Problems using a Britrail pass on London Overground (denied travel)

[classicmds]

Should I be worried that this won't be accepted?

I think officially (i.e. based on what the Rail Delivery Group -- who are, i I believe, the ultimate authority on this -- have told me), they want to see a passport. The T&Cs also do state that a passport should be presented for the initial validation at a ticket office.

In practice, I think the response might vary and I expect many ticket officials would go with the spirit not the letter of the law. But I think you might find one or two (the consensus seems to be -- beware of manual ticket checks at London Euston!) who insist on the passport as that is what they have been told must be shown.

I think your hardest case to argue (should an official cause difficulty) is the initial validation check, as the terms and conditions do state a passport must be taken to a ticket office. I think it would be easier to argue that there is no specification that a passport be shown at any subsequent ticket check.

It is probably worth calling up the company that sold you the ticket to ask this question and get an answer in writing. Does anything in their sales material specify you need a passport to buy the ticket, or just foreign residency? If just residency (which seems to be what most vendors state), it seems a very legitimate question to ask them how to proceed without a passport.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

I think officially (i.e. based on what the Rail Delivery Group -- who are, i I believe, the ultimate authority on this -- have told me), they want to see a passport. The T&Cs also do state that a passport should be presented for the initial validation at a ticket office.

In practice, I think the response might vary and I expect many ticket officials would go with the spirit not the letter of the law. But I think you might find one or two (the consensus seems to be -- beware of manual ticket checks at London Euston!) who insist on the passport as that is what they have been told must be shown.

I think your hardest case to argue (should an official cause difficulty) is the initial validation check, as the terms and conditions do state a passport must be taken to a ticket office. I think it would be easier to argue that there is no specification that a passport be shown at any subsequent ticket check.

It is probably worth calling up the company that sold you the ticket to ask this question and get an answer in writing. Does anything in their sales material specify you need a passport to buy the ticket, or just foreign residency? If just residency (which seems to be what most vendors state), it seems a very legitimate question to ask them how to proceed without a passport.

Thanks for your answer!

Regarding your last paragraph, I bought the ticket from ACP Rail and their Britrail Pass site (http://www.acprail.com/rail-passes/britrail/britrail-pass) only states ‘Eligibility: You can buy a BritRail Pass if you are not a UK resident.’ I only now found an additional information on what seems to be the official Britrail Pass website (http://www.britrail.com/britrail-passes/eligibility-conditions-of-use/): ‘To validate a rail pass, present it along with your passport to the Railway official at the station of departure.’ But it doesn’t specify what the term ‘passport’ includes.

 

[classicmds]

Thanks for your answer!

Regarding your last paragraph, I bought the ticket from ACP Rail and their Britrail Pass site (http://www.acprail.com/rail-passes/britrail/britrail-pass) only states ‘Eligibility: You can buy a BritRail Pass if you are not a UK resident.’ I only now found an additional information on what seems to be the official Britrail Pass website (http://www.britrail.com/britrail-passes/eligibility-conditions-of-use/): ‘To validate a rail pass, present it along with your passport to the Railway official at the station of departure.’ But it doesn’t specify what the term ‘passport’ includes.

Yes: it seems one of the issues is that the retailers all sell the pass without mentioning that you will actually need a passport. The pass is then delivered and the pass itself mentions taking your passport to the ticket office, without any acknowledgement that you may not have one and that this was never specified when the pass was purchased, nor is it any in way a condition of eligibility for purchasing. Of course, lots of people using will have a passport, but as your case proves, I am sure lots will not.

I'd email/call ACP (I bought from them and have had better luck calling than emailing -- they never reply to email) and ask.

 

[Harpers Tate]

I know a couple who
- are ethnic Cantonese
- live exclusively in Hong Kong
- we born there
- and have lived there all their lives; lives which pre-date the UK > China takeover.

These residents at the time (along with many others - possibly everyone who was there, I don't know) were permitted to apply for British Citizen passports, and did so. In all important respects, these peoples' passports are the same as mine. They are Britrish Citizens. Yet they are not, and never have been, UK residents. Perhaps RDG would care to comment on these peoples' eligibility (or otherwise) as visitors for BritRail, and if they are welcome, how would they go about proving eligibility. Because apprently their local identity card (sufficient for them to travel freely in and out of China) wouldn't be enough.

 

[richw]

Yes, I agree. It would make most sense for the vendor to check residency, and then for any checks in the UK to be about establishing identity (i.e. is the person named on the pass the one actually using it?) rather than residency (let alone nationality). .

IP address of where it's purchased, overseas credit/debit card to purchase and overseas delivery address should give some kind of verification albeit not conclusively.

When I tried watching my sky go and iplayer from wifi in Greece, they knew I wasn't in the uk, so I guess the britrail webpage can know as well?

 

[bb21]

I know a couple who
- are ethnic Cantonese

No such ethnicity.

 

[jon0844]

If RDG decides it's down to your passport, all those foreigners working here may as well get these passes. Some of them may even live in their home country for more than six months and genuinely be able to claim they're only visiting, even if they're living her for 3-6 months to work.

 

[classicmds]

No such ethnicity.

But does the Euston ticket inspector know that?

 

[InFoTan]

...what would a validating ticket office do if presented with a UK passport? Are they looking for a "foreign" passport, or just an official form of identity when stamping the pass?

I can say that I have presented a British passport for validation of a Britrail pass several times and had no problem (last time was September 2016). I would happily produce evidence that I live in Hong Kong but I have never been asked for it!

