Wrong Railcard Discount

[Wolfie]

Grateful, once again , for some advice.

I did an outbound journey on Chiltern yesterday (London to Wolverhampton) as part of a group booking but got a lift home so I still have a valid return ticekt good to 5 May 15. The travel organiser booked me a ticket with a railcard discount (as I requested and as opposed to the Groupsave tickets he got for some others) but unfortunately booked all of the railcard discounbted tickets (there were several others) with a senior (SNR) discount. I have an annual Goldcard and my tickets are normally marked GOLDC. I only found out what had happened when I told him I wasn't travelling back with them as I had a lift and asked for the return part of my ticket ie after I had made the outbound journey.

Is this likely to cause me any problems if and when I seek to use the return ticket and, if as I suspect, the answer is "yes" what can I do about it.

Ta in advance.

 

[Llanigraham]

The ticket is invalid if you do not have a Senior Persons Railcard and can present it with the ticket when requested.

 

[RJ]

Is this likely to cause me any problems if and when I seek to use the return ticket and, if as I suspect, the answer is "yes" what can I do about it.

Ta in advance.

Maybe try getting it exchanged at a booking office? I'd do it as an excess if I was satisfied the ticket hadn't just been found somewhere etc. Mistakes do happen and I try to be helpful where I can.

 

[Wolfie]

Maybe try getting it exchanged at a booking office? I'd do it as an excess if I was satisfied the ticket hadn't just been found somewhere etc. Mistakes do happen and I try to be helpful where I can.

Thanks for that tip .. any suggestions of where I might most likely have success?

The ticket is invalid if you do not have a Senior Persons Railcard and can present it with the ticket when requested.

That's what I suspected/feared...

 

[RJ]

Thanks for that tip .. any suggestions of where I might most likely have success?

Can't help with that I'm afraid - service homogeneity is not assured at ticket offices, or even among clerks working in the same office. It's a case of shopping around.

 

[yorkie]

See:

• Bought advance ticket but used wrong railcard
• Railcard Question - wrong card selected at machine
• Incorrect Railcard on Ticket
• Wrong Railcard code on a ticket
• Changing an incorrectly discounted ticket
• Wrong railcard
• Mis-sold ticket: incorrect railcard type

This is not uncommon. It may be easier for the original issuing office to fix the problem, but this may not always be practicable. You may have to 'shop around' to find someone prepared to fix it. Several staff whose duties include checking tickets have stated on this forum they would accept such a ticket in the circumstances described, but no doubt some would not!

It's unpredictable (you might spend hours trying to get it fixed, with no success, only to find revenue staff - in the unlikely event of actually being manually checked on Chiltern - aren't fussed on the day)

 

[TheEdge]

When I come across this sort of thing I tend to let it go if its the wrong code but the right discount. So I will accept a ticket with a Senior discount if the holder has a 16-25 and so on.

But like Yorkie said, not an official thing.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

in the unlikely event of actually being manually checked on Chiltern

Yorkie... every time I've used the Chiltern Silver service, I've experienced an on board ticket check take place.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

When I come across this sort of thing I tend to let it go if its the wrong code but the right discount. So I will accept a ticket with a Senior discount if the holder has a 16-25 and so on.

A guard working East Coast trains advised me similarly, that "it happens all the time" and "is easily done" and that provided the intended card is presented and the suitable explanation is given then the wrongly coded discount can be overlooked.

 

[Mojo]

Yorkie... every time I've used the Chiltern Silver service, I've experienced an on board ticket check take place.

This is not surprising as there is a Train Manager on these services. However the Turbo and Clubman services are Driver Only south of Banbury. However I would agree with your sentiment and disagree that it is unlikely that you will be checked on Chiltern if travelling all the way through to Birmingham.