Railcard Ticket

[penaltyfines]

If I'm travelling from a station where the ticket office is closed (or non-existent), and have pre-bought a ticket online with a railcard discount but arrive at the station without the railcard, can I join the train without buying another ticket?

My rational is that I would need to purchase an excess fare (had the ticket office been open) and therefore the full range of ticket issuing facilities weren't available.

This is just a hypothetical situation but I thought I'd ask!

 

[SS4]

No, you must have the railcard or you'll be treated as not having a valid ticket

22. Inspection of tickets
You must show and, if asked to do so by the staff of a Train Company or its agent, hand
over for inspection a valid ticket and any relevant Railcard, photocard or other form of
personal identification in accordance with Condition 15. If you do not, you will be treated
as having joined a train without a ticket and the relevant parts of Condition 2 or 4 will
apply.

 

[island]

I don't think you can. You need to buy a full new ticket and can then apply for a refund of the railcard ticket (with the usual deduction) unless it's an advance, in which case you get nothing.

 

[bb21]

Like in many scenarios, if you have a word with the guard before boarding then he/she might well agree to doing you an excess, otherwise it is hit and miss as to what might happen next.

Strictly following the rules says that the ticket is invalid.

 

[WillPS]

The correct course of action for the passenger would be to explain to the guard, and the correct course of action for the guard would be to charge for an excess. TVMs do not offer excesses, so the guard has to offer this ticket to the passenger on board the train.

 

[yorkie]

No, you must have the railcard or you'll be treated as not having a valid ticket

Being treated as not having a valid ticket from an unstaffed station is fine, as that means the guard will offer the full range of options that would have been available to the passenger from a ticket office (within the capabilities of the ticket machine, of course!)

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Railcard discounted tickets cannot be excessed to undiscounted tickets for teh same journey. A new ticket must be purchased for the journey, the discounted ticket can then be refunded, subject to an admin fee.

 

[Anvil1984]

However as always if we believe that a railcard discounted ticket was bought without the intention of having a railcard for the journey then it can be reported for further matters