The ACPRail site does specify on their T&C page that you need your passport to validate the pass:

BritRail Passes are issued open dated and must be validated within six months from the date of issue and prior to the first day of use. To validate a rail pass, present it along with your passport to the Railway official at the station of departure. At this time, the first and the last day of validity of the pass as well as the passport number is entered and the passenger must sign the pass.​

And if you do a Google search for Cantonese ethnicity you get this: Cantonese people

 

[maniacmartin]

I know a couple who
- are ethnic Cantonese
- live exclusively in Hong Kong
- we born there
- and have lived there all their lives; lives which pre-date the UK > China takeover [...]

Are you sure that their passports say British Citizen and not British Subject?

 

[Harpers Tate]

Are you sure that their passports say British Citizen and not British Subject?

Yes 100% sure. As I say, their passports are (personal details aside) exactly like mine.

 

[Mojo]

British National (Overseas) passports were issued to Hong Kong Residents and look exactly the same, except they don't have "EUROPEAN UNION" on the cover and a different code and status under Nationality.

 

[30907]

You might need to draw attention to this:-
https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control/before-you-leave-for-the-uk

I reckon not many UK rail staff will know that a Personalausweis is something different from a (German) passport.

But ve have all vatched var films so ve know ze vort Ausweis ...

 

[jumble]

The problem is it is not practical for railway staff to be expected to try and verify proof of residency when any such proof is likely to be in a language that they don't understand.

Or indeed producing some kind of proof of address that the RPI has absolutely no way of verifying if it is real or not.

It always amused me in the USA that petrol stations took particular notice of my UK driving license as proof of identity when I imagine they have no way of checking anything much.

I think that here is a case of the railway having to trust that people who have dual nationality and relatives abroad don't abuse the system.
Of course I suppose the RPI could call BTP who would be able to conduct a physical search and do computer checks that might reveal the truth.
HTH Jumble

 

[jumble]

IP address of where it's purchased, overseas credit/debit card to purchase and overseas delivery address should give some kind of verification albeit not conclusively.

When I tried watching my sky go and iplayer from wifi in Greece, they knew I wasn't in the uk, so I guess the britrail webpage can know as well?

However a VPN set to our company servers using remote gateway ( with directors permission) soon sorted out Netflix from USA so geographic IP address does not help verification

 

[Harpers Tate]

British National (Overseas) passports were issued to Hong Kong Residents and look exactly the same, except they don't have "EUROPEAN UNION" on the cover and a different code and status under Nationality.

It's not what my friends have. They are British Citizens. Their passports are indistinguishable from mine (except for the obvious differing personal data, photo, etc.) Possibly it was only certain people - maybe professionals or something - that were allowed to apply for "real" British passports; that I don't know. But I do know for certain what these friends have.

 

[richw]

However a VPN set to our company servers using remote gateway ( with directors permission) soon sorted out Netflix from USA so geographic IP address does not help verification

A that something an everyday person could do? I wouldn't have known until you posted this!

 

[takno]

A that something an everyday person could do? I wouldn't have known until you posted this!

Yes, it's fairly common, particularly for Netflix, iPlayer etc. There are services which make it fairly trivial to do, although I'm slightly myself since some of them are malware scams.

 

[MotCO]

My opinion is that providing a service where the cost depends on the customer's nationality risks being found to contravene the Equalities Act 2015.

Didn't something like this happen in Malta on their buses? Local residents could purchase cheap tickets, whereas visitors had to pay more. I think this had to be changed, and did at around the time Arriva handed back the contract.

 

[lejog]

A that something an everyday person could do? I wouldn't have known until you posted this!

Yes you can even just get browser plugins which you just choose the country you wish to appear to be in from a drop down list. I have to echo takno's warning, VPN providers incur significant server and bandwidth costs, and installing software from free or cheap suppliers is NOT advisable, it will almost certainly contain spyware or malware. There are plenty of reputable VPN suppliers though, at a fee.

But it appears that Britrail passes are now available as m-tickets, and I can certainly get past the geographic verification stage by accessing via a server in Ireland. I haven't had time to look at details, but I didn't see any requirement to authorise the m-ticket, it appears just to be turn up and go.

 

[takno]

Didn't something like this happen in Malta on their buses? Local residents could purchase cheap tickets, whereas visitors had to pay more. I think this had to be changed, and did at around the time Arriva handed back the contract.

A discount for local residents would be fine, but a discount for Maltese nationals would not be. I'm not sure what the situation was in Malta, although if they had to change it I suspect it was the latter.

 

[InFoTan]

It's not what my friends have. They are British Citizens. Their passports are indistinguishable from mine (except for the obvious differing personal data, photo, etc.) Possibly it was only certain people - maybe professionals or something - that were allowed to apply for "real" British passports; that I don't know. But I do know for certain what these friends have.

I fear that we are veering way off topic here, but that's correct - according to the Daily Express:

Before the handover, 50,000 selected Hong Kongers, mainly white-collar professionals and civil servants, were given British passports.​

They also issued a large number of BNO passports that don't give British citizenship.

 

[welshpax]

I am a resident of Dubai but with a British passport, I have used about a dozen Britrail passes over the past 3 years and not been asked for my passport once. apart from the initial validation.

I also have the easiest method of buying my passes, I call my travel agent in Dubai, give her my card number and it is delivered to my office within the hour!

No one has ever questioned me when I use a Britrail pass, no funny looks, no comments and no issue with validity on any operator, reading the posts here, I think I have been a bit lucky!

I dont carry my passport around with me, however, I do keep a colour copy of my residents visa and passport details page should it ever be required.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Hello, this thread gave me a few questions. My father and I will be travelling with a Britrail Pass in a few weeks and we both don't hold a passport, but only a German ID card (Personalausweis). The ID card contains a photo and also the address. Should I be worried that this won't be accepted? I don't think we'd be able to get real passports before we leave as it always takes ages to get them at the Bürgeramt.

If anyone is interested - we had our passes validated today at Manchester Airport station and the person in the ticket office didn't even ask for a passport or any kind of identification.