Fawkes Cat
Established Member
- Joined
- 8 May 2017
- Messages
- 2,990
We seem to be seeing a lot of posts that go
- I made my first train journey since Covid and bought a railcard discounted ticket
- I had forgotten that my railcard had expired
- I met an RPI who took my details
- I have been offered an out of court settlement. Do I have to pay that much?
And the advice we are giving amounts to 'pay up, because the alternative is court and that'll cost you more'.
On the one hand, I'm happy with the advice - by the letter of the law, it's the right advice because you shouldn't travel without a valid ticket. But I've got some sympathy with the posters: while in law it is up to the user to check that their railcard is valid, for the last few years whoever it is who runs the railcard system (RDG?) has been sending out reminders that a railcard is about to expire - but not since the pandemic kicked in. And I've got some sympathy for that decision as well - now we're 14 months into the pandemic, there could be people who had bought their second annual railcard in the pandemic after getting a reminder and have got little or no use out of it.
I know we're just a bunch of railway enthusiasts and professionals, but isn't there some way we can flag this problem up? If not to the railway or the media, then can we get Moneysavingexpert or Which or someone else with a bit of clout to mention it? The solution seems easy - get RDG or whoever to send out an email to everyone on their database reminding them that as things open up they need to check that their railcard is still valid.
It's not right that people are getting caught out through making an easy mistake: the railway should remind everyone about this mistake to take away the excuse.
- I made my first train journey since Covid and bought a railcard discounted ticket
- I had forgotten that my railcard had expired
- I met an RPI who took my details
- I have been offered an out of court settlement. Do I have to pay that much?
And the advice we are giving amounts to 'pay up, because the alternative is court and that'll cost you more'.
On the one hand, I'm happy with the advice - by the letter of the law, it's the right advice because you shouldn't travel without a valid ticket. But I've got some sympathy with the posters: while in law it is up to the user to check that their railcard is valid, for the last few years whoever it is who runs the railcard system (RDG?) has been sending out reminders that a railcard is about to expire - but not since the pandemic kicked in. And I've got some sympathy for that decision as well - now we're 14 months into the pandemic, there could be people who had bought their second annual railcard in the pandemic after getting a reminder and have got little or no use out of it.
I know we're just a bunch of railway enthusiasts and professionals, but isn't there some way we can flag this problem up? If not to the railway or the media, then can we get Moneysavingexpert or Which or someone else with a bit of clout to mention it? The solution seems easy - get RDG or whoever to send out an email to everyone on their database reminding them that as things open up they need to check that their railcard is still valid.
It's not right that people are getting caught out through making an easy mistake: the railway should remind everyone about this mistake to take away the excuse.