Disabled Persons Railcard

I recently purchased a disabled persons railcard as I knew I would be taking a few trips this year, all of which I will be blogging about and posting photos and videos of on social media including TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.

There are various railcards you can buy, but the only one applicable to myself is the disabled persons railcard which I purchased on the railcard website for a total of 3 years as that gives the best price.
You can see a list of all railcards on the railcard website. There are a total of 9 railcards at the time of writing this, so there is often a card for everyone, just check out which is best for you.

You get a 1/3 off of travel which is a lot especially if you are travelling longer distances or have expensive train tickets. This is the main reason I wanted a card, the discount.

But the 1/3 off travel isn’t the only benefit of the card!

A disabled persons railcard has other benefits too such as discounts on TFL London travel which you can get loaded onto your Oyster card. This means you can save even more money too!

London Oyster card travel

Get 1/3 discount on:

• Pay as you go travel
• Off-Peak Day Travelcard for you or someone aged over 16 travelling with you
• Add your discount to an Oyster card.

When you have a railcard, you get a few offers at selected companies as well as a few competitions. You can check the current offers on the disabled persons railcard website. Other railcards have different offers, but they all have some offers on each railcard website.

To get a disabled persons railcard, you need to qualify by having certain disability benefits or certain medical conditions:

• receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Adult Disability Payment (ADP)
• receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Child Disability Payment (CDP) at either:
• the higher or lower rate for the mobility component, or
• the higher or middle rate for the care component
• have a visual impairment
• have a hearing impairment
• have epilepsy
• receive Attendance Allowance, Severe Disablement Allowance or Pension Age Disability Payment (PADP)
• receive War Pensioner’s Mobility Supplement
• receive War or Service Disablement Pension for 80% or more disability
• buy or lease a vehicle through the Motability scheme

I get PIP so I qualify. and it took 5 working days to get my application approved.
It does say allow up to 5 working days, so it did take the full duration to get the application approved, just in case you are wondering how long mine took.

I chose to get a digital railcard which you can download on your phone instantly. If you choose to get a physical card, it can take another 5 working days on top of the application period so make sure you allow enough time.
You can save your digital card to 2 devices so if you have multiple phones such as work and home, you can load it onto both.

You can select 1 year or 3 years. The 3 year card is much better value so if you think you will be travelling each year, the longer card is better for you. I chose a 3 year card.

If you would like to buy a disabled persons railcard, head to their website which is the quickest way to apply. You will need to make sure you have a copy of your form of eligibility which you upload during the application process. I used my PIP approval letter.
If you have any other questions, they have a FAQ which covers most questions.

To anyone that doesn’t have a constant internet connection on their phone at all times;
One thing I wanted to make you aware of is that you seem to require an internet connection on the digital railcard app, for when you first open the app up and load the card. When you have the card open you don’t need internet anymore, but if you don’t have internet as you open the app, the card doesn’t show.
So if you won’t have internet access on the train, just make sure you open the card in the app before you travel and that way the card will remain open in the app. Just to save you having any issues when they check your tickets on the train.

If you would like to check out all the railcards, head over to the main railcard website.

Disclaimer: I collaborated with Rail Delivery Group but all opinions are my own and I was asked to give my honest opinions. I was not paid or asked to say anything specific and all opinions are my own.