[bikeandtrain]

From the T&CS:
Special notes regarding children’s tickets
Children aged under 16 at the time that the Railcard is purchased may still travel at the discounted child’s fare throughout the validity period of the 1-year Railcard, or, for a 3-year Railcard, even if they become 16 years old during that time.

I read that to mean if I buy 3-Year F&Fs Railcard just before my son is 16, it can still be used until it expires just before he is 19? Correct? Thank you.

[GadgetMan]

No, if you bought it while they were 14 then you could still use it when the kid turns 16. But in any case as soon as the child is 17 then they no longer qualify as a child with regards to F + F rail card.

[PaxVobiscum]

Originally Posted by bikeandtrain

From the T&CS:
Special notes regarding children’s tickets
Children aged under 16 at the time that the Railcard is purchased may still travel at the discounted child’s fare throughout the validity period of the 1-year Railcard, or, for a 3-year Railcard, even if they become 16 years old during that time.

I read that to mean if I buy 3-Year F&Fs Railcard just before my son is 16, it can still be used until it expires just before he is 19? Correct? Thank you.

I think not. As far I understand it, no Family and Friends card is valid when the "child" reaches 17.

[hairyhandedfool]

Someone has done too much editing on the website. The FAQ's correctly state:

"3. What happens if my child turns 16 while my Family & Friends Railcard is still valid?
If you have a 1 year Family & Friends Railcard children who turn 16 while your Family & Friends Railcard is valid are still entitled to the discounted child fare. This lasts as long as your 1 year Family & Friends Railcard is valid.

If your child turns 16 during the validity period of your 3 year Family & Friends Railcard, they can only travel as a child on the card until the day before they turn 17."

[bikeandtrain]

Thank you everyone for your prompt and helpful replies.
You all believe 17 is the limit for a "child", as would seem to make sense.
But Hairyhandedfool has indeed put his finger on the problem - that the FAQ do not agree with the Terms & Conditions.
That could be a problem for Customers and ATOC, because T&Cs are contractual but FAQs are not (guidance only). Certainly I was about to go ahead on the basis of T&Cs.
So it would be good if ATOC would correct this and other possible inconsistencies to avoid confusion. Thank you all for your help.

[All Line Rover]

17 years of age is definitely the limit for using CHFAM tickets. The FAQ and previous T&C's made this very clear.

Even with the current, albeit terribly worded T&C's, I suspect the sentence "for a 3-year Railcard, even if they become 16 years old during that time" means "for a 3-year Railcard, even if they become 16 years old during the validity of a 1-year Railcard" (i.e. a maximum of 17 years old).

EDIT: Actually, no, I'm wrong. The T&C's on the 1-year Railcard leaflet say: "Children aged under 16 at the time that the Railcard is purchased may still travel at the discounted child’s fare throughout the validity period of the 1-year Railcard even if they become 16 years old during that time."

So ATOC have just inserted "or, for a 3-year Railcard" into that sentence without any context. This still doesn't mean that people over 17 years of age can use CHFAM tickets, as if that were the case, ATOC would have put "throughout the validity period of the 1-year or 3-year Railcard" instead.