of disruption causing you any issues (you don't want to get into conflict about what constitutes a "journey" and you won't justifiably be able to argue your case both ways if it does crop up!)

A website such as trainscanbecheaper.info will allow you to specify additional interchange time .

 

[les.]

Technically the T&Cs state "The accompanying passenger for whom a discounted ticket is purchased must travel with the Railcard holder throughout the journey" although in practice there is unlikely to be any issue.

In order to be safe, you may need to "split" your tickets at Doncaster. I would recommend obtaining a reservation on a train that has come from York, and specify additional interchange time at Doncaster, to minimise any possibility of disruption causing you any issues (you don't want to get into conflict about what constitutes a "journey" and you won't justifiably be able to argue your case both ways if it does crop up!)

A website such as trainscanbecheaper.info will allow you to specify additional interchange time .

Thanks.

 

[najaB]

Technically the T&Cs state "The accompanying passenger for whom a discounted ticket is purchased must travel with the Railcard holder throughout the journey" although in practice there is unlikely to be any issue.

I've always wondered if 'the journey' in that term is meant to mean the journey that the DSB-cardholder is making, the companion's journey or both?

As an example, lets say I want to make a journey to Cambridge (CBG) and my friend Gary (who has a DSB railcard) is going to London. I will be travelling from Dundee (DEE), changing at Peterborough (PBO). Gary will be travelling from Inverkeithing (INK).

So, if I buy DEE-INK without discount, INK-PBO with discount and PBO-CBG without discount and Gary buys INK-PBO, PBO-London with discount then we're definitely fine, right?

What about if I bought the same tickets and Gary buys INK-London with discount? The start and end points of our journeys are different, but we'll be travelling together for the entire portion of the journey (INK-PBO) for which I have a discounted ticket.

 

[yorkie]

It is a grey area.

In practice, common sense is shown by the vast majority of staff, especially where a Disabled Railcard is involved.

 

[gray1404]

I made a journey from Formby to Liverpool on my PTE concession pass. A friend was travelling with me so I tried to buy them a Anytime Day Return with my DSB railcard. The booking office at Formby refused to sell me the discounted ticket on the basis that we both have to be travelling using the railcard.

I do think this is fundamentally wrong as their are many disabled people who will be covered by a PTE pass but have someone travelling with them.

This is in total contradiction to what happens when someone entitled to child discounted tickets is issued with a DSB railcard. The railcard is issued in their name but they can continue to travel on child rate fare yet it is allowed that an adult travelling with them can obtain a ticket with the DSB discount applied.

 

[yorkie]

I made a journey from Formby to Liverpool on my PTE concession pass. A friend was travelling with me so I tried to buy them a Anytime Day Return with my DSB railcard. The booking office at Formby refused to sell me the discounted ticket on the basis that we both have to be travelling using the railcard.

I do think this is fundamentally wrong as their are many disabled people who will be covered by a PTE pass but have someone travelling with them.

This is in total contradiction to what happens when someone entitled to child discounted tickets is issued with a DSB railcard. The railcard is issued in their name but they can continue to travel on child rate fare yet it is allowed that an adult travelling with them can obtain a ticket with the DSB discount applied.

I think that's the sort of case that Transport Focus may want to take up. Have you logged a case with them? If & when you get a response, please do let us know what they say (in a new thread).

I would like to see appropriate wording, that does not impose any unintended restrictions. Something like as "An accompanying passenger may use a discounted fare when travelling with the holder" would do.

 

[najaB]

I made a journey from Formby to Liverpool on my PTE concession pass. A friend was travelling with me so I tried to buy them a Anytime Day Return with my DSB railcard. The booking office at Formby refused to sell me the discounted ticket on the basis that we both have to be travelling using the railcard.

Is a PTE concessionary pass classed as a 'discount'?

10. Disabled Persons Railcard discounts cannot be used in conjunction with any other discount.

 

[gray1404]

I phoned Merseyrail at the time and they said that the booking office was correct. I also emailed ATOC shortly after and they also said he was correct; although they did not state the rationale as to why. I would be happy to take this up with transport focus but could I contact them directly about this as a matter of policy, rather then in relation to a TOC complaint (as I don't have one to refer to them)?

In actual fact it was researching this very topic that caused me to stumble across the forum for the first time - so I guess Merseyrail did me a favour.

Update: - I have just sent an email to RDG asking the question again. Depending on their reply, I will either then inform them that the TOCs are not applying the rules correctly and see what they can do about it or ask them the basis for saying that both holders must be on the same ticket and go from there. I am going to create a separate thread for this however.

 

[gm3724]

I made a journey from Formby to Liverpool on my PTE concession pass. A friend was travelling with me so I tried to buy them a Anytime Day Return with my DSB railcard. The booking office at Formby refused to sell me the discounted ticket on the basis that we both have to be travelling using the railcard.

Not identical to your situation, but the the DSB Railcard website FAQs regarding travel in London says "If the Disabled Persons Railcard holder is travelling on a Disabled Person's Freedom Pass, they cannot use their Disabled Persons Railcard to buy a discounted ticket for an accompanying person."

It makes no mention of other concessionary passes. I work in a ticket office and would sell a different ticket with the railcard discount to an accompanying person as long as you both had tickets/passes which covered the whole journey together.