Disabled person railcard expired travel tomorrow.

[pizzaHeart]

DD is disabled, receives PIP. I bought tickets ages ago to travel tomorrow and forgot to review her Railcard. I renewed it just now but obviously it takes up to 5 working days for code to arrive.
Does anyone have any experience of this? Can I take her PIP with us and show it?
I know I’ve fucked up and it’s absolutely on me.

Have you paid for the new Railcard? If so hopefully that is ok. If not, I would recommend you pay the full fare.

Just a word of warning - my DC2 got caught by a
ticket inspector with an expired 16-25 Railcard. The inspector gave them a special link to buy a new Railcard that day (to make their ticket valid). DC2 tried to use the link to buy a new Railcard but couldn’t make it work and then didn’t bother. 6 months later they were threatened with legal action and ended up having to employ a solicitor to settle out of court. The out of court settlement was £260! I think everything would have been ok if they had bought the new Railcard that day.

Do you have an email or a receipt that shows that you've purchased the new railcard? If so, show that when asked.

My thought is that you actually need to have the railcard for it to be valid not just proof of payment, the same as for the actual rail tickets.

However if you setup an account on railforums.co.uk and ask in there then someone will give you a proper answer.

@pizzaHeart If you download the Railcard app you can use your new railcard as soon as you have paid for it. I have a disabled railcard but no physical card.

Having PIP won’t prove she has a railcard so don’t waste your time on that. If you bought a digital railcard it should be available almost immediately though.

It usually comes through pretty quickly. Even if it doesn't, they don't often ask to see the railcard. And if they do most would let you off with the email confirmation if you explain what happened.

Why does it take five days? When I renew my Senior Railcard online it’s ready and available instantaneously on my Trainline app. Does that facility not exist for other train discount cards?

The app shows a digital version straight away doesn’t it ?

I use the railcard app and the renewed disabled persons railcard can be uploaded almost straight away after payment is made.

If she has the app then it will update straight away. That said every time I have travelled on the train and had my ticket checked, which is the majority of times they have never asked to see my disabled railcard. Other railcards, two together or group save tickets they’ve always checked but not my disabled railcard.

Thank you everyone!
The code has arrived!!!
the first email after payment said : allow 5 working days to arrive for the digital. DD saw it and was like: WTF Mum? It was your only job for tomorrow.
So I run straight away to MN for help.
Email with code arrived in 20 minutes
She is talking with me again 🙂