Disability Rail Card - you got one recently?

Legwax
Legwax Online Community Member Posts: 123 Contributor

Hi all,

The criteria states that applicants need to be awarded PIP. Having sent them my PIP statement - which they deemed not good enough - and now having sent them my PIP Award letter, they have replied with this:

"I recommend you send us a copy of your up-to-date PIP award letter with the below details mentioned on it:

  • Cardholder's full name (if different than the applicant)
  • Name and full address of the applicant
  • Date the document was issued on
  • Duration of the payments
  • Full address of the issuing authority === WELL, it's DWP obviously===

Kindly send the document in JPEG format as a reply to this email within 3 days from the date of this email."

As many of us know, details are on the statement(not the address but it says it can be used as evidence of award) and on the award letter. They seem to change the criteria each document that I sent. I wrote back and said that I want to make a complaint which I will.

Anybody else experienced this?

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Comments

  • anisty
    anisty Online Community Member Posts: 820 Trailblazing

    No. But ours (my son's) was a renewal. I can't actually recall sending any document at all! It was only January this year so that's not good i don't remember.

    I applied online and re-used his old photo. Got a plasic card through the post a few days later.

    His pip award was til Nov 26 but now his card runs beyond that.

    I can't recall having any bother in the past either when applying for his first railcard.

    Hope you get this sorted out asap

  • anisty
    anisty Online Community Member Posts: 820 Trailblazing
    • Was the pip award letter you sent recent? I wonder if it's an older one that they haven't accepted?
  • TomZee
    TomZee Online Community Member Posts: 20 Connected

    Not used PIP. For those reading this PIP is not the only eligibility criteria btw:https://www.disabledpersons-railcard.co.uk/are-you-eligible/

    It is well worth getting.

  • Legwax
    Legwax Online Community Member Posts: 123 Contributor

    @anisty Thanks for your reply. It's a long time since January, no need to apologise!

    I'm glad you didn't have any issues with your son's renewal. I think I've been unfortunate to either have been met by a new staff or a robot. Hard to tell. Will update this when there is progress.

  • Legwax
    Legwax Online Community Member Posts: 123 Contributor

    My docs that I sent were under 3 weeks old so I'm doing everything as required. Starting to feel personal! I will get over it…!

  • mix_dage
    mix_dage Online Community Member Posts: 75 Empowering

    Hi @Legwax are you applying online?

    It seems very odd, especially the card holder info from your first post, and asking for issuing authority, thats almost as if they are querying payment details? I would be wary of providing more info the way it’s being asked.

    Link above can you start the process again?

    As a further note you can use (up to) £10 of Tesco club card voucher to pay your (up to) £20 fee as Tesco double points for reward partners.

    To help make exchanging your Clubcard vouchers for a Railcard even easier, we've amended the value you can exchange from, starting at £2.50 and increasing in increments of £2.50, resulting in fewer clicks/taps. Providing up to 1/3 off rail travel, a Railcard pays for itself in no time.

    You can now turn every £2.50 into £5 to use with Railcard. You'll only need £10.00 in Clubcard vouchers, exchanging these at 2x their value, to pay for the 1-year Disabled Persons Railcard in full. You can of course, part pay with a Reward Partner code and top-up the difference with a different payment method. 

    With a Disabled Persons Railcard you can get a third off most rail fares throughout Great Britain. If you're travelling with an adult companion they'll get a third off their rail fare too, saving money for your friends as well. So, whether you’re planning a day out or a trip to see friends or family, the Disabled Persons Railcard can help.

    Use your Clubcard vouchers towards your Disable Person Railcard and you could be on your way to more places for less.

  • durhamjaide2001
    durhamjaide2001 Scope Member Posts: 13,810 Championing

    Pip is one of the many criteria for the rail card but there is other ways to so proof the reason why you need to send proof is because anyone can go on and get one and claim not to have a disability. It shouldn't be like this but it is.

