Misuse of 26-30 Railcard

[ThisLady]

I received the following email from Transport for Wales Digital Fraud Investigator. I thought because the tickets i was purchasing were an anytime day return that it would okay to use my railcard. obviously this is not the case. they say my case was flagged on 2nd March but no one spoke to me at this time. I did speak with someone on 8th june and they told me not to use the rail card or there could be consequences so i stopped. i then realised that i was eligible for a disabled persons rail card so i bought one of these and continued to make journeys using the new card. The current cost of the journey without a rail card is £6.90 and with the a rail card is £4.55 so of the 52 occasions there is a loss of £122.20. I have written a letter which i will post under this if anyone could take a look at it for me and see if anything needs changing.

This office is the investigating authority for Transport for Wales Rail Limited (TfW). I have submitted a subject access request to Trainline to obtain your contact details.

This email has been generated because your account was flagged by one of our staff on 2nd March 2023. The reason for this flag was because a 26-30 discount had been applied to your ticket. However, you were travelling outside of the restrictions of this railcard ie before 10am on a weekday and no minimum fare of £12 had been paid.

For reference, there is a link below to the full terms and conditions of travel from the National Rail website:

https://www.26-30railcard.co.uk/help/railcard-terms-conditions/

As a result of the flag, your travel history has been scrutinised. I can see that between November 2022 and May 2023 you travelled between station 1 and station 2 a total of 52 times before 10am whilst again, claiming the 26-30 discount incorrectly.

This includes 23 journeys after the time you were flagged to us.

I have sufficient evidence to progress this case for prosecution, however I am currently considering what is the most appropriate act to progress this case under.

It would seem you boarded the train using a ticket with a discount that you were not entitled to in an attempt to avoid paying the full fare of your journey. This matter could be progressed under a number of different pieces of legislation, namely:

Regulation of Railways Act 1889 Section 5(3)

If any person —

1. Travels or attempts to travel on a railway without having previously paid his fare, and with intent to avoid payment thereof.

Or, the legislation which carries the higher penalty:​

Fraud Act 2006, section 2 Fraud by false representation​

(1) A person is in breach of this section if he—

(a) dishonestly makes a false representation, and

(b) intends, by making the representation—

(i) to make a gain for himself or another, or

(ii) to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.

Before deciding which avenue to pursue I would like to give you this opportunity to present any mitigating circumstances. I recommend that you seek independent legal advice from a solicitor versed in criminal law who is registered with the Law Society. It may also be an advantage if they have experience in rail fare law as this is a specialist area.

To Whom it may concern,



I am writing relating to an email I received on 01/08/2003 regarding the incorrect use of 26-30 railcard.

I would like to start by saying that I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to respond to your letter. I would like to state that I take responsibility for my actions and I am immensely sorry for any losses caused by these actions.

I recognise that what I did was a huge error in judgement. It was not a conscious decision made to cause loss to the company but a terrible mistake which I can assure you, will not be repeated.

I am desperate to avoid this matter progressing to court and would like to make an offer to repay the outstanding fares and cover any administration costs directly related to my case.

I would also like to take the opportunity to say that I had a conversation with an inspector on 08/06/2023. After he checked my ticket on the platform at Station 1 train station he told me that there could be consequences for traveling before 10am with this railcard. At that time I offered to purchase another ticket but was told that this wouldn’t be necessary at this time and to not do it again. After this day I immediately stopped using this railcard for any journeys before 10am. Please note that I had not had any prior conversations with anyone from Transport for Wales or any company employed by them regarding this matter.

I am aware that this is not a defence however, after this interaction I discovered that I had been eligible for a Disabled Persons Railcard as I am in receipt of Personal Independence Payment for a physical disability. My disability causes me to suffer from chronic pain, chronic fatigue, brain fog and repeated dislocations. After discovering that I had been eligible for this railcard I purchased the Disabled Persons Railcard which does not have restrictions on these journeys, this will prevent this from occurring in the future.

I would also like to say that I have never received any penalty fines from any rail service and have never been in trouble with the law.

My wife, mother in law and her children depend on me financially. A prosecution could cause an affect on my current career and future career opportunities which would place us in financial difficulty.

Again I would like to take the opportunity to say that I am deeply sorry for my actions and confirm that his will never happen again. I understand how much money Transport For Wales lose due to fare evasion and that it is unacceptable to not pay the correct fare. I therefore kindly ask if we could proceed with a settlement without the need for court action. I have learned from my mistakes and I am keen to settle this matter by paying outstanding fees and administrative costs incurred by the investigation.



I have attached to this email evidence of my current Disabled Persons Railcard and evidence that I am in receipt of Personal Independence Payment.

