Me and my girlfriend travelling Newcastle to Manchester Victoria.
She bought the tickets and got the 26-30 railcard discounts, her 26-30 railcard is valid and she believed that mine was too, as did I. We are both 31.
When on the train, the inspector came by asking for tickets. We showed ours and he asked for railcards, my girlfriend showed hers.
I had gotten a new phone the weekend before and as a result wasn’t logged into my Trainline app, so I asked the inspector to come back while I tried to remember which email I was registered with and logged in.
While the inspector went to check other tickets, I looked through my email accounts to figure out which one I had used in the past for trainline. While doing this I discovered that my railcard had expired in July (the train journey was in September).
I didn’t know what to do at this point so I decided to buy a new railcard. As I am 31, I couldn’t get a 26-30, so I went with a couples railcard thinking that this wouldn’t be an issue at all, and that the type of railcard presented didn’t actually matter, just that a valid one was provided.
When the inspector came back he explained that since the tickets were bought with a 26-30 railcard, mine was invalid, and that since I had only just bought it, he thought it was evidence of me trying to commit fraud. We explained we weren’t trying to commit fraud and genuinely didn’t know that what I had done wasn’t fine. I showed him the information about my 26-30 railcard expiring in July and I explained that we genuinely did think we both had valid railcards when the tickets were bought and we boarded the train.
Anyway, I provided my details, he took photos of the railcards, the tickets and my email saying my railcard had expired in July and printed the Travel Irregularity Notice. He said we would receive a letter and that he didn’t know what sort of outcome to expect.
Any advice about what sort of next steps to expect? I don’t have a history of fare dodging or anything like that and im not a regular user of trains.
I understand that I am at fault and need to pay for the full cost of a valid ticket (minus the discounted amount on my invalid ticket), is there a way to do that without having to pay an additional administrative fee if I admit fault now?
She bought the tickets and got the 26-30 railcard discounts, her 26-30 railcard is valid and she believed that mine was too, as did I. We are both 31.
When on the train, the inspector came by asking for tickets. We showed ours and he asked for railcards, my girlfriend showed hers.
I had gotten a new phone the weekend before and as a result wasn’t logged into my Trainline app, so I asked the inspector to come back while I tried to remember which email I was registered with and logged in.
While the inspector went to check other tickets, I looked through my email accounts to figure out which one I had used in the past for trainline. While doing this I discovered that my railcard had expired in July (the train journey was in September).
I didn’t know what to do at this point so I decided to buy a new railcard. As I am 31, I couldn’t get a 26-30, so I went with a couples railcard thinking that this wouldn’t be an issue at all, and that the type of railcard presented didn’t actually matter, just that a valid one was provided.
When the inspector came back he explained that since the tickets were bought with a 26-30 railcard, mine was invalid, and that since I had only just bought it, he thought it was evidence of me trying to commit fraud. We explained we weren’t trying to commit fraud and genuinely didn’t know that what I had done wasn’t fine. I showed him the information about my 26-30 railcard expiring in July and I explained that we genuinely did think we both had valid railcards when the tickets were bought and we boarded the train.
Anyway, I provided my details, he took photos of the railcards, the tickets and my email saying my railcard had expired in July and printed the Travel Irregularity Notice. He said we would receive a letter and that he didn’t know what sort of outcome to expect.
Any advice about what sort of next steps to expect? I don’t have a history of fare dodging or anything like that and im not a regular user of trains.
I understand that I am at fault and need to pay for the full cost of a valid ticket (minus the discounted amount on my invalid ticket), is there a way to do that without having to pay an additional administrative fee if I admit fault now?
