Penalty Fare

karmaimages

I came across this new site when i was reading a blog the other day (GNER commuter blog) and it looks like it could be quite helpful to some people so i thought I would pass the details on in the good money saving expert way :j

They site claims to help you appeal against penalty fare and they will look at them and tell you everything you can appeal against if you give them the reasons for the penalty fare.They also seem to be offering to help with appeals for free until 31st March which seems to be nice of them.

Http://www.penaltyfareappeal.co.uk

ticketcollector

This is the sort of thing that should have been created ages ago.
I have helped a few members on this site with regards to Penalty Fares.

The site does seem to be pretty new, but I suspect thats because it is new.

FARE-COP

I do not want to pour cold water on this idea, because I am sure that the site suggested may well help some people. However, I strongly suggest that people who have a genuine grievance with the issue of a penalty fare stop for just a moment and think about whether there is a strong case.

As I understand the founding ethic of this site (MSE) it is to help people to save money wherever possible.

The penaltyfareappeal.co.uk site requires you to make a payment of £4.00 to submit any notice to them, before you make any appeal. (I know there is a limited free offer on the description at present.)

There are a number of immediate drawbacks in my mind.

1. It will cost a great many people £4.00 each time to find that they do not have any chance of winning their appeal.
2. Those that do not have a strong chance of winning an appeal will still have to pay the penalty fare and it will have cost them £4.00 more than they needed to pay.
3. You only have 21 days from the date of issue of the notice and submitting a notice for scrutiny by an entirely unregulated third party will take time. The clock doesn't stop or take time out just because you are waiting for an unofficial body to get back to you with a prompt answer.

Now I have said before that I have 30 years railway experience and that is true and although I am still involved in railway revenue protection matters, I do not deal with penalty fares appeals.

Over the past two months I have seen some good advice on this forum and some very bad advice too.

There can sometimes be very good reasons for getting a penalty fare notice cancelled.

The main thing to remember is that you must be entirely truthful in making your appeal and you must submit it, in writing in good time in accordance with the rules.

Some of the advice given on that penaltyfareappeal.co.uk website introduction is very good and should always be remembered.

So many people claim that 'the machine wasn't working' or, 'the booking office was closed' without thinking that someone else can actually check with little more effort than a couple of keystrokes these days.

I would always suggest that you make the appeal yourself, in writing, without exaggeration of the facts, and submit it as quickly as possible after the notice has been issued to the address provided on the notice.

If the rules have been broken by staff, the notice should be cancelled by the TOC and in my experience this is almost always the case.

If you are still not satisfied with the TOC response to your appeal, then you always have the option of referring the matter to the Independent Penalty Fares Appeals Service or the IRCAS appeal panel for review depending on where the notice was issued. It will usually tell you on the notice, which is the relevent address.

Remember that you do not have to pay anyone for this opportunity.

I will not reveal what my role is these days nor where I work, but I will answer PMs freely, with as much helpful advice as quickly as I can.

gner_ex

This could be a nice earner actually - a fair price for the punter (though less than the cost of many tickets....) and they can hammer through four of these in an hour I would think.