Yours Faithfully

 

[greatkingrat]

Were the tickets you bought after being stopped purchased with a 26-30 Railcard discount or a disabled Railcard discount?

The letter seems to imply that tickets are still being purchased with the 26-30 discount, in which case they are not valid, even if you also held a disabled Railcard.

 

[ThisLady]

Were the tickets you bought after being stopped purchased with a 26-30 Railcard discount or a disabled Railcard discount?

The letter seems to imply that tickets are still being purchased with the 26-30 discount, in which case they are not valid, even if you also held a disabled Railcard.

no as soon as i was told to on 08/06/23 i stopped purchasing tickets with this rail card and paid full price until my disabled persons card was approved. which part implies that?

 

[greatkingrat]

Sorry, I misread it, I though the March date was when you were stopped on the train.

 

[furlong]

Apologise for your ignorance and remind them of NRCoT 9.5.1 and offer to pay the difference, as would have been the case had your ticket been inspected on the journey?

9.5Where you:
9.5.1 are using a time-restricted Ticket (such as an “off-peak” or “super-off-peak” Ticket) that is correctly dated but invalid for the service on which you are travelling; or
...
you will be charged the difference between the fare that you have paid and the lowest price Ticket that is valid for the train you are using.

Your tickets were correctly dated but not valid until 10am therefore they were surely time-restricted by any common-sense definition.

One caveat though, how did you buy the tickets and what format? Via an app / online that required you to select a time of travel? e-tickets with a 2-D barcode that gets scanned? In other words is there anything about the way you bought them that they might use to indicate you knew it was invalid?

 

[L401CJF]

One caveat though, how did you buy the tickets and what format? Via an app / online that required you to select a time of travel? e-tickets with a 2-D barcode that gets scanned? In other words is there anything about the way you bought them that they might use to indicate you knew it was invalid?

This is something I see a lot, particularly those using Trainline - the app will show the regular undiscounted anytime/off peak fare for departures before 10am as its cheaper than the £12 minimum fare. Then any departures after 10am when the minimum fare restriction does not apply come up as anytime/off peak however with the railcard discount applied - passengers often see these cheaper fares but notice the ticket says "anytime" so assume its valid at any time. As we know it is the railcard which is time restricted.

I've attached a quick example for Chester to Shotton. All fares shown are "Anytime". Note the post 10am ticket shows "also valid on" and lists times after 10am.

 

[ThisLady]

One caveat though, how did you buy the tickets and what format? Via an app / online that required you to select a time of travel? e-tickets with a 2-D barcode that gets scanned? In other words is there anything about the way you bought them that they might use to indicate you knew it was invalid?

I purchased them through trainline, i selected a later time than when i was traveling and then traveled at an earlier time. i thought it would be fine because the ticket was an any time return. it was really stupid of me to do that and im now fully aware of the consequences

I've attached a quick example for Chester to Shotton. All fares shown are "Anytime". Note the post 10am ticket shows "also valid on" and lists times after 10am.

The earlier tickets also say this. so if i bought a ticket for 7am it would say that it is valid on the next trains. i thought an anytime return meant i could travel at any time on that ticket so i purchased the cheapest one. i now realise that i shouldnt have done that but at the time of buying the ticket i didnt think it would be a problem as my ticket was an anytime return

 

[furlong]

You wrote in your proposed letter that what you did was "a huge error in judgement" or, in other words, you're telling them you were well aware that what you did was wrong at the time you did it but you did it anyway.

That image says 'Travel any time of day' so I think there might be an argument to be made (based on consumer/contract law) that such tickets are indeed valid on earlier trains - i.e. a certain type of person would rely upon that information in choosing to make that purchase and as such it forms part of the contract that the train company must honour. It might be a barrier to prosecution if it's argued that an agent of the prosecutor was complicit in any alleged offence by providing incorrect information about validity misleading people into offending. NRCoT 9.5.1 can also be cited as the contractual remedy for this situation.

Trainline certainly needs to fix this and the ORR would be the body responsible for making sure this gets sorted out though as we know, we rarely witness it undertaking any of its consumer law duties and Trading Standards might be needed to persuade the ORR into taking action.

 

[spag23]

As another member remarked about a recent - different - draft, the OP's starting 8 of their 10 sentences with "I" may not come over well with the reader. And even the other two sentences don't depart much from this style.

 

[Adam Williams]

Trainline certainly needs to fix this and the ORR would be the body responsible for making sure this gets sorted out though as we know, we rarely witness it undertaking any of its consumer law duties and Trading Standards might be needed to persuade the ORR into taking action.

