Robbed by Train Company HELP!!!

ol1v33r

Long Story Short.

Topped up Oyster.
Forgot to touch in
Fined
Appeal Rejected:mad:
Charges Increased
Charges Reduced in Writing

Then went to pay £20, amount confirmed by operator on phone. Checked bank statement charged £40.

Told Bank. Said to contact company. Not their problem although they did refund charges arising from becoming overdrawn on account of the charge. (RBS)

Wrote to RPSS (Revenue Protection Support Services) Basically the train operators secret trading name for fine collection.

Ignored.

Phoned up.
"Sorry its a payment line. Perhaps you spoke to a supervisor."
"Can i speak with a supervisor"
"no these lines aren't supervised"
"the only thing I can do is check for your letter. but i can't guarantee a that it will be responded to"

DIAL TONE:mad:

I am awaiting a response to my new letter.

Since being fined and for the first time actually not being able to get out of it. I have realised how corrupt the system actually is, especially considering the extortionate prices and operations that they run and we are supposedly protected by independant bodies who are clearly working in union with the operators themselves.

In my defence I am normally more savvy and get out of them. My mistake in this scenario was A. Admitting that the error was on my part for not having topped up. (Always blame the machine in some way) B. Deciding to settle I should not have chickened out and thought about possible consequences of high court costs etc and should have sweated it out and made them come and get the money out of my dead clenched fists.

I will say that it was a genuine mistake I literally topped up seconds before boarding and totally forgot to swipe in (busy talking to friend and used to underground barriers)


Any Legal hot shots here. What should I do I want to make them pay? Can i increase the amount they owe me every 14days for failure not to pay which is what they do?:mad: I am already claiming postage costs for the letters i have had to send to get the money back. What other admin costs can i add on?

Ok this is what it has come to I am resorting to red ink like a teacher telling off naughty children for not doing there homework.

Firstly don't you ever take people on face value. I dislike considerably being accused of being a fare dodger when you have taken my words out of context to fit your predetermined idea of who I am and how i behave in society.

As I clearly stated I forgot to swipe in having topped up my oyster card to pay the fare. This was a genuine mistake but obviously none of you are human and are all godly and never make mistakes and never possibly could believe that it is possible for others to do the same. Which is why you feel that it is ok to penalise those less worthy than you for doing so.

Let me proceed to clarify what I mean by "get out of it" this was an error of wording on my part which again obviously you will not understand. This was supposed to highlight that on other occassions where I have been in situations where I have not had the correct fare or been without one. I have been able to avoid paying inequitable fines by not giving into the bullying tactics and extortionate tactics to levy further money from usually innocent parties and have settled the matter by paying the correct fare or producing a valid ticket or reason for not having one.

Which brings me nicely to my next point. In circumstances it is often the case that people are unable to purchase a ticket for instance there is no ticket office open and the machine is out of order, not taking the note you have, not giving change and endless other reasons which occur arrising out of the poor service provided by tfl and its operators. In these circumstances many people caught in the lurch will bite the bullet and accept this unfair circumstance and pay the penalty fare or fine as they feel it is not worth the hassle. Which compounds the problem further by letting tfl believe that it is an acceptable way of behaving in society.

The only circumstance where I have been stopped without a valid ticket where I have not been completely within the letter of the "law" set by tfl is when arriving to the station at a busy time trying to make the only train which will get me to work and to find that there is a long queue at all machines and the ticket office making it impossible to buy a ticket before boarding the train without missing it. With full intention of purchasing the correct fare at my destination.

Some people in this society live in the real world unlike tfl and rail operators where we have to be on time for certain things and can not just take days off (strike) when we like cause we feel we aren't getting a fair deal. This is worsened by the fact that prices are ever increasing and the service continually deteriorates and this is blamed on there being too many customers. In any other industry in the world this would be a good thing and the increase in revenue would translate into improvements in service. (except maybe the banks)

I would like to close that generally this is in no way down to the majority of the staff who are hard working polite and always helpful. This is how I am able to "get away with it" because I explain the situation I am in honestly and they are able to see the validity of my case and just charge the correct fare or resolve the matter fairly.

So much for money savers sticking together to bring fairness in consumer rights. You would rather be at the mercy of the greedy train companies. (god i sound like a union member or something)

See me after class...


VICTORY!!!

Hi I don't want to come accross all smug and conceited or anything.

BUT.

I won . woohoo for me. So I finally got a response from the train company after speaking with the visa fraud department.

