Metro Penalty Fare Notice

macthemountie

:mad:

Hi Guys,

we received a letter through the post from IRCAS who deal with fines handed out for travelling on the Metro without a valid ticket. My daughter who was 15 years old had bought a ticket and gave it to her friend to keep in her back pocket as she was wearing leggings and had no where to keep it.

Anyhow, she was asked to show her ticket at the Haymarket station and her friend could not find it. She was told she had to be giving a penalty notice and could write in and explain the situation.

As usual, she was scared to come home and tell us and kept it quiet. 4 weeks later we received a letter saying the fine had not been paid within the 21 days and therefore the right to appeal was lost and they had added a £30 admin fee on to the original £20 fine.

I emailed them and said I was not happy that they had not wrote to me first, as her parent/legal guardian seeing as she was a minor? Also, they were aware of her age at the time and she gave them her correct address and details etc.

I also told them that I found their admin fee unfair, unreasonable and unenforceable. They wrote back ignoring that part and said the £50 needed to be paid within 14 days etc.

Should they not have automatically wrote of to a minors parents in the first place because my daughter has no means of income bearing in mind she is still at school. How was she meant to pay it.

I was thinking of sending in payment for the original £20 for the offence of having no ticket because she did not have one on her possession. Whether she had bought a one in the first place is anybodys guess because yes my daughter tells the odd porkie, dont all teenage kids 0:}

ANy suggestions would be helpful.

Cheers. :T

geordieracer

For someone who works on the railway i cannot give you any advice that you would like to hear but im going to anyway. your daughter has travelled without a valid ticket for her journey - whether or not she claims her friend lost it , its her responsibility to keep hold of the ticket throughout the journey as it says quite clearly at every metro station and on all the trains.

They do not have to write to you at all as you daughter is old enough to get fined for what she has done. She would have got a ticket with this fine and she obviously has thrown this away thinking she would get away with it.

why do you think the admin fee is unreasonable? If your daughter had come clean and the fine was paid within the allotted time then there would have been no admin fee just the straight fine - so now that more man power has to be used then they are being reasonable in asking for an admin charge.

If i were you i would just pay i as if you get taken to court then you will not get away with some advice for a different sort of fine that you have gleaned from MSE.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but travelling without a ticket on the railway is actually a by- law that is fully enforceable with fines and admin charges.

geordieracer

oops forgot to add that now that DB Schenker have take over the metro there will be more revenue protection people and probably more gates going in at stations so tell your daughter not to do this again.

King_Nothing

Tell your daughter to give a fake name and address next time

trisontana

May I point out that this particular thread deals with motoring fines and penalties, not train fines.

Driver8

geordieracer wrote: »

For someone who works on the railway i cannot give you any advice that you would like to hear but im going to anyway. your daughter has travelled without a valid ticket for her journey - whether or not she claims her friend lost it , its her responsibility to keep hold of the ticket throughout the journey as it says quite clearly at every metro station and on all the trains.

They do not have to write to you at all as you daughter is old enough to get fined for what she has done. She would have got a ticket with this fine and she obviously has thrown this away thinking she would get away with it.

why do you think the admin fee is unreasonable? If your daughter had come clean and the fine was paid within the allotted time then there would have been no admin fee just the straight fine - so now that more man power has to be used then they are being reasonable in asking for an admin charge.

If i were you i would just pay i as if you get taken to court then you will not get away with some advice for a different sort of fine that you have gleaned from MSE.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but travelling without a ticket on the railway is actually a by- law that is fully enforceable with fines and admin charges.

Your passed jobs didn't involve working for a PPC by any chance did it?

You actually come across as quite a bully, wearing a hi viz vest, the looked upon by the unknowledgeable as the new symbol of authority, yeah right. You can put a hi viz vest on a chimp.

If you ever replied to me in this venacular, "so tell your daughter not to do this again" you would be on the dole.

I can only imagine your only aim in life is to be a PPC car park attendant or a PCSO, which is it? The power you see, psychopaths are drawn to it.

You were never a teenager were you?

geordieracer

Driver8 wrote: »

Your passed jobs didn't involve working for a PPC by any chance did it?

You actually come across as quite a bully, wearing a hi viz vest, the looked upon by the unknowledgeable as the new symbol of authority, yeah right. You can put a hi viz vest on a chimp.

If you ever replied to me in this venacular, "so tell your daughter not to do this again" you would be on the dole.

I can only imagine your only aim in life is to be a PPC car park attendant or a PCSO, which is it? The power you see, psychopaths are drawn to it.

You were never a teenager were you?

You are quite a fool aren't you.. I don't wear a hi vis vest and i have no ambition to work for any car parking firm.

Again i said at the beginning of my answer that she wouldn't like the answer and im taking it she didn't and neither did you.

Tough. The truth seems to hurt you a little somewhat

The LAW, not a poxy parking company states that you must not travel without a ticket. Its not ambiguous. It is not able to be deferred because you think an admin charge is unreasonable. It is the LAW and is enforceable in a court of the whole of the UK.

I think Its a parents duty to let their children know right from wrong dont you? By your reasoning if your child went out and stole then you complained about her getting caught you think it would be unreasonable for others to tell your daughter not to do it again?

Get a grip.

Coblcris

Do you have a citation for this UK wide legislation ?

AlexisV

Yep, have a red othis: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/legislation/regs/railwaysbyelaws.pdf

Driver 8 - don't confuse unenforceable private parking tickets and railway byelaw penalties such as this. Geordie Racer is right I'm afraid.

I'd pay.

trisontana

AlexisV wrote: »

Yep, have a red othis: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/legislation/regs/railwaysbyelaws.pdf

Driver 8 - don't confuse unenforceable private parking tickets and railway byelaw penalties such as this. Geordie Racer is right I'm afraid.

I'd pay.

That's why I pointed out that this thread is in the wrong section of this forum.

Spartacus_Mills

AlexisV wrote: »

Yep, have a red othis: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/legislation/regs/railwaysbyelaws.pdf

Driver 8 - don't confuse unenforceable private parking tickets and railway byelaw penalties such as this. Geordie Racer is right I'm afraid.

I'd pay.

Geordie Racer is absolutely right.

The T&W Metro regularly have lists of people with fines on it who have been caught fare dodging.

The Daughter will learn an expensive lesson and be tarred with the same brush as real fare dodgers. It is a pity for her as she did not set out to be dishonest but she must live with the consequences of her friends sloppiness.