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2 Railcards / 1 Journey / Best Way to do it !

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0B00

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1 adult travelling Porthmadog to Shrewsbury and back the same day holds a Cambrian Railcard and a Family Railcard.

In Shrewsbury will collect 2 kids for return journey.

The SDR with both railcards is £14.85, but of course the Adult cannot travel alone using the Family railcard and cannot get a discount (for the return bit) for the kids using the Cambrian Railcard.

Is it possible to buy the CDR with the Cambrian Railcard and ‘excess’ the kids onto the return using the Family railcard somehow ?
 
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LexyBoy

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You can buy singles for the children using the F&F Railcard, and a return for yourself with the Cambrian.

This is specifically allowed, but is a bit obscure.
 

LexyBoy

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Not a bad price for the distance certainly, but still more expensive than the £14.35 + 2 x £4 which is all that needs to be paid.

OP isn't asking to use the Cambrian Railcard "in conjunction" with the F&F - they need to use the Cambrian for themself and and the F&F for the children, which is - I believe - allowed:
National Fares Manual NFM99 said:
Discounted Travel

Family & Friends Railcard

Special conditions

When a child/children travel one leg of a return journey only, the adult’s ticket must be an undiscounted return ticket of the type available with the Family & Friends Railcard and the child’s single ticket should have the child’s Family & Friends Railcard discount applied.

Whilst the above specifies an "undiscounted return ticket", this is clearly in reference to the FAM discount and IMO should not preclude being discounted with a second Railcard.
 

TheEdge

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I'd almost say you couldn't discount the adult ticket with the Cambrian railcard and then use the FAM card to get the child discount.

That NFM entry is definitely ambiguous but to me personally it reads in order to get the child discount one way with the FAM railcard the adult needs to hold an undiscounted version of the ticket the children would hold had they been travelling both legs which would preclude the use of the Cambrian railcard as that is not an undiscounted ticket...
 

LexyBoy

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I'd say: if you can buy the tickets then you're unlikely to have an issue using them. Buying them on the other hand... :) The best bet would be to buy the SDR with Cambrian discount, then request 2xCHFAM SDS on the return, showing that you hold a ticket already.

I agree that it is not "specifically allowed" as I originally thought, but still argue that the rules intend to disallow using a FAM ticket when no children are travelling in one direction, and that the possibility of a second Railcard being involved was not considered. That said, I don't know how much interpretation is intended in the NFM rules.
 

TheEdge

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Its the use of the word "undiscounted", a ticket purchased with a Cambrian Railcard is not an undiscounted ticket.

Honestly that NFM extract would make it harder not easier to buy the singles and if you did have problems I think again that wording and the use of "undiscounted return" in the FAM conditions would make it very hard to argue in a customer service complaint/dispute.
 

Haywain

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I'm fascinated by the argument that the term "undiscounted ticket" could possibly mean that it doesn't include a ticket to which a discount has been applied. I see nothing ambiguous in the wording quoted, unlike those who deliberately seek it out.
 
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