Using tesco vouchers for railcard

Legacy_user

I was wondering about getting an oap railcard until I saw the cost (£30 yearly). On investigation, I saw that I would be able to use £15 tesco vouchers, but would this give me totally free one yr card? or would I have to pay the difference?

Currently because my wife is disabled, she has a railcard and I am able to have one third off as her carer, but we can see occassions when I may wish to travel alone.

cbrown372

Totally free with the Tesco vouchers but no need to buy until you actually travel as its only on the train that you need to produce the card and not when booking your travel.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

the senior railcard allows you a third off fares also.

System

Thanks to you both. Will take on board your comments.

Am looking at travel from Weymouth to either Downham Market or Kings Lynn using a adult disabled railcard.

Using a railcard that covers us both, return ticket:-

Weymouth to Kings Lynn = £114.60 or
Weymouth to Downham Market = £114.60

If we split the journey and get a return Weymouth to Waterloo = £86.50
then Kings X to Kings Lynn = £58.10 total then becomes = £144.60

People say "get singles" so tried this:-

Weymouth > Waterloo single (2 using RC) = £25.60
Kings Cross > Kings Lynn single (2 using RC) = £42.90

total is £68.50, double for return = £137.00

What possible permutation could be used to reduce the initial £114.60 I ask myself?.

I'm aware of advance fares, and yes, we are likely to be making several journeys each year, but health dictates that we're not able to commit to specific times/days etc.

Over to you, or indeed Martin Lewis. How can I beat them?

wealdroam

Without using Advance Singles, I cannot see how you can beat the fares you have already found.

maniacmartin

"Use singles" only works if they are Advance singles. Advance tickets must be bought in advance, and are quota controlled, so the later you leave it, the more expensive they become. They are valid on the booked train only.

This is different to walk-up Anytime, Offpeak etc tickets, which allow some flexibility, and confusingly can also be bought in advance for the same price as they;d be in the station on the day.

Not all routes have advance tickets, but you can usually find them on lon-distance routes if you split your tickets at the place where you change Train Operating Companies.

Also note that EMT and SWT don't offer their Advances as conventional tickets but as Megabus tickets that are only available through the Megabus website.