Expired 16-25 Railcard

[Tman1998]

I was travelling from Wokingham to Reading direct, on a return adult ticket on a south western railway train on 5th August 2025.

I was asked to present my railcard, which i did not realise had expired at the end of May 2025, as I received no email confirmation. I usually travel at peak time, as such, there is no discount on these tickets, unless it is the school holidays in the summer.

Looking back, I had traveled on 5 journeys with this discount applied after expiration.

I answered all questions during the witness statement, explained that this was an honest mistake, and bought a valid railcard immediately following the interview.

It was explained that I would hear back from them within 2 weeks.

It has now been 3 months, and I have finally had a response.

I have attached the email I received today.

I have no previous convictions, and this genuinely was an honest mistake, as I rarely travel at times when I can use the railcard.

The railcard in question was purchased in May 2022, for 3 years. I have been asked to provide a start date for the railcard, but the app only shows the expiry and doesn't show that it is 3 years. I am worried about this, as I also cant find any record in my emails or bank statements to show that I purchased it 3 years ago.

Please can anyone give me advice on this.

 

[Trainman40083]

One action you must take, is diary the expiry of your new Railcard. Do not presume anyone will tell you it is expiring. (Was it Trainline, by any chance?)

 

[Tman1998]

One action you must take, is diary the expiry of your new Railcard. Do not presume anyone will tell you it is expiring. (Was it Trainline, by any chance?)

Yeah lesson learned the hard way from this, my new expiry date is in my calendar.

I honestly cant remember where I purchased it from which is the issue. I have reached out to trainline and to the national rail directly to see if either of them can confirm the start date of the railcard.

 

[Snow1964]

Is it a digital railcard (stored in an app) or a physical card.

Almost certainly you bought it exactly 3 years before expiry (although might have had few days before start date), so check your bank statements and credit card statements for its purchase. Probably was around £70.

Another possibility is they sent a confirmation email for purchasing railcard, so search around the known purchase date too.

If you have the railcard in same app as ticket purchases, then in theory if they can pull the data from that app, as part of an investigation, then they can see the railcard too. On the railcard is there any references or other data hidden which you can see when you do an about search.

Even if you cannot see the start date of the railcard, having access to the expired one means you could show a year, so download it and save a copy to send if required. In theory it works both ways they should have to prove you didn't have a railcard earlier if they want to charge you retrospectively for that time, although they might ask you to do the work and locate it, even though purchase will be recorded on railway systems somewhere.

Their letter is poorly written, there is no Early station, they haven't even got station name right, it is Earley

 

[Tman1998]

Is it a digital railcard (stored in an app) or a physical card.

Almost certainly you bought it exactly 3 years before expiry (although might have had few days before start date), so check your bank statements and credit card statements for its purchase. Probably was around £70.

Another possibility is they sent a confirmation email for purchasing railcard, so search around the known purchase date too.

If you have the railcard in same app as ticket purchases, then in theory if they can pull the data from that app, as part of an investigation, then they can see the railcard too. On the railcard is there any references or other data hidden which you can see when you do an about search.

Even if you cannot see the start date of the railcard, having access to the expired one means you could show a year, so download it and save a copy to send if required. In theory it works both ways they should have to prove you didn't have a railcard earlier if they want to charge you retrospectively for that time, although they might ask you to do the work and locate it, even though purchase will be recorded on railway systems somewhere.

Their letter is poorly written, there is no Early station, they haven't even got station name right, it is Earley

It is a digital card.

I have searched my bank statements but can't see it anywhere unfortunately. Very frustrating.

Yes i noticed the misspelling, very poor from them.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

I believe that some banks have been known to give 3 year railcards to new students as an incentive to bank with them. In which case, might you have something from a bank from about that date saying that they gave you a railcard?

But if it turns out that you're unable to prove when you got your railcard, you have little choice but to state that. It may be enough anyhow: there's no legal obligation on you to retain proof of purchase, and it's not all that surprising after three years that you don't have evidence. And as @Snow1964 points out in post #4 above, formally it's for the railway to prove that you didn't have a railcard, rather than for you to prove that you did. In practice, if you can prove that you had one that makes life much easier for everyone (including you), but if push comes to shove the responsibility is with them as the ones alleging that you used tickets bought with a railcard when you didn't have one.

 

[WesternLancer]

It is a digital card.

I have searched my bank statements but can't see it anywhere unfortunately. Very frustrating.

Yes i noticed the misspelling, very poor from them.

In the first instance you can try supplying the evidence of the railcard expiry date and tell them it was a 3 year railcard (they may be able to check this their end if they wish via a serial number or some such though I am not sure if they can) - you can say that you have asked the retailer for evidence of purchase date 3 years ago and are awaiting their reply, but wished to respond promptly to SWR's enquiry as you are anxious to co-operate with them to help resolve the matter.

Apologise and Assure them this was a genuine mistake (no deliberate attempt to evade paying the correct fare) and ask them if they will allow you to resolve the matter by paying nay fares owed.

Post your draft reply here before you send it and people will check your wording to help you get it as good as it can be before you send it, if you think that will help you.

 

[Tman1998]

Is it worth myself contacting a solicitor, or is it likely that my response stating that:
It was a genuine mistake
I co operated at the time and am still co operating
I offered to pay the difference at the time
I am happy to pay outside of court

Will be enough for them to offer me an out of court settlement?

I am concerned that i might get a criminal record for this mistake, which would be very detrimental to my career.

 

[John R]

We see many expired railcard cases like this, and almost without exception (indeed, I can't think of any), an out of court settlement is achieved without recourse to a solicitor. In my view you would be wasting several hundred pounds by engaging one.

 

[WesternLancer]

Is it worth myself contacting a solicitor, or is it likely that my response stating that:
It was a genuine mistake
I co operated at the time and am still co operating
I offered to pay the difference at the time
I am happy to pay outside of court

Will be enough for them to offer me an out of court settlement?

I am concerned that i might get a criminal record for this mistake, which would be very detrimental to my career.

This would almost certainly be an approach that would get things resolved without the need for a solicitor from what we see here.

If that didn’t work then that might be the time to consider using a solicitor.

If you did want to use one then you should consider one that specialises in rail fare law. Several companies get mentioned on here from time to time who have that knowledge.

 

[Tman1998]

Update.

Following my response where I apologised, explained it was a mistake, and offered to pay out of court.

 

[WesternLancer]

Update.

Following my response where I apologised, explained it was a mistake, and offered to pay out of court.

So you know things are progressing.

Did you send them some info about the three year Railcard in as much as you could in your reply?

 

[hana2000]

Update.

Following my response where I apologised, explained it was a mistake, and offered to pay out of court.

Hi did they offer u put of court settlement at the end?

 

[Tman1998]

Hi did they offer u put of court settlement at the end?

Hi
Thankfully they closed the case with no further action and no additional payments required.

I can only assume as I was extremely compliant with the guard, and immediately bought a new railcard, this must’ve worked in my favour.

 

[hana2000]

Im glad it closing well

Hi
Thankfully they closed the case with no further action and no additional payments required.

I can only assume as I was extremely compliant with the guard, and immediately bought a new railcard, this must’ve worked in my favour.