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26-30 Railcard and Caledonian Sleeper

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Iskra

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Just renewed my digital railcard. RDG have further muddied the water as the new railcard says on it: valid with 16-25 tickets or 26-30 tickets!
 
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ForTheLoveOf

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Just renewed my digital railcard. RDG have further muddied the water as the new railcard says on it: valid with 16-25 tickets or 26-30 tickets!
As previously stated, this means you can recover any damages from ATOC, which you incur through the fact that Caledonian Sleeper (and any other TOCs that have the same policy) don't accept 26-30 Railcards.
 

higthomas

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So, given the above fail. Why didn't they just extend the 16-25 railcard to be a 16-30 railcard. Much simpler.
 

ForTheLoveOf

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So, given the above fail. Why didn't they just extend the 16-25 railcard to be a 16-30 railcard. Much simpler.
Because then it would be far too simply for the fragmented rail industry, and they wouldn't be able to enforce their cack-handed and totally ridiculous differences between the two, with the 26-30 Railcard not having the July/August minimum fare exemption, and not being valid on Caledonian Sleeper tickets.

This is the kind of absolute nonsense that earns the rail industry its bad reputation.
 

Clip

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So, given the above fail. Why didn't they just extend the 16-25 railcard to be a 16-30 railcard. Much simpler.
because the 16-25 is valid for mature students and I dont think the 26-30 one is
 

ainsworth74

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Yes, on the original digital railcard it just said valid with 26-30 tickets on the right hand side. Now it says both.
It definetly didn't. Mine stated valid with 16-25 or 26-30. I even had to tick a box to indicate I'd read that I could use both!
 

BigCj34

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I'm guessing the workaround for the minimum fare exemption in July August for 26-30 Railcard holders is to purchase from a vendor that doesn't offer the 26-30 option yet.8-)
 

Iskra

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It definetly didn't. Mine stated valid with 16-25 or 26-30. I even had to tick a box to indicate I'd read that I could use both!

Mine did, I had both railcards on my phone yesterday due to having a 1-day validity overlap so I could see both of them side by side, and they were different. Perhaps it depends when you originally downloaded it.
 

Bletchleyite

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I'm guessing the workaround for the minimum fare exemption in July August for 26-30 Railcard holders is to purchase from a vendor that doesn't offer the 26-30 option yet.8-)

It would certainly appear so.

If they were going to do this long-term, goodness knows why they didn't just make it a 18-30 Railcard.
 

ainsworth74

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Mine did, I had both railcards on my phone yesterday due to having a 1-day validity overlap so I could see both of them side by side, and they were different. Perhaps it depends when you originally downloaded it.

Day one of the national launch. I got one of the 10,000 so...
 

ForTheLoveOf

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I'm guessing the workaround for the minimum fare exemption in July August for 26-30 Railcard holders is to purchase from a vendor that doesn't offer the 26-30 option yet.8-)
It would certainly appear so.

If they were going to do this long-term, goodness knows why they didn't just make it a 18-30 Railcard.
The minimum fare applies year-round, legally speaking and so I don't think a fare discounted to less than £12 would be valid for travel. You wouldn't necessarily be liable for breach of Byelaw 18, because you could be said to have permission to board without a valid ticket thanks to the Railcard app's message, but you might be liable for the undiscounted Anytime (Day) Single, or in fact prosecution under Section 5(3)(a) of RoRA, if an eagle-eyed and clued-up inspector realised what you had done.

The safest solution, legally speaking, is always to buy a 26-30 Railcard discounted ticket, and to recover any difference to the 16-25 Railcard fare from ATOC afterwards.
 

BigCj34

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The minimum fare applies year-round, legally speaking and so I don't think a fare discounted to less than £12 would be valid for travel. You wouldn't necessarily be liable for breach of Byelaw 18, because you could be said to have permission to board without a valid ticket thanks to the Railcard app's message, but you might be liable for the undiscounted Anytime (Day) Single, or in fact prosecution under Section 5(3)(a) of RoRA, if an eagle-eyed and clued-up inspector realised what you had done.

The safest solution, legally speaking, is always to buy a 26-30 Railcard discounted ticket, and to recover any difference to the 16-25 Railcard fare from ATOC afterwards.

My understanding was the 16-25 option was valid when 26-30 isn't available. So couldn't someone argue that their vendor didn't have the 26-30 option and had to choose 16-25? There is nothing to say you HAVE to use a vendor at supplies 26-30 discounted tickets, is there?
 

ForTheLoveOf

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My understanding was the 16-25 option was valid when 26-30 isn't available. So couldn't someone argue that their vendor didn't have the 26-30 option and had to choose 16-25? There is nothing to say you HAVE to use a vendor at supplies 26-30 discounted tickets, is there?
No, but if a train company decides they do not accept 26-30 Railcards, like Caledonian Sleeper have done, then that is that. It isn't valid. They have no obligation to accept it, as it's not one of the Railcard that the DfT has the power to make them accept, as per their franchise agreement, under the provisions of Section 28 of the Railways Act 1993 - so they don't.

Your recourse is either against the retailer, if they misrepresent that a 16-25 Railcard discounted ticket is valid with a 26-30 Railcard when it in fact isn't, or ATOC if they are the ones that have made the misrepresentation.
 
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