Railcards having no start date

[mikeg]

Just a quick question, a certain member of station staff who shall remain nameless added a few days on to my 16-25 railcard that I renewed yesterday, taking it up to my 27th birthday (I renewed a few days before my 26th). As the railcard has no start date would I be ok to use it before my 26th? I appreciate this is probably a 'dumb' question to which the answer is probably yes but he did ask did I intend to use it between now and my 26th... My original railcard was withdrawn on renewal.

And if the answer is yes do you foresee any problems with it having an expiry date more than a year in the future?

 

[swt_passenger]

I've always renewed my Network Card during the preceding few weeks and never had a problem with the validity date being 54 weeks or so in the future.

Staff will only be interested in checking the date is not in the past...

 

[pinguini]

Railcards issued online for 1 year have an expiry date of 1 year + a couple of weeks, to allow for production and postage. Also remember 16-25 railcards can be purchased for 3 years, so it isn't uncommon to have railcards with an expiry date up to 3 years in the future.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Theoretically, if a Railcard (or Season Ticket) is being renewed "early", the existing one should be withdrawn (as an anti-fraud measure) and the member of staff issuing the new one should use the "Lost Days" feature on their TIS to adjust the expiry date of the new accordingly.

In practice, I suspect that few clerks actually do so and just date the renewal to start the day after the current one expires, giving both to the passenger.

 

[John @ home]

if a Railcard (or Season Ticket) is being renewed "early", the existing one should be withdrawn

This does not apply to a Railcard renewed online.

 

[jon0844]

I always renewed my annual season ticket early. Can't remember how early you could do it (a week or so) and I never gave my old season ticket in - so effectively had two Gold Cards that were each valid and would operate the gates.