The website selling the new 26-30 railcards has crashed as bargain-hunting millennials attempt to bag one of the coveted trial discount cards on offer.
National Railcards said the webpage had gone down after an “unprecedented” number of people visited the site on Tuesday morning, as a nationwide trial of the railcard was launched.
The one-year railcard for 26 to 30-year-olds costs £30 and offers a third-off most fares in England, Scotland and Wales. There are just 10,000 available.
This is the second phase of a rollout which started in December with the Greater Anglia train line, when 10,000 cards were also made available.
Frustrated commuters who said they had been trying to buy a railcard “since 7.30am” and called the website crash “a shambles”, while others compared it to trying to get tickets for Glastonbury.
Meanwhile, successful buyers faced a worrying wait for confirmation of their purchase as emails about their orders were delayed.
Other irate commuters unable to get their hands one one of the railcards - which could save travellers thousands of pounds a year - criticised the small number of discount cards being released in the test run.
National Railcards said the pilot scheme was only a trial to see if the cards are “useful for this age group”, adding that they will be rolled out for everyone “if the results go well”.
The company said in a statement on Twitter: “Due to the high volume of traffic the 26-30 Railcard website we understand some of you have been unable to access the 26-30 website.”
“Railcards are still available to purchase please check back shortly.”
The message continued: “We’ve had an unprecedented number of people visiting our site for the 26-30 Railcard.
“Please bear with us, we’ve got the whole team working on it and hope we can have it back up shortly.”