Got stung for expired railcard.

Handsome90

I had a lovely time in London and today in the morning I was returning back to Leicester. Silly me forgot that my 16-25 railcard was valid until September and I forgot to renew that this month. I was given a penalty fare notice and it cost me £148 (I originally paid £9.25 with the railcard discount). Thank you East Midlands Trains! A little bit of discretion wouldn't have hurt anyone.

This was the most expensive mistake I made in my life

At least the rail revenue protection staff was very professional and didn't tell me to GET OFF THE TRAIN! I guess he was just doing his job.

Azari

Handsome90 wrote: »

I had a lovely time in London and today in the morning I was returning back to Leicester. Silly me forgot that my 16-25 railcard was valid until September and I forgot to renew that this month. I was given a penalty fare notice and it cost me £148 (I originally paid £9.25 with the railcard discount). Thank you East Midlands Trains! A little bit of discretion wouldn't have hurt anyone.

This was the most expensive mistake I made in my life

At least the rail revenue protection staff was very professional and didn't tell me to GET OFF THE TRAIN! I guess he was just doing his job.

So easily done.

A few weeks back I bought a ticket on line being sure that my rail card expired in October. Leaving for the station I double checked and found that it had expired. :eek:

vuvuzela

Handsome90 wrote: »

I had a lovely time in London and today in the morning I was returning back to Leicester. Silly me forgot that my 16-25 railcard was valid until September and I forgot to renew that this month. I was given a penalty fare notice and it cost me £148 (I originally paid £9.25 with the railcard discount). Thank you East Midlands Trains! A little bit of discretion wouldn't have hurt anyone.

This was the most expensive mistake I made in my life

At least the rail revenue protection staff was very professional and didn't tell me to GET OFF THE TRAIN! I guess he was just doing his job.

A little bit of discretion would soon turn into more and more people taking the mick when they find out that they can get away with a day or a week over the period their card is valid for. Your fault entirely I'm afraid.

Tupperware_Queen

The trouble is lots of people deliberately use expired railcards, and so the guards get hacked off, and I guess they think everyone is taking the mickey, so the few people who make a genuine mistake get tarred with the same brush.

Painful mistake - do you have a smartphone, or an online calendar? enter the date of your railcard expiry (when you get a new one) so that you don't get caught out next year

Azari

vuvuzela wrote: »

Your fault entirely I'm afraid.

Jeez, there are some self righteous pillocks on this forum.:(

Which part of "I guess he was just doing his job." did you have trouble understanding?

vuvuzela

Azari wrote: »

Jeez, there are some self righteous pillocks on this forum.:(

Which part of "I guess he was just doing his job." did you have trouble understanding.

Cheers
However the statements are pretty contradictory in that the bloke couldn't have both applied 'a little bit of discretion' while also 'doing his job'.
You've clearly never worked in an industry where you have to deal daily with people trying it on because they 'didn't notice' their card was a bit out of date...
If the OP had applied a 'little bit of reading' and looked at their railcard, they'd have noticed it was out of date...

Azari

vuvuzela wrote: »

Cheers
However the statements are pretty contradictory in that the bloke couldn't have both applied 'a little bit of discretion' while also 'doing his job'.
You've clearly never worked in an industry where you have to deal daily with people trying it on because they 'didn't notice' their card was a bit out of date...
If the OP had applied a 'little bit of reading' and looked at their railcard, they'd have noticed it was out of date...

It wasn't your explanation of why discretion was not applied that was the problem.

The OP accepted that it was entirely his fault and has suffered a £140 'fine' so doesn't really need someone gratuitously telling him something he already knows and has admitted to.

vuvuzela

Azari wrote: »

It wasn't your explanation of why discretion was not applied that was the problem.

The OP accepted that it was entirely his fault and has suffered a £140 'fine' so doesn't really need someone gratuitously telling him something he already knows and has admitted to.

Fair point, I could have been more fluffy in my post and if the OP was offended, then I apologise to them. The first sentence in my original post I do stand by though.

Handsome90

Thanks everyone for the sympathy. Vuvuzela, I wasn't offended by your post but it was really nice of you to apologise.

Yes, it was entirely my fault and I do admit that. But I wish the RRP officer just gave me a warning instead of issuing a penalty fare notice. But that might open the system to abuse as you suggested earlier.

And yes from now on I'll set a reminder in my calendar (thanks for the advice)

daveyjp

Buy it online and you get e-mail reminders starting about a month before expiry.

vyle

Here's an MSE tip if it still works - I managed to wangle it so my card expired 3 months before my 26th birthday. This meant that when the card was due for renewal it let me do it for a year, meaning it expired just before my 27th birthday because I was still 25 when I renewed .

I tried to get it to do a 3 year renewal but that didn't work