Bemused & confused...

[funnymummy]

I admit I rarely catch trains, i'll use the car if going on a journey with the bubbas, or requires the transport of large/bulky/heavy items. I/we will use our bikes as much as we can for everyhting else.
Last week I caught the train upto Victoria for the FNRTTC, my ticket was £3.70 as I bought it online/in adavance. I was susrprised at how cheap it was, Ok should have been £14.99 if bought at station, but less then £4 to travel to London? Bargain!!
While looking at tickets last week I found I could buy a Disabled Childs railcard for my middle son, it cost £20, & would entitle him & an adult/carer travelling with him upto 50% fares. I figured if trains where so cheap these days we might start using them more , so I filled in the form & sent it off, (it has to be done by post not online!) it said card should arrive within 5 day.
Today I am taking my bubbas to London Zoo, this weekend they are holding 'Special Childrens' events.
Last night I was going to buy our tickets again online/advance, but discovered that mine would be £36.20, the bubs would be £1 each..even when I clicked that we had a DC railcard, the price was still the same...? I tried several times, the price stayed the same, with or without the railcard box ticked...Then I noticed the bit that said I had to produce the railcard when collceting the tickets from the station...the card hasn't arrived yet.
I figured i'd just get the tickets from the station, explain to the person in ticket office #2's card hadn't arrived yet etc & see if what happened.
I went to the link about railcards to see if any details & was most amused to find this bit...
Other Concessionary Fares

It seems you do not need a Disabled Person railcard after all. If you are blind, vision impaired - Which my son is. Or will sit the entire train journey in a wheelchair - which my son will, you (and an adult travelling with you) can still get a 34/50& discount, even if you don't have a railcard...

So WTF do you have to spend £20 on a card in the first place...?

 

[Red Light]

It gives a discount when I tried it just (using the eastcoast.co.uk site).

But the answer I think is that the Disability Card gives a discount for any form of disability that makes travelling difficult (wonder if dyslexia counts?) while the walk up discounts are specific to wheelchair users and the visually impaired. The non-Card fares are also limited to discounts on Anytime day singles and returns only whereas the Disability Card gives you discounts on the whole range of tickets including advanced purchase and off peak tickets. So most people will want the Disabled Card in practice - the walk up fares are very limited and only on the most expensive fares.

 

[funnymummy]

It gives a discount when I tried it just (using the eastcoast.co.uk site).

I just tried it again using Nation Rails site
First using the Disabled Child railcard option... No chnage to price, Still £38.20- the same price as without any type of card
Then i tried it, using the Disabled Adult railcard .... Price drops to £25.90
But the Child card is supposed to give discount to the child AND any adult travelling with them.

As it is, we are now going to go by car, has taken longer then normal to do #2's physio this morning & now his leg/arm are very tired. If we go in the car he can have a 90 min sleep, which he wouldn't do in his chair/on the train

 

[Red Light]

I just tried it again using Nation Rails site
First using the Disabled Child railcard option... No chnage to price, Still £38.20- the same price as without any type of card
Then i tried it, using the Disabled Adult railcard .... Price drops to £25.90
But the Child card is supposed to give discount to the child AND any adult travelling with them.

As it is, we are now going to go by car, has taken longer then normal to do #2's physio this morning & now his leg/arm are very tired. If we go in the car he can have a 90 min sleep, which he wouldn't do in his chair/on the train

That may be a glitch in the system because the East Coast site says and adult and child travelling on a disable child card is not a valid combination.

However if you read the FAQs it says the following about it:

I'm a child and I have a disability. Am I eligible for a Disabled Persons Railcard?
Yes. Five to 15-year olds that have a disability listed on the application form qualify for a Railcard. This doesn't enable you to save money yourself (the usual child discount of 50% is a much better rate) but it does give 1/3 off most rail fares for one adult travelling with you.

​

So I would think seriously about the use you are going to put it to and whether its the best choice. For £28 you can get a Network Railcard for yourself and use the child discount for your child. The differences are:

• The Network Railcard is restricted to the Network South East area. The Disabled card applies nationally
• The Network Railcard has a floor that the discount cannot take the fare below £13 on weekday travel. The Disabled Card is a third off all tickets with no floor
• Children travelling with you on the Network Railcard get a 60% discount (with a £1 floor). There is just the standard 33% discount on the Disabled Card
• The Network Railcard allows you to take up to three other adults and four children with you on the same discount. The Disabled Card applies only to the disabled person and their adult companion.
• The Network Railcard is restricted to standard class accommodation at off-peak times. The Disabled Railcard applies to most fares in all classes at all times.
• The Network Railcard costs you £28/yr. The Disabled Card costs you £20.

There is also the Family and Friends Railcard which is much like the Network Railcard except it works all over the UK but you must have at least one child travelling with one of the two named adult card holders to get the discount whereas you get the Network Railcard discount for a single named adult even if they are travelling alone

So think carefully about which is going to give you the better deal. You should also keep an eye open for offers. You can find all the offers here. For example at the moment Southern are offering GroupSave which is four adults for the price of two and up to four children for £1 each.


As for going by car, since you have not yet received the Card, you should not use it to book tickets anyway. Saying its on its way will not cut it with the ticket inspectors and you are potentially liable for a penalty fare if you try. The terms and conditions require that your produce the card with the tickets*

* You must carry your Railcard with you on your journey and when asked by rail staff, you must show a valid ticket and a valid Railcard. If you fail to do so, you will be required to pay the full price Single fare for your journey as if no tickets were purchased before starting the journey and in some cases a Penalty Fare. This does not apply if there was no ticket office at the station at which you began your journey or if the ticket office was closed and there was no ticket machine from which you could buy discounted tickets.​