Unfair Penalty Train Fare

robt_2

meester wrote: »

Rubbish. This is a second-hand report of what the signs say, not the whole truth

These signs are bog standard railway issue and the chance that they don't actualy explain is very very small. Prove me wrong with photos or shut up.

I don't need to prove anything to anyone, especially some faceless person on the Internet who decides to tell people to 'shut up' because they don't agree with you.

The sign in question says that tickets must be bought at the first possible opportunity. That is NOT a penalty fares notice, as what is stated applies to every station in the country. It must be clearly stated at penalty fares are in operation. I see that you also ignored my post stating that the penalty fare is FURTHER invalid as the ticket machines (plural) were out of order. As there is more than one, one must be in service for the penalty fares to apply.

However, I won't argue with idiots, because they bring me down to their level then beat me with experience.

meester

andyrules wrote: »

What a charmer you are. Why would writing to one's mp be a waste of time? Being aware of user difficulties might just help make better policies for all of us.

What on earth is he supposed to do? National Rail have a policy that you have to buy a ticket before getting on a train. If it's not possible to buy a ticket, this doesn't apply. I don't see what is 'difficult' about this.

As it says on their website, you can buy tickets by phone, online, at the station up to a week before, from the guard on the train on a prior journey, by season ticket for periods of 1 week up to 12 months, from the ticket office, and from ticket machines (unless they are broken). This is more than sufficient, and it would be a clear waste of the resources of the MP or his assistant when they have far more serious issues to deal with, rather than investigating this.

Throughout all your posts I can see no constructive advice, other than 'tough', and telling other posters to 'shutup'. Maybe you should take your own advice;)

It's £20. It's not going to make any difference to anybody. Treating it as tough would indeed be more productive than wasting months appealing, especially given the fact that she had the opportunity to buy a ticket before boarding but chose not to. I'll spell it out again. T-O-U-G-H.

musicmonkey1

As a postscript to this, it certainly was tough.

My daughter was in her first two weeks of college and only just getting used to using trains. It was always our intention for her to use advanced weekly or monthly tickets but as a student she is entitled to discounts on these and the necessary discount card had not been issued by the college to enable her to take advantage of these discounts.

She was buying a daily ticket whilst waiting for her student discount card to arrive.

It's been interesting to see the differing views about this and I thank the posters for their comments and advice. It's quite clear in this instance that honesty doesn't pay, but at least my daughter has a clear conscience and after all it wasn't her that ended up paying the fine it was me - the same person who pays her fares in the first place! This was never about the £20.00 it was all about the principles of fairness and natural justice.

somabc

I have never understood why in Scotland (First Scotrail & SPT) penalty fairs do not apply. It is normal practice to board a train and buy a ticket from the conductor. If you do not see the conductor you can buy a ticket when you get off. Obviously if you are unethical you can either give a cheaper station as your starting station or just not buy a ticket at all. There is no question of ever being made to pay £20 and then buy a ticket as well! Even if you got off the train and were walking out the station then someone shouts "hey you show me your ticket", if you say "I don't have a ticket" they will just sell you one there and then!

unsure

Musicmonkey,
you may have another route to try (pardon the pun!). "Student Penalised for Being Honest!" sounds like a perfect local press/radio story and the sort of thing that just might embarass the railway company into being a little more reasonable in your daughter's case.
Just call up (or email) your local paper and/or radio station (numbers usually clearly inside paper or on website) with the details and make sure you give contact details where they can get back to you if they are interested in following it up ( and also that your daughter can be available for intvu). You'd be amazed how reasonable organisations can get when the alternative is public scorn and ridicule.
You have nothing to lose and you have a good chance of putting your case, embarrasing the compnay and getting a better repsonse than you've had so far.
I speak as a former journo who has used this approach effectively on several occasions.

chuckley

tuggy wrote: »

So when the other person tried to apply a penalty fare your daughter just "rolled over" and handed out her name and address? If that was me and i'd tried to do the honest thing and they just said they were going to give me a penalty fare i'd say "stuff you" and walk off. they can't physically detain her. So first she was "stupid" enough (read:honest) to go and buy a ticket AFTER she got a free journey (!!!!) then she was stupid enough to hand out voluntarily her name and address when they asked for them to give her a penalty?

How was she clever enough to get into college?

that happened on my busy sothern train the other moring. inspector askin folk for details after they didnt have tickets. older people arguing with the dude and writing down their details. inspector goes to a mid 20's chick who also doesnt have a 1st ticket and she just sat there laughing at the dude, the WHOLE WAY into LBridge, while the guy kept tryna get her to pay up or write her details. she then just got off still laughin. i found it hilarious!!!!!

Voyager2002

chuckley wrote: »

that happened on my busy sothern train the other moring. inspector askin folk for details after they didnt have tickets. older people arguing with the dude and writing down their details. inspector goes to a mid 20's chick who also doesnt have a 1st ticket and she just sat there laughing at the dude, the WHOLE WAY into LBridge, while the guy kept tryna get her to pay up or write her details. she then just got off still laughin. i found it hilarious!!!!!

I experienced something similar. When we arrived at Euston all the doors to the train were locked, and remained locked (with all passengers imprisoned) until the police arrived and dealt with the fare-dodgers. Truly hilarious: particularly for me! The delay meant I missed my onward long-distance train and so wasted an hour or so.

musicmonkey1

A big thank you to the poster 'unsure' I have contacted our local press and they want to run a story on my daughter's experience. The photographer is due this afternoon.

It will be interesting to see if this has any impact on the trin company!

robt_2

musicmonkey1 wrote: »

A big thank you to the poster 'unsure' I have contacted our local press and they want to run a story on my daughter's experience. The photographer is due this afternoon.

It will be interesting to see if this has any impact on the trin company!

Good luck with that but I suspect it will just make you seem bitter. As I have already explained, for many reasons, the penalty fare was invalid to start with so you could just have appealed it. Makes me suspect that some lies have been told regarding the ticket machines being out of order etc.

Lakelady_2

musicmonkey1 wrote: »

A big thank you to the poster 'unsure' I have contacted our local press and they want to run a story on my daughter's experience. The photographer is due this afternoon.

It will be interesting to see if this has any impact on the trin company!

Good! I`m pleased the train company will be shown up for treating an honest young girl so badly.