Trainline adds railcard warning for passengers buying online after Northern prosecutions controversy

Trainline has changed the way it displays railcard restrictions after a series of prosecutions of passengers who were using them incorrectly - but Northern still has no plans to follow suit.

The online ticket seller now displays warning messages if a railcard is invalid which appears above details of a train a customer is trying to purchase a ticket for. These warnings now appear on its iOS and Android apps, as well as its website.

The move comes after Northern repealed hundreds of criminal convictions after it was found to be privately prosecuting hundreds of young adults for ticket disparities, some of which were less than £4.

Discounted tickets such as Anytime or Off-Peak must cost at least £12 for a 16-25 or 26-30 railcard to be valid between 0400 and 1000 on weekdays, but that was not mentioned in the terms when purchased on Norther’s own website or app.

In the following days, Trainline told customers it was “making it super clear” if railcards could be use when purchasing an Anytime ticket.

A spokesman said: "While our platform has always applied railcards correctly and presented the right fees to customers, recent events highlighted a sense of confusion for passengers around industry terms and conditions.

“And so we have changed the way we present this information in our booking flow, and made clarifying communications available for all passengers, to help give all rail users clarity when buying their tickets."

Northern’s website still doesn’t have a similar warning. When asked if it would be rolling the feature out on its website and app, a spokesman said: “We recognise that the current fares and ticketing system is complex and can be confusing for passengers. 

 "We are looking at the simplification of fares and ticketing alongside the DfT and the wider industry to ensure that we continue to put passengers first, with clear and easy to understand products and services.”