Question re F+F railcard and tickets

[shadowman]

The wife and I have four children (3x 7 year olds - yes, triplets - and an 18 month old) so have a Friends and Family railcard to reduce the cost of train travel.

Whenever we (wife and I) take a journey without the girls we always make use of the railcard, paying for the baby to take advantage of the railcard discount (reducing the price from £7.80 to £6.00 on a day return) A few days ago however, I got into a discussion with a staff member in the ticket office at Liverpool South Parkway (next station along from HNX) who basically said that what we had been doing for a while wasn't allowed as a child had to be between 5-15 years old. We have been buying the tickets from the staff at the ticket office in Hunts Cross with no issues so thought all was ok with what we were doing. Whenever the girls are with us, we just pay 2x adult fare and 3x child fare as the baby under the age of 5.

Can anyone tell me what the terms are regarding paying for an 18 month old child to gain the adult discounts as I am confused as we've never been stopped nor questioned by the staff at Hunts Cross nor at the other end at Liverpool Central. Put simply, I don't want to end up with a penalty fare at some point in the future because we got it wrong, so i'm asking for advice if you will.

Thanks in advance

 

[bb21]

He was wrong.

See the last paragraph of this page.

 

[gray1404]

Yet another example of Merseyrail not having a clue about national policy on tickets.

 

[74A]

Sadly the member of staff was wrong. Its explicit in the T&C is the only child is under 5 then you must buy a ticket for them (as you have been doing)

Suggest you drop a polite email to Merseyrail to let them know about the incorrect information given out by their staff.

 

[gray1404]

The person at Liverpool South Parkway was incorrect. When using tickets with a F&F Railcard, there must be at least one adult and one child travelling. The child does not need to be 5 or above. Just carry on exactly has you have been doing.

I do think you should report the misinformation advised to Merseyrail as there are clearly some training issues that need to be addressed. As you have not been doing anything wrong then there is no one you could be issued with a PF for this (and if you ever were it would be totally invalid).

Did the person at Liverpool South Parkway refuse to sell you a ticket?

I have been refused sale of a ticket by a Merseyrail station when using a railcard under different circumstances. I was travelling on a concessionary pass and wanted to buy a disabled persons railcard discounted ticket for someone travelling with me. However, the booking office said that we both needed to be travelling on a disabled persons railcard discounted ticket.

 

[shadowman]

Thanks for the replies so far.

At the time this went on, we were only going one stop one way(LPY-HNX) and I happened to say to the guy whichever is cheapest way of buying a ticket, and showed him the pass as I told him where we were going. It was his colleague behind him who said is wasn't allowed. In any case, the ticket price would have been more expensive to use the railcard (minimum £1 fare for a child) so didn't get into the situation of finding out whether they would have sold the ticket or not.

I will take the advice and drop Merseyrail an email in the morning to let them know what happened and add in the text from the link provided by bb21.

Thanks everyone for clearing the confusion up.