Hi Thanks very much for your responses - and so quick too! I spoke with the 'Debt Recovery' at National Express this morning. I explained the situation and the total cost (not fine, you're right, fare ...) and she immediately said: 'Oh, don't worry, you won't have to pay all that.' Immediate relief. She worked out what the fare would have cost had I bought the tickets without the railcard, deducted what I had already paid for the tickets and charged me the difference. Fare/Fair enough, since I understood that I had made a mistake to begin with. It did cost 70 pounds (still ouch, but a whopping lot better than what I feared), but I just paid that up. I was losing sleep and I really needed it to be settled. I think I will also now make a complaint about the conductor since I can do that and show that I was an honest passenger who made an honest mistake that has since been corrected. Thanks again for your input. Janet

Yesterday I was on my return trip from London to Edinburgh with my family. Although I had not been asked for my railcard on my outbound journey, I was asked on the return and found it had expired last week. It was valid when I purchased the tickets. The conductor was unrelenting and issued me with a fine of 406 pounds for 4 single journeys for the entire journey. At the time that he collected the tickets we were at Doncaster and I offered to take my family off the train in order to try to get the problem resolved there. He refused and took my details issuing me with the full fine as that is what I had intended to travel. The railcard is one issue and a such a huge fine for an honest oversight is weighing on me heavily. I plan to purchase a new family railcard tomorrow and write a letter stating above. I understand that it should have been checked on the outbound trip and am not interested in landing that staff in it. The second issue was how horrible the conductor was to me. I am 8 months pregnant, travelling with children and he was entirely loud and humiliating to me in front of an entire car of passengers - until I was in tears and my children were quite worried. He insisted on me going through my wallet and asked me to give him my debit or credit cards to pay for the journey immediately - which I refused as I felt I had a chance to contest the fine. I guess my questions are these - how do I contest the fine for the return journey so they will not also charge me for new tickets on the outbound journey. Do I include a complaint about the poor treatment by staff in the letter or is this too aggressive? Many, many thanks. Janet