Slightly OT, but I tried to purchase a ticket with a YP discount at Waverley yesterday without my railcard (for travel in a weeks time) - no can do, said the assistant. Apparently East Coast have had an increase in the number of people travelling on railcard tickets without the railcard, so have decided to check everyone's railcard when they buy a ticket.
Or, as a cynic might suggest, the new ticket barriers can't pick up on them and the guards can't be bothered to check them all?
Perhaps the ticket office have been lazy and previously just assumed you have a valid railcard without actually checking, but now their boss (or his boss, etc) has picked up on it and has clamped down???
I once got a telling off for not checking a railcard holder had her railcard. It was "in her other jacket" that day and she happened to meet a guard who took exception to me having seen it every single day for eight months previously and didn't check it that day.
So not only did I get grief off of my boss, but also the railcard holder because it was her discounted fare (minus an admin fee) that could be refunded, not the new, more expensive, ticket she had to buy to travel.
Ofcourse it was my fault for not checking the railcard, I accept that I should have checked it, but she didn't see what she had done wrong (not carrying the railcard) and also blamed me for not telling her about the risks in not having it on her.
So you might say I have a different perspective on this. Discretion (not seeing the railcard) is great when your a passenger, but it is not a right you have.
However for a purchase not for immediate travel, it does seem a bit bonkers given one could buy online or from a self service machine without any such requirement. Seems to me that whilst there are alternative options to buy a ticket without the need to prove you hold a Railcard it seems a bit daft for a rule to exist to request to see a Railcard and even more strange for it to be enforced by a member of staff where doing so is likely to put the future of their job at risk by causing customers to bypass the ticket office in future.
There is a chap (well, I'm 99% certain of this) who does his best to buy railcard discounted fares in advance from a station without a railcard and applies for a refund after the day of travel.
He used to buy them at my station, then we asked for his railcard and he stopped buying tickets from us. A few months later he was back with some tickets to refund, bought with a railcard discount from another station. It transpires that the 'new' station can't recall seeing his railcard recently either and when they asked to see it (after he had travelled) he could not produce it.
You may be asking why he doesn't buy online? well, online sales always have an admin fee, unless the service is proved to be at fault, but his reasons rely on goodwill and the fee being waived (talking to people face to face).
At the moment 95% (est.) of the railcard holders who buy tickets from my station( in advance or otherwise) know to show their railcard when they buy there ticket and have no issue with doing so. I actually have more peopl moan about the minimum fare of the 16-25 card (because they didn't read the conditions) then I have moaning that I ask to see any of the railcards.
I know that it may sound like disorganisation, but it is quite unreasonable that two individuals cannot separately use their railcard at non-coinciding times.
E.g. my wife might (if I had two children) go away by train with one child for a few weeks to stay with relatives, leaving me with another child. She would have to take the railcard with her. During the fortnight she's away, I can't use the railcard to get the discount I'm entitled to - simply because the card is at the other end of the country! That isn't fair or logical....
Sounds like disorganisation and excuses to blame someone else for your failings. Why can't the person holding the card buy any tickets needed to be used with it? You are only entitled to a discount if you can produce the railcard. It doesn't matter if it is asked for or not, but if it is, you must be able to show it. I can't just walk into my local cash & carry without showing my members card, they don't allow it, I still need to show the card when I buy stuff, but do I argue about the need to see it when I walk in? No I don't.
I think it is quite unreasonable, unfair and illogical to expect staff (of any industry or company) to bend over backwards or turn a blind eye, for people who are unable to be organised enough to carry a credit sized piece of card (when they know they need it) with them when they need to use it.
Hit the same problem trying to buy tickets fairly recently. I'm after 2 x 16-25 Railcard discounted tickets and one non-discounted. Being in Bury at the time decided to drive to Bolton to get them - big mistake, the only people selling tickets are Northern's G4S blokes (don't get me started...) from an Avantix. They couldn't/wouldn't issue me the tickets, so ended up having to go via Rochdale Station on the way home, with my railcard.
Except the booking clerk insists (and seemingly takes great pleasure in doing) on seeing *two* 16-25 railcards and their holders before he'll sell the tickets. Cheers Northern, that's very helpful. I want to exchange my money for the railways' services - why do they have to make it so much of a hassle to find someone who'll take it? If I hadn't been pressed for time I'd have used another TOC's booking office to make sure Northern didn't get any commission for the (in)convenience of booking tickets, and wasting my petrol....
To be honest, if someone is travelling in a group (even for two people) I would ask to see as many railcards as is reasonable to show. Some people I sell tickets to plan ahead and bring all the railcards they need (including those of other people), but often I only ask for those I can reasonably see at the time of purchase.
However the rules are clear, you must show the railcard when buying the ticket, if the clerk insists on seeing all of them they are doing their job, they may be taking it to far (not showing enough discretion), but why they should be slated for doing their job is beyond me.
Equally, I should mention that I have known of railcards to be withdrawn on the basis that the person attempting to buy tickets (for a railcard holder who is not present) is not the railcard holder (for whom the tickets are intended), but how does the clerk know that the person buying the tickets (a) has no intention of using the tickets themselves? or (b) even knows who the holder actually is?
Ticket clerks (and Guards/RPIs) can show discretion but at the same time have to be [reasonably] certain that the system is not being abused. Sounds like a large case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" to me.