User7283949437
New Member
A question for the experts on here. Hypothetical or not, I don’t think details are necessary so it’s very high level.
Suppose you were caught with an out of date railcard. Let’s say you’ve travelled a couple times or so since it’s expired, high single digits maybe…not industrial scale but still more than once.
Now assume you were interviewed and reported for prosecution, and then you immediately renew your railcard and purchase valid tickets from that date onwards… and say you immediately over the course of the next few weeks continue to travel but now with these valid tickets.
My question would be: because the TOC does not know preemptively if you have a valid railcard at any point in time, hence why anyone can buy a discounted ticket, which is ridiculous by the way, (unless I am mistaken and they can actively request access to railcard.co.uk records) during their investigation will they only look at journeys on or before the date of your interview? Essentially, how do they know that you haven’t just been interviewed and then you have continued to travel with discounted tickets without a valid railcard.
I’m assuming all they can see on their end during the investigation is what tickets we bought, when, with what discount, where they were scanned etc. then they have to ask us to prove we have/had a valid ticket/railcard
Personally I’ve had staff scan both the ticket and the railcard barcode on my digital railcard. Does that scanner just check whether the railcard is valid, or does it tick a box on the system to say “yes this discounted ticket is valid” and that comes up on the investigation.
Do they assume you’ve learnt your lesson? Are they likely to ask you if you’ve renewed it before calculating the pre court settlement?
Additionally I know some sites like TrainPal allow you to link your digital railcard in their app. You can’t view it or download it nor is it proof but it gives you the option to enter the railcard id.
Suppose you were caught with an out of date railcard. Let’s say you’ve travelled a couple times or so since it’s expired, high single digits maybe…not industrial scale but still more than once.
Now assume you were interviewed and reported for prosecution, and then you immediately renew your railcard and purchase valid tickets from that date onwards… and say you immediately over the course of the next few weeks continue to travel but now with these valid tickets.
My question would be: because the TOC does not know preemptively if you have a valid railcard at any point in time, hence why anyone can buy a discounted ticket, which is ridiculous by the way, (unless I am mistaken and they can actively request access to railcard.co.uk records) during their investigation will they only look at journeys on or before the date of your interview? Essentially, how do they know that you haven’t just been interviewed and then you have continued to travel with discounted tickets without a valid railcard.
I’m assuming all they can see on their end during the investigation is what tickets we bought, when, with what discount, where they were scanned etc. then they have to ask us to prove we have/had a valid ticket/railcard
Personally I’ve had staff scan both the ticket and the railcard barcode on my digital railcard. Does that scanner just check whether the railcard is valid, or does it tick a box on the system to say “yes this discounted ticket is valid” and that comes up on the investigation.
Do they assume you’ve learnt your lesson? Are they likely to ask you if you’ve renewed it before calculating the pre court settlement?
Additionally I know some sites like TrainPal allow you to link your digital railcard in their app. You can’t view it or download it nor is it proof but it gives you the option to enter the railcard id.
Last edited:
