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Question regarding use of tickets bought with a senior railcard to exit ticket barriers

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  • marmite1979
    marmite1979 Posts: 159 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    They have to ask unless you look ancient :)
    No they don't as looking old doesn't make you a railcard holder, just like looking young or disabled doesn't. You have to hold the railcard for the ticket you're using to be valid 
  • t0rt0ise
    t0rt0ise Posts: 4,473 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    katejo said:

    The Senior railcard doesn't have a photocard. The Oyster 60+ does but I haven't had any checks on that yet.
    That’s interesting - I wonder if they just accept a bit of pass-sharing for Senior Railcards. We’ve got a Two Together card and they certainly wanted pics for that.
    Haha! They don't accept pass sharing. What an idea.
  • katejo
    katejo Posts: 4,260 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 21 June 2023 at 4:50PM
    They have to ask unless you look ancient :)
    No they don't as looking old doesn't make you a railcard holder, just like looking young or disabled doesn't. You have to hold the railcard for the ticket you're using to be valid 
    I have no objection to that in principle but I don't think they should be able to 'disable' the barrier for everyone going through with such a discounted ticket. Ticket checks should be made either on the train or by revenue officers who ask to see all tickets in spot checks. Someone told me yesterday of having had this problem of a 'locked' gate and there was no staff member there to let them through. 
    Why didn't the staff member actually look at my railcard? It could have belonged to someone else or have expired. As soon as I reached to my pocket to get it out, they waved me through.
  • KeithP
    KeithP Posts: 41,296 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    katejo said:
    Why didn't the staff member actually look at my railcard? It could have belonged to someone else or have expired. As soon as I reached to my pocket to get it out, they waved me through.
    Because a person who didn't have a railcard, or was otherwise trying to deceive, would've acted differently.
  • katejo
    katejo Posts: 4,260 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    KeithP said:
    katejo said:
    Why didn't the staff member actually look at my railcard? It could have belonged to someone else or have expired. As soon as I reached to my pocket to get it out, they waved me through.
    Because a person who didn't have a railcard, or was otherwise trying to deceive, would've acted differently.
    Anyone with a card which they knew had expired/belonged to someone else could easily do the same
  • KeithP
    KeithP Posts: 41,296 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    katejo said:
    KeithP said:
    katejo said:
    Why didn't the staff member actually look at my railcard? It could have belonged to someone else or have expired. As soon as I reached to my pocket to get it out, they waved me through.
    Because a person who didn't have a railcard, or was otherwise trying to deceive, would've acted differently.
    Anyone with a card which they knew had expired/belonged to someone else could easily do the same
    But not so convincingly.
    Behavioural science.
  • MilesT6060842
    MilesT6060842 Posts: 244 Forumite
    100 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 27 June 2023 at 11:03PM
    I recently complained about being stopped at the gateline at Waterloo (on departure) because I had used a Network railcard to get a discounted ticket in a valid way as intended.

    Here is SWR's response (redacted for privacy reasons)

    Case Reference: SWR-xxxxxx-xxx

    South Western Railway Customer Relations <customerrelations@swrailway.com>27 June 2023 at 12:06
    To: (me)
    Dear Mr xx,
    Thank you for contacting us.
    I’m deeply sorry you have cause to complain. Our barriers at Waterloo (among many others) are fitted with a system that requires all colleges to check tickets purchased with railcard discount. This is to prevent fare evaders.

    Kind regards,

    Clarissa Burgis
    Customer Service Centre Advisor
    South Western Railway

    Address: Freepost: SWR CUSTOMER RELATIONS
    Email: 
    customerrelations@swrailway.com
    Phone: +44 (0) 345 6000 650
    Case Reference: SWR-xxxxxx-xxx
    In order to help us improve the customer experience we’d like you to provide some feedback on the service we delivered by completing a short survey. If you can participate, please click on the link below, we’d be really grateful. It only takes 2 minutes and the responses you give will be invaluable in helping us make improvements for all customers. Thank you!
    https://omni.eckoh.uk/v03.5/providers/First_Group/surveyLink.php

    Case Reference: SWR-xxxxxx-xxx

    I have of course filled in the customer satisfaction survey to indicate I was deeply unsatisfied with this response.

    My next step will be to find relevant rail user groups to raise a complaint as a general point.
  • katejo
    katejo Posts: 4,260 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I recently complained about being stopped at the gateline at Waterloo (on departure) because I had used a Network railcard to get a discounted ticket in a valid way as intended.

    Here is SWR's response (redacted for privacy reasons)

    Case Reference: SWR-xxxxxx-xxx

    South Western Railway Customer Relations <customerrelations@swrailway.com>27 June 2023 at 12:06
    To: (me)
    Dear Mr xx,
    Thank you for contacting us.
    I’m deeply sorry you have cause to complain. Our barriers at Waterloo (among many others) are fitted with a system that requires all colleges to check tickets purchased with railcard discount. This is to prevent fare evaders.

    Kind regards,

    Clarissa Burgis
    Customer Service Centre Advisor
    South Western Railway

    Address: Freepost: SWR CUSTOMER RELATIONS
    Email: 
    customerrelations@swrailway.com
    Phone: +44 (0) 345 6000 650
    Case Reference: SWR-xxxxxx-xxx
    In order to help us improve the customer experience we’d like you to provide some feedback on the service we delivered by completing a short survey. If you can participate, please click on the link below, we’d be really grateful. It only takes 2 minutes and the responses you give will be invaluable in helping us make improvements for all customers. Thank you!
    https://omni.eckoh.uk/v03.5/providers/First_Group/surveyLink.php

    Case Reference: SWR-xxxxxx-xxx

    I have of course filled in the customer satisfaction survey to indicate I was deeply unsatisfied with this response.

    My next step will be to find relevant rail user groups to raise a complaint as a general point.
    So my suspicion was correct. It had happened to me once before in Chelmsford. When I arrived back at Liverpool St, I asked the guy at the Anglia Information point about it. He just said that the ticket office at my local station must have used a wrong code when issuing the ticket. I tried to test it again last weekend but the station at my destination didn't have ticket barriers. Yesterday I emailed National Railcard about it but haven't yet had a reply.
  • Spelunthus
    Spelunthus Posts: 171 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker Name Dropper
    I also saw this last week at Birmingham Moor Street., Chiltern Line. The barriers rejected my valid ticket, and I showed it to the person at the gate who used their pass to open the gate. My railcard was not asked for.  I suspect they're having a campaign on Railcard users.

  • katejo
    katejo Posts: 4,260 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 28 June 2023 at 6:50PM
    I also saw this last week at Birmingham Moor Street., Chiltern Line. The barriers rejected my valid ticket, and I showed it to the person at the gate who used their pass to open the gate. My railcard was not asked for.  I suspect they're having a campaign on Railcard users.

    I dislike this assumption that we are going to cheat the system just because we have a railcard. I don't  remember ever seeing this happen when I had a gold card and so off peak discounts with that. 
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