Senior Rail Cards In France

[Jennykenny]

One for Buenchico possibly?

Am in Lille at the moment.
Went to Lens yesterday, bought train tickets from a machine at Lille Flanders, and pressed the Senior Rail Card option - was using the English screen.
Inspector checked the ticket on the train and said nothing.

Today went to Arras, same procedure with the tickets, but this time on the train got a real telling off from the inspector, although she didn't fine me. I gathered, (my French isn't great), that I had taken advantage of the French Senior Rail discount (which is much greater) rather than just the UK Senior Rail discount of 25%.
But nowhere on the ticket machine was there an option.
The alternative is to always buy from the ticket office but the queues can be pretty bad at times. Any thoughts?

[Buenchico]

A pedantic point to start with: The discount provided (in the UK) by a Senior Railcard is 34%, not 25%.

Next, a (UK) Senior Railcard is provided by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC), which means that it's only valid on the services of those companies. You can't use it abroad (or even for travel on Eurostar).

In France you need to use SNCF's own 'Carte Senior+' for discounted travel on TGV, TER and Intercités services:
http://www.sncf.com/en/discounts/senior-plus-card

On other services you don't need any form of railcard, as there are automatic discounts for those over 60 years:
http://help.uk.voyages-sncf.com/en/train-fares-seniors

Lille Flandres (and Lille CHR) to Lens services are operated by TER trains (so you don't need a railcard to get a concessionary fare). Some slower services from Lille Frandres to Arras are operated by TER trains but the faster ones (and those from Lille Europe) use TGV trains, meaning that you can't get a discount without a Carte Senior+.

So:
(a) you can keep your Senior Railcard in your purse; it's not valid in France ; and
(b) you should check which type of train you'll be using in order to find out whether you can pay a concessionary fare.

[Jennykenny]

Thanks Chris. Gosh how incredibly complicated. Even more so when I produced it at the ticket office in Arras today and he gave me 25% off.
I'll just use ticket offices in future and see what happens.
Many thanks for your detailed answer.
G

[Buenchico]

^^^ Having re-read my post, I think that I've confused myself a bit (or, rather, the information in the first link has left me confused). The first SNCF link suggests that a Carte Senior+ can be used to get a discount on TER services but I'm confident that you don't need one anyway. (Perhaps it offers a greater discount?).

Your best option might be to check fares in advance here (remembering to select the relevant age group) and then to ensure that you're paying the same fare at the ticket machine:
http://www.sncf.com/

You can do it in English here but you'll then be quoted fares in sterling:
https://uk.voyages-sncf.com/en/#/

[EDDIE51]

Chris surely the ticket office at Arras just took the card as proof of age and gave the automatic discount ?
Also could a UK senior citizen apply for a French Senior card, if for example they were going to travel in France for a while?

[Buenchico]

^^^ I also assumed that the ticket office had simply used the British railcard simply as 'proof of age'.

The French 'Carte Senior+' can be purchased online, prior to travel, by UK citizens (for €60) using my first link above.