Family railcard query please

[Donny158]

Hi.

I'm just after a bit of clarification about a scenario that may happen his weekend.
I have a family railcard and plan to go to Manchester from Doncaster this Saturday. There 2 adults and one child. My 2 adult friends will be joining the train at Sheffield.
Could one of you good people clarify if my 2 friends joining at Sheffield are able to take advantage of the discounted railcard fare with a Sheffield to Manchester ticket?
If not, can I purchase 2 extra tickets from Doncaster and just simply have them join us on the train? If this is permitted and they join us in Sheffield, we would have the tickets on the train but what should they do if we have the tickets on the train and there is ticket inspection at Sheffield? Would they be let though or would they be made to purchase a new ticket?
Many thanks.

 

[Haywain]

Are you the child in this group? If so, you will need to have a normal child discounted ticket to (and from) Sheffield, and railcard discounted tickets can be used from there. However, if ticket barriers are in operation the adults will need tickets in order to join the train. Therefore it is best if you meet them at Sheffield where you can all join the train together to avoid any problems.

 

[LexyBoy]

You may buy tickets for yourselves Doncaster-Manchester, plus 2 discounted adult tickets Sheffield-Manchester, using your Family & Friends Railcard. You'll need to do this at a ticket office as you can't buy F&F discounted tickets without including a child ticket. Some clerks may be unwilling or unable to do this - I've usually not had a problem but it does sometimes need a bit of encouragement. If it's not possible, then 4A1C from Doncaster will still be cheaper than them buying undiscounted tickets, as the fare from Doncaster is only about £2 more than from Sheffield (for Day Returns).

As Haywain says, your friends will need to be able to show a valid ticket at Sheffield* (for barriers/inspection). Actually, if they can get to the platform to meet you on the train, there shouldn't be a problem (if not, they could call for you to meet them) - the difficulty would be on the return where if challenged they would not have a valid ticket, and you would be on the way to Doncaster.

* despite the T&Cs requiring the Railcard holder to be present during the "journey", it would put your friends in a very difficult position if they were found with invalid (due to no Railcard) tickets at a station, even if they had travelled with the holder throughout their journey.

 

[Paul Kelly]

Is it relevant here that the holder of a family railcard must be an adult? http://www.familyandfriends-railcard.co.uk/help/faqs/30/

 

[LexyBoy]

Sorry, I misread the question.

If you, a child, are travelling alone from Doncaster then you can't use a F&F Railcard as the group must consist of at least one (adult) cardholder and one child. You'd need an undiscounted ticket to Sheffield and F&F tickets from there - which should be held by an adult.

There's nothing in the Railcard T&Cs to say that the holder has to be an adult, but practically speaking you will not be issued a CHFAM ticket without there being an adult ticket covering the journey as well.

 

[Donny158]

Thanks for the helpful replies!

Sorry I didn't make it clear, I am one of two adults and also a child is travelling from Doncaster and I am the railcard holder! 2 additional adults will be getting on at Sheffield. The idea was to have 4 adults and the one child using the railcard.

To save any arguments and hassle on a family day out....we have not bothered trying to use the railcard discount for my Sheffield friends, just in case they got stopped and it created problems for them!

Many thanks