Prosecution for railcard offences? Here’s how to avoid them

The rail ticket I am holding is for a journey from Gatwick airport to East Croydon. Gratuitously, it tells me: “Valid for any permitted route.” It’s hard to imagine anyone doing anything other than boarding one of the frequent direct trains from the airport to the south London station, taking 15 minutes.

“Refundable and exchangeable for a fee,” it adds. This, too, is redundant information. The ticket cost £4.30 and the admin fee for a refund is £5, so no one would do ever that.

More seriously: misleadingly, it calls itself an “Anytime Day Single”, which a reasonable person might imagine you can use at any time. In fact it means: “Only valid for travel at the times when your railcard is valid.”

Most railcards have restrictions on timings for “walk-up” tickets – basically anything that isn’t an advance fare. The main aim is a block on morning departures, particularly in southeast England.

In the olden days when everyone bought from station booking offices, the clerk would often stamp “Restrictions Advised” on the ticket. So if you were found travelling with a discounted ticket on a weekday, revenue protection staff would know that you had been forewarned.

Today, when passengers buy a ticket with a railcard discount, they are assumed to know the rules. Ticket machines at stations generally will not allow you to buy a walk-up ticket with a railcard until after the restriction is lifted each weekday. Many of us buy online (particularly through Trainline), and the system handily shows when cheap fares become available; tomorrow on that Gatwick-East Croydon run, the 9.02am departure is full fare (£6.50) while railcard holders prepared to wait for the 9.13am get a one-third discount down to £4.30.

Suppose I buy a ticket for the later train, on which reservations are neither possible nor necessary. It will carry the words “Anytime Day Single” prominently, even though it is not valid until that magic 9.13am departure. Trainline knows that – and the rail firm assumes I know, too.

But I now have a ticket marked “Anytime”. I might want to use it before the morning restriction lifts. If I try to do so, though, I will be in breach of the National Rail Conditions of Travel. They specify “you must purchase, where possible, a valid ticket before you board a train” and use it…