E-tickets - railcard not acceptable as proof of identity

[IanD]

I was looking at buying some Advance tickets from Grand Central for my daughter using her YP railcard and NUS Extra discount. As you have to book these through the Cross Country website there's a £1 levy for even collecting at a station which more or less wipes out the NUS discount in this case. The only option to avoid this is to elect e-tickets. This requires you to select the form of identity you'll be using to prove the tickets are yours. You can use a passport, driving licence or credit/debit card but for some reason you cannot use the railcard that you have used to buy the tickets. This must be shown with the tickets anyway and, in the case of a YP card, has a photo on it so why does the rail industry not want to accept a form of id provided by themselves to prove who you are? Or even the NUS extra card which also has a photo on it and allegedly needs to be shown along with the tickets and railcards - that's 3 forms of identity and the printed ticket the guard will need to check.

 

[island]

I thought the NUS Extra discount only applied to travel on CrossCountry?

 

[IanD]

I thought the NUS Extra discount only applied to travel on CrossCountry?

CrossCountry and Grand Central but you have to book via a link to the XC website.

http://www.nus.org.uk/cy/nus-extra/discounts/2011/cross-country-student-discount/

 

[ValleyLines142]

I thought the NUS Extra discount only applied to travel on CrossCountry?

It's now valid with Grand Central too. Not sure why (don't mean that in a rude way!); one would think it would be valid with Arriva Trains Wales too since them and XC are both owned by the Arriva group.

 

[Jeni]

I've noticed if you buy via the CrossCountry mobile app, there isn't a £1 levvy for collecting from the station.

 

[Ferret]

I was looking at buying some Advance tickets from Grand Central for my daughter using her YP railcard and NUS Extra discount. As you have to book these through the Cross Country website there's a £1 levy for even collecting at a station which more or less wipes out the NUS discount in this case. The only option to avoid this is to elect e-tickets. This requires you to select the form of identity you'll be using to prove the tickets are yours. You can use a passport, driving licence or credit/debit card but for some reason you cannot use the railcard that you have used to buy the tickets. This must be shown with the tickets anyway and, in the case of a YP card, has a photo on it so why does the rail industry not want to accept a form of id provided by themselves to prove who you are? Or even the NUS extra card which also has a photo on it and allegedly needs to be shown along with the tickets and railcards - that's 3 forms of identity and the printed ticket the guard will need to check.

I might ask the question of the powers that be here in due course - I fail to see why railcard can't be accepted!

 

[D2022]

Is it not counted as ID due to the name and date being handwritten, so you stick your own photo and make one easy enough.

 

[Max]

Is it not counted as ID due to the name and date being handwritten, so you stick your own photo and make one easy enough.

Although that is not the case when you buy it online.

 

[bb21]

The £1 charge for TOD seems to be applied inconsistently. I booked several tickets yesterday in multiple transactions with NUS discount with www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk, all of which are from stations with TOD facilities and all are for travel with XC themselves. I was not charged a fee for collecting from the station despite Print@Home being available for all transactions.

 

[D2022]

Although that is not the case when you buy it online.

Ah, I think I've seen one off the web. Mines from SWI, to be honest it looks home made lol

 

[LexyBoy]

Ah, I remember the good old days of having a dubious looking Y-P with smeary biro under the plastic. And using it as ID in pubs, which worked surprisingly often (back when underage boozing wasn't put on a par with giving away nucular secrets to Al Qaeda).

 

[D2022]

( on a par with giving away nucular secrets to Al Qaeda).

You don't need ID for that though

 

[calc7]

I witnessed somebody getting "ID'd" for the complimentary booze in FC today.
I wonder whether his railcard would have been acceptable proof of age.

 

[maniacmartin]

I witnessed somebody getting "ID'd" for the complimentary booze in FC today.
I wonder whether his railcard would have been acceptable proof of age.

I don't know about the station-bought railcards, but the online ones don't have your date of birth on. Mine just has an expiry date, so for a 16-25 railcard, you might still be under 18

 

[calc7]

I don't know about the station-bought railcards, but the online ones don't have your date of birth on. Mine just has an expiry date, so for a 16-25 railcard, you might still be under 18

Mine is station-bought with a separate "photocard" on which is written my DOB.