to think this railcard advert's treatment of disability is not right?

[RealHuman]

Prepared to be told I'm overreacting, but bear in mind I'm not saying this is Nazi eugenics levels of unacceptability, just that it made me go

I can't find the advert online, but the latest railcard ad has a voiceover saying something along the lines of, "Whether you're 18-25, over 60, travel as a family, or in a pair, there's a railcard for you" - followed by a picture of their five railcards - young person's railcard, older person's railcard, family railcard, two together railcard, and also the disabled people's railcard.

Huh? Are we still invisible in 2015? Is it damaging to the company somehow to mention disabled people out loud?

Yyy to "its all very confusing"!!

I wouldnt have thought you could stack railcards, but I also agree it's confusing - that might be part of why I avoid trains altogether

boris I have a Network Railcard that allows me to do that. Doesn't sound like that's mentioned on the ad either.

Also, "derail"?

Gods, I really hope I didn't just mishear the advert. That would be very embarrassing for me.

If you're between 25 and 60, travel on your own and are able-bodied there is not a Railcard for you.

Well, unless you're a mature student, in which case you're entitled to the (mis-named) 16-25.

I wouldnt have thought you could stack railcards

You can't, but for frequent travellers it's sometimes worth holding multiple cards for different occasions.

I have a Network Railcard

It isn't available nationally.

I didn't know the Network Railcard wasn't available nationally. I wonder why that is, is it a south east thing?

I have to pay £30 a year for mine but my friend, whose husband has an annual season ticket, gets hers for £1!

I didn't know the Network Railcard wasn't available nationally. I wonder why that is, is it a south east thing?

Yes.

www.network-railcard.co.uk

As to why it's only a South East thing, that's lost in the mists of timel; I presume its name derives from Network South East, the pre-franchise name for the area during BR sectorisation. I'm not in the south east, so don't know the details, nor its precise relationship with Gold cards.

www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46573.aspx

how confusing - notice to my chagrin that Worcester is the last outpost for either network south east or gold card
I do wish we had a 'national railways' system where stations beyond Worcester (yes people do live there) going West are covered by a discount of some kind.

I do wish we had a 'national railways' system where stations beyond Worcester (yes people do live there) going West are covered by a discount of some kind

This is hardly something to lay at the door of privatisation: the Network Card and its predecessors are BR inventions from its 1980s heyday.

BeyondTheWall

Might be worth getting one anyway, you and another person can travel with you for 1/3 off but you don't have any restrictions like only using it after 9.30am or not on certain services.