Criminal because my train was late?

Hintza

Thank goodness I don't have to suffer this sort of humiliation these days.

I would probably have told the inspector to take a hike and take my chances with the police.

I hope you get this sorted out OP. Good luck.

moonrakerz

I would suggest the OP goes to a dedicated rail forum - some of the advice given already is, shall we say, misleading !

Try:
http://www.railforums.co.uk/

movilogo

I can only sympathesize you. Don't think I would have done anything different if I were you.

Having said so, I usually avoid train as much as possible.

They do not run on time, costs too much and non convenient.

Driving is much better.

mark5

I had a dispute with Great Western a few years back when they would only offer vouchers as a refund for an advanced purchased ticket on a journey which didnt make it to the destination.

The train was terminated at Bristol on the way to London Paddington from Swansea.

I didnt want vouchers, I rarely use trains, so high value vouchers were of little use to me!

I contacted passenger focus and within a few days, Great Western refunded my money along with telling me to keep the vouchers as a sign of goodwill.

diddlydum

I would complain to the Train Operating Companies responsible- East Midlands Trains (for the Norwich to Peterborough leg) and East Coast (for the Peterborough to York leg). You might want to ring them up, especially about the member of staff with East Coast- it would have taken him two minutes to verify your story with East Coast control.

If you can prove that you had the tickets to travel, and that there were delays, then you should be OK. If you pay I don't think you will ever see that money again.

I would have taken my chances with the police. It is an offence to travel on a train without a valid ticket with the intention of not paying. IMHO you had a valid ticket because of the engineering works, something which is easily verified (presumably you had the Norwich-Peterborough ticket still in your wallet).

epm-84

zzip00 The first thing you said is a delay to the original journey caused you to be more than an hour late so you are entitled to rail travel vouchers from East Midlands Trains equal to the full cost of your ticket as they get compensated by Network Rail for the overrunning engineering works. (For other operators it's not as generous.)

The other thing to note is Norwich station is not a penalty fare station see http://www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/3E9B9EB4-B5D9-4B5F-9272-F965FC3D5F57/0/PenaltyFaresLeaflet.pdf so the penalty fare notice you've been given is technically invalid, but someone else should be able to advise best whether you need to pay and then appeal or whether to not pay.

epm-84

sassy-one wrote: »

In sense OP, you have committed a criminal offence, simple as, and the fact this guy gave you a fixed ticket instead made you VERY lucky as they don't give them out to just anyone, as in your case, they know people just won't pay them, so what's the point.

That is very wrong information so please ignore it.

The member of staff's advice was in line with the National Rail Conditions of Carriage (the laws of the railway) and the conductor on the train was breaching them by not accepting your ticket when the previous service had been cancelled, even though it was operated by a different company.

alanrowell

epm-84 wrote: »

The member of staff's advice was in line with the National Rail Conditions of Carriage (the laws of the railway) and the conductor on the train was breaching them by not accepting your ticket when the previous service had been cancelled, even though it was operated by a different company.

Except that OP had separate tickets - and so the responsibility under the CoC ended when he reached Peterborough.

epm-84

alanrowell wrote: »

Except that OP had separate tickets - and so the responsibility under the CoC ended when he reached Peterborough.

I missed that bit and possibly the person giving the advice at the station did as well. Although some people who are very familar with the NRoR suggest that seperate tickets don't necessairly mean two seperate contracts as that part of the NRoR isn't clearly written.

Altarf

alanrowell wrote: »

Except that OP had separate tickets - and so the responsibility under the CoC ended when he reached Peterborough.

Section 19 of the CoC states -

19. Using a combination of tickets
You may use two or more tickets for one journey as long as together they cover the entire journey and one of the following applies:
(a) they are both Zonal Tickets (unless special conditions prohibit their use);
(b) the train you are in calls at the station where you change from one ticket to another; or
(c) one of the tickets is a Season Ticket (which for this purpose does not include Season Tickets or travel passes issued on behalf of a passenger transport executive or local authority) or a leisure travel pass, and the other ticket(s) is/are not.

So it is clear the the CoC accept that the OP was making one journey, not two, even though they held two tickets.