  • Legwax
    Legwax Online Community Member Posts: 123 Contributor

    @mix_dage Thanks for all the info. Yes, done it via the correct website and the staff is replying from railcardhelp@nationalrail.co.uk - I think they are copypasting information. The below is what they sent me first after I had sent my PIP Statement - page with name, NINO, points on. I didn't want to send my front page (paranoia day) and the PIP statement says that it is evidence of being in receipt of PIP so I sent it! To note that the website simply said, You are eligible if you are in receipt of PIP plus other things which don't apply to me….send evidence of PIP award".

    I will wait till I get a response - they are holding £54 application of mine so need to anyway. Subsequent emails from them tell me to respond within 3 days or application cancelled. Again, done everything right…very tedious.

    -

    "This email is regarding your Disabled Persons Railcard order number 'XXXXXXX—'. 

    Your application has been reviewed by the Disabled Persons Railcard Decision Making Service, which is an independent service used to verify the eligibility of those applying for the Disabled Persons Railcard. 

    Unfortunately, your application has been declined as the pages with the information required to prove eligibility have not been provided.

    You are welcome to re-submit the document/s, making sure the correct pages are uploaded in jpeg or pdf format by replying directly to this email.

    Please note that the information will need to be received by us within 7 days from the date of this email. 

    Should we not receive the document/s within this time, your order will be cancelled, and the money paid for your Railcard will be returned to your bank account. 

    Thank you for your interest in purchasing the Disabled Persons Railcard. 

    Kind regards,"

    Tesco points info useful but I don't have that many. Thanks though!

  • Legwax
    Legwax Online Community Member Posts: 123 Contributor

    I'm calling them.

  • Legwax
    Legwax Online Community Member Posts: 123 Contributor

    Spoke to a very clear, helpful gent who didn't comment on the emails I'd received though he said he could see them. He said he would forward my submitted information which he did confirm had all requested information on it and that the separate assessment team would review it and get back to me within 48 hours.That is the process per the DisabledPersonsRailcard.co.uk so I accepted that. I asked for a reference number for the phone conversation which he gave me and I'll update when news is got…

  • Legwax
    Legwax Online Community Member Posts: 123 Contributor

    Update on the farce…

    Not heard within 48 hours. So, one week later, today, I call again and the man I speak to today says yes, all information is perfect. I used the reference numberf from last week's conversation. He then said that because the DWP address is cut off in my photo on the right hand side of award letter, I am not providing correct document. He admitted it had all information required and was perfect. He obviously doesn't understand meaning. Then I highlighted that he is saying it is perfect yet they still hold my money, didn't tell me that it was not correct in their eyes and I am stuck in their system. He put me on hold again to speak to his supervisors. He accepted he could see the date PIP award letter sent; my NINO, my address, my payments and duration.

    So, they don't get back to me to tell me that the document needs to show the Wolverhampton address and they say my document is perfect.

    He now tells me I need to send the whole document page in again.

    If I want to complain, I need to write a complaint email.

    I countered this telling him this is my formal complaint and he needs to record it as such.

    He said no, you need to send an email with Complaint as header.

    If I could get this card another way, I would.

    So, I will do the complaint.

    Effin joke.

  • Amberpearl
    Amberpearl Online Community Member Posts: 2,325 Championing

    I didn't know you could get a rail card on pip

  • Legwax
    Legwax Online Community Member Posts: 123 Contributor

    @Amberpearl Well, I haven't yet. ! …here's the link for info if you want it. https://www.disabledpersons-railcard.co.uk/

  • Legwax
    Legwax Online Community Member Posts: 123 Contributor

    I am evidently ranting a lot on this "discussion" but if you read this and are interested, I would like to highlight @mix_dage 's post above which had a lot of great info about how to get extra discounts and other stuff regarding the rail card.

  • onlymeagain
    onlymeagain Online Community Member Posts: 148 Empowering
    edited April 30

    It's a disabled person's railcard. You don't have to be on PIP to apply, but it is one of the forms of proof you can provide.

  • durhamjaide2001
    durhamjaide2001 Scope Member Posts: 13,810 Championing

    i have got one I don't think I'm going to reniew it. I wasn't going to last year if I wasn't on the youth advisory board for Groundworks but it made the trip that I was supposed to go on down to Coventry a lot cheaper for me.