Frequently asked questions

Unicard Ltd provides this online registration portal to Rutland County Council, however due to data protection regulations Unicard Ltd does not provide direct assistance to the public.

If your query is related to your local concessionary fares scheme, please contact Rutland County Council or Passenger Transport Executive directly.

Questions relating directly to your computer hardware or software are not supported by Unicard or Rutland County Council. Please contact your own supplier for assistance.

Unicard Ltd is a full registered UK company which provides this online registration service to Rutland County Council in collaboration with Experian QAS Plc, a global provider of identification services.

For this application process, the website makes a request to Experian's 'Authenticate for Public Sector' software. The record of this event is known as a 'footprint', which indicates that an identity check has been done, when this occurred and the organisation (in this case, local council) that made the check. The footprint will not be seen by lenders and it will not be used for credit assessments. However, it will be seen by an individual should they request a copy of their credit report from Experian.

Unicard Ltd and Experian QAS Plc are fully compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679  and will treat your personal data in strict accordance with this regulation. In addition, please read the Terms and Conditions displayed throughout the registration process and the Privacy Policy.

If you are eligible for a free bus pass by virtue of your age and/or disability, you can register here and request your application to be finalised by Rutland County Council. Please consult Rutland County Council’s website for further information.

• Apply for a new older person’s travel pass
• Renew an older person’s travel pass
• Replace a lost or damaged older person’s pass *
• Apply for a disabled person’s pass
• Renew a disabled person’s pass
• Replace a lost or damaged disabled person’s pass *

* If your card has been stolen, you will need to contact Rutland County Council’s customer service centre , telephone 01572 722577  or email: enquiries@rutland.gov.uk . Rutland County Council will provide a replacement for free if you have a Crime Number from the police (not an Incident Number).

The cost associated to request a replacement for a lost or damaged pass, is £10.

Older person’s travel pass:

To check the date you become eligible for an older person's travel pass enter your date of birth into the state pension age calculator on the GOV.UK website.

If you live in the Rutland City area, you must apply for a travel pass from Rutland City Council .

Disabled person's travel pass:

If you are a disabled applicant, you can find out more information on eligibility and application criteria via Rutland County Council’s travel passes webpage.

Barring any problems with your application, cards are sent by second class post within 5-10 days of your registration.

Your application could be deferred for any of the following reasons:

• Your photo has been marked as unsuitable for use on a card.

In this case Rutland County Council will email the address given, giving you the opportunity to upload another photo to your account.

• You have incorrectly entered your date of birth
• You have selected the wrong address or given an old address
• Your address is not your primary place of residence
• You have already applied and your application is pending
• Inadequate proof documentation in relation to your application (disabled applications only)

You will need:

• an email address;
• a webcam or a digital camera or an existing digital image;
• a PC with internet connection. Your PC does not have to be the latest specification as long as you can access the internet, however only modern browsers can access our site for security reasons;
• Proof of disability documentation (disabled applications only).

You can take a photo or scan a photo to any size as long as it's a jpg , png or jpeg . The final photo has to fit on the card and should be as clear as possible. The better the quality with which you begin, the better the end result. But don't worry too much about the technical bits!

You can easily crop the photo using the software incorporated in the page so don't take it too close up. Head and shoulders is a good starting point for the photo.

The end result we are looking to achieve is something like this. The software will guide you through the process.

Not at all; the site uses a type of software which is built into your web browser. When you come to taking your photo, you may be prompted for permission in which case you should accept and click on "Allow" when requested to do so.

If you don't have a webcam, click on the link provided and Browse to an existing photo on your PC.

If for any reason your webcam does not respond, take a photo with a digital camera or scan a photo, then browse to the photo on your PC.

You can upload a photo in three ways:

1. You can use a webcam to take a photo. Webcams integrate seamlessly with the software incorporated in the web page. Just click on "Allow" when the request pops up on your screen and follow the step by step instructions.
2. You can take a photo with a digital camera or even a phone with a good camera on it (5 megapixels would be sufficient). You can then save it to your desktop and browse to it from the registration page. The software incorporated in the web page will help you crop and resize the photo.
3. If you have an existing printed photograph, you can use a scanner, save the photo as a jpg, png or jpeg to your PC and then browse to it from the photo upload page.

The web site will show you examples of acceptable and not acceptable photos.

Should the site offer the function you can make payments using Visa, Mastercard, Discover/Diners and Amex credit and debit cards. There are no surcharges for payment with credit cards. All transactions will be in Pound Sterling.

Unicard Ltd provides the online registration portal to Rutland County Council.

However, Unicard does not aid the public with respect to the actual application or the assessment process relating to your pass.

Please contact Rutland County Council’s customer service centre  executives who will assist in the first instance.

Should the site offer the payment function the transaction fee will only be debited from your account if the application passes our validation checks. In case of rejection, you will not see any debit or credit activity on your bank statement because no funds would have been transferred.

1. If your application is approved and your payment is processed but you wish to request a refund for any reason, please contact Rutland County Council Bus Pass Contact Centre directly.
2. If your application is rejected and you wish to apply again, please refer to Rutland County Council Bus Pass Contact Centre for alternative off-line arrangements.
3. You will receive regular emails as the application moves through the different order processing stages.

Replacement or lost or damaged cards is available for a fee of £10.

Your debit/ credit card will not be debited until your application has been fully approved by the online validation service but you will receive immediate confirmation of your pre-payment. Please allow up to two days to receive final confirmation that your application has been fully processed.

This transaction will appear in your statement as "Bus Pass Application".

If your card has been stolen and you wish to inform Rutland County Council, please contact them through
Rutland County Council’s customer service centre , telephone 01572 722577 or email: enquiries@rutland.gov.uk .

Please refer to our Privacy Policy for information regarding our compliance to Data Protection (GDPR) guidelines.