Are Trainline unique here?

Other WebTISs will display "Anytime fares are fully flexible walk-up tickets with no restrictions on when you can travel." sourced straight from National Rail Enquiries.






I think this is something RDG should be checking during accreditation and issuing guidance about.

 

[Haywain]

Other WebTISs will display "Anytime fares are fully flexible walk-up tickets with no restrictions on when you can travel." sourced straight from National Rail Enquiries.

I suppose that some people would find it useful if that had something like "unless you are using a railcard that has further time restrictions" added on.

I think this is something RDG should be checking during accreditation and issuing guidance about.

That would be a bit more difficult with Trainline.

 

[Adam Williams]

I suppose that some people would find it useful if that had something like "unless you are using a railcard that has further time restrictions" added on

Would seem like a sensible step to be considered to me, and it's something that can be put in place without requiring TIS suppliers to make any system changes.

Who maintains these listings? I assume a PMS ticket wouldn't be completely appropriate as the ticket type information is maintained outside of it, as far as I know.

 

[Haywain]

Who maintains these listings? I assume a PMS ticket wouldn't be completely appropriate as the ticket type information is maintained outside of it, as far as I know.

No idea, I'm afraid.

 

[furlong]

"There are no restrictions on when you can travel" could not be clearer! Minimum fares don't apply to anytime tickets - the clue is in the name - "any time"! If they want to have a time restriction then they should give the tickets a different name, or everywhere it says "any time" but they want there to be a time restriction, that needs to be indicated - including printing it on the ticket itself.

 

[Haywain]

Minimum fares don't apply to anytime tickets - the clue is in the name - "any time"!

That is simply not true.

 

[ThisLady]

As another member remarked about a recent - different - draft, the OP's starting 8 of their 10 sentences with "I" may not come over well with the reader. And even the other two sentences don't depart much from this style.

in what other way would i write this? this is something i have done and all of the points relate to me so any advice you have about restructuring the sentences so that they come over better would be appreciated

 

[fandroid]

I would replace the sentence concerning "a huge error of judgement" with a phrase implying a "massive misunderstanding". "Error of judgement" implies a decision to, at best, bend the rules, whereas it seems to me that you made a mistake every time you purchased an "Anytime" ticket, in believing that they were truly valid at any time.

 

[30907]

That is simply not true.

Quite. Checking random websites - Northern=Trainline, GWR=Webtis, TfW(=?), it is clear enough when a Railcard discount is applied (Trainline is best, though I am loath to admit it).
If you then click on the detail, it doesn't repeat the information in the Railcard T&Cs - but that has already appeared or not.
Perhaps there should be a separate flagup "Railcard discount not applicable" for morning peak short-distance fares - I am sure today's IT could cope with the various permutations - but it doesn't alter the fact that on any timetable-based website or TVM you have to select an incorrect time to get the fare you want but are not entitled to. The OP needs to be aware of this point in their dealings with TfW.

 

[furlong]

That is simply not true.

Yet the screenshots in this thread imply that it is! The railway can't have this both ways - if it wants to be sure those terms are enforceable in situations such as these, it needs to qualify the incorrect information it is giving out which some passengers clearly have been relying upon to their detriment!

 

[L401CJF]

Yet the screenshots in this thread imply that it is! The railway can't have this both ways - if it wants to be sure those terms are enforceable in situations such as these, it needs to qualify the incorrect information it is giving out which some passengers clearly have been relying upon to their detriment!

There are a lot who are aware of the restriction and book later deliberately to avoid paying the full fare. There are others who are unaware who book cheapest option seeing "anytime" and assuming it's valid - I understand the logic - why buy a more expensive anytime fare when trainline actively shows "cheapest" next to another anytime fare later on.

The other confusion is that the £12 minimum fare doesn't apply to advance fares, the unsavvy may assume by booking their (not advance) ticket in advance that the restriction doesn't apply.

The whole thing is unnecessarily confusing, not to mention the fact it doesn't apply at all in July/August just to confuse people even more! EDIT- or weekends!

 

[island]

The whole thing is unnecessarily confusing, not to mention the fact it doesn't apply at all in July/August just to confuse people even more!

It does to 26-30 Railcards.

 

[L401CJF]

It does to 26-30 Railcards.

Well we learn something new every day!

 

[Beans&sauce]

Hi, I’ve just received the same letter and I’m wondering about your outcomes with this. Were you able to settle it outside court?

 

[EZJ]

Hi, I’ve just received the same letter and I’m wondering about your outcomes with this. Were you able to settle it outside court?

To avoid confusion and incorrect information you should start your own thread detailing what has happened to you. That way you will get the best advice.