Anyone volunteer at the National Trust?

[plipplops]

When they scan the card at the entrance to a place does it bring up your birthday or anything?

We have family membership. My 19 year old daughter and her boyfriend really want to visit somewhere but they're skint (they're going to buy lunch so will be making a contribution to the place which they'd otherwise not visit as they can't afford it).

If they used my husband and my cards, would the person working there just see Mr & Mrs Plops and let them in?

If I saw a card saying Mr & Mrs Plops on it, I would let the customers have whatever they wanted for free as consolation for being saddled with a name like that.

😂

I've been with a friend using his wife's card. They don't start grilling people on the door.

I'd be surprised if lunch cost less than entry TBH. I have a national art pass that allows free or discounted entry into certain sites including some NT properties. I have never been asked for ID to confirm that it's my pass I'm using.

Was just going to say that. Two lunches from a NT cafe would likely cover the entrance fee. They could take a picnic and pay properly. However if they want free entry plus lunch then it should be possible to scam, as the card scanner only checks the card is valid.

any chance you could gift them a couples membership for the year? Sounds like they would make use of it if this is something they'd like to do on a birthday. Or maybe it could be suggested to a grandparent/aunt/uncle?

Young person membership is £50 per person per year, so that might be an option as a gift for them.

Membership | Join the National Trust | National Trust

(I noticed that standard membership is for people 26 or over, which got me thinking that must mean there's a 'young person' option).

If you're saying they can't afford entry but can afford lunch, it could well be that paying for membership now, even if you have to lend them the money or say it's their Christmas gift could be worth it, if they're going to one of the more expensive sites - eg Fountains Abbey is £23 pp from 18+, so unless they're certain they're not going to want to go to any NT property in the next year, they might as well join for the year if it's possible.

It depends, but I recently went to an NT place and they were really scrutinising cards.

Minx you, there were some people behind me discussing how one had her card and the other person was going to say they’d left theirs at home. I hope the cfs didn’t get away with it!

My In laws give their cards to all and sundry to use at our nearest place. However the volunteers know them and I think they turn a blind eye.
The food is IMO a bit crap and very overpriced as pp suggested I’d pay to enter and take a picnic.

Thanks all. He's about to go away for 7 months so they wouldn't be able to use a membership (this is literally his last weekend before he goes). I'll leave it to them to decide what to do.

As someone who regularly really does leave hers at home, telling them this results in being sent to the desk to be looked up on the system. Which is very handy when its true, but would be very embarrassing if you were scamming.