I received a cheque for the outstanding amount owed to me of £20. :j

No appology though. suprise suprise.

I am thinking of having it framed and put on my wall instead of cashing it.

I didn't get a refund for my postal charges but I am going to have to let go of that one for now i guess.

So to all you hating / doubting thomas's

:T Nah Nah.

Freddie_Snowbits

Next time pay the Fare

tiny_tear

ol1v33r wrote: »

In my defence I am normally more savvy and get out of them. My mistake in this scenario was A. Admitting that the error was on my part for not having topped up. (Always blame the machine in some way)

So basically, this isn't the first time you do it.
You 'forget' and then get caught, 'oops sorry, i forgot' and if you don't get caught you are laughing...

Well, tough...

It seems you are not normally more savvy, it seems you are normally a fare-dodger...

This is why fares are so high for us who pay legitimately...

peachyprice

So you don't like being 'robbed', netiher does TFL.

Think yourself lucky. The fine should be far higher than that, I bet they barely make their costs back. Hopefully they'll double it next time they catch you.

If I had my way serial fare dodgers, as you admit to being, would be banned from using public transport.

Freddie_Snowbits

ol1v33r wrote: »

I have realised how corrupt the system actually is

If OP did not try and defraud the system in the first place, OP would not have got into trouble!

cyberbob

ol1v33r wrote: »

You should always pay your own way.

I see you don't Practice what you preach.

ol1v33r wrote: »

In my defence I am normally more savvy and get out of them. My mistake in this scenario was A. Admitting that the error was on my part for not having topped up. (Always blame the machine in some way) B. Deciding to settle

Equaliser123

OP - sounds to me that if there was any "robbing", it was you trying to cheat the rail company.

Dr.Rock

If that's the long story cut short I'd hate to read the full version.

geordieracer

ol1v33r wrote: »

Long Story Short.

Topped up Oyster.
Forgot to touch in
Fined
Appeal Rejected:mad:
Charges Increased
Charges Reduced in Writing

Then went to pay £20, amount confirmed by operator on phone. Checked bank statement charged £40.

Told Bank. Said to contact company. Not their problem although they did refund charges arising from becoming overdrawn on account of the charge. (RBS)

Wrote to RPSS (Revenue Protection Support Services) Basically the train operators secret trading name for fine collection.

Ignored.

Phoned up.
"Sorry its a payment line. Perhaps you spoke to a supervisor."
"Can i speak with a supervisor"
"no these lines aren't supervised"
"the only thing I can do is check for your letter. but i can't guarantee a that it will be responded to"

DIAL TONE:mad:

I am awaiting a response to my new letter.

Since being fined and for the first time actually not being able to get out of it. I have realised how corrupt the system actually is, especially considering the extortionate prices and operations that they run and we are supposedly protected by independant bodies who are clearly working in union with the operators themselves.

In my defence I am normally more savvy and get out of them. My mistake in this scenario was A. Admitting that the error was on my part for not having topped up. (Always blame the machine in some way) B. Deciding to settle I should not have chickened out and thought about possible consequences of high court costs etc and should have sweated it out and made them come and get the money out of my dead clenched fists.

you have told 2 different things here. first in your opening gambit you have said you forgot to 'Touch in'

you then go on to say that you had 'forgot to pay'

which one is it?

either way, as a person who works in the railway i will tell you that you have no recourse. You evaded paying the fare. This is a breach of rail bylaws though LUL has its own set. They are roughly the same and in your case on LUL it states that 'If you do not have a valid ticket or a validated oyster card you are liable to a £50 fine- reduced if paid within 21 days.

its people like you who make me mad thinking they can get out of paying because they 'simply forgot'

you should always remember as it is YOUR responsibility to ensure that you have the correct amount of money on your oyster and that you touch in and out correctly. They say it enough times all over the bloody place how can you not just make sure the light goes green before you proceed?


These are not bullying tactics - these are companies trying to ensure that people abide by the rules and PAY THE CORRECT FARE AT THE START OF THEIR JOURNEY.

fingers crossed they will take you to court and extract even more money from you. Maybe then and only then will you actually pay attention to what you are doing in future

RadoJo

ol1v33r wrote: »

In my defence I am normally more savvy and get out of them. My mistake in this scenario was A. Admitting that the error was on my part for not having topped up. (Always blame the machine in some way)
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To be fair, I think the fact that you include helpful 'hints' on how you 'get away with it' contributed to the general impression that you were in the wrong. Your rant in red seems a little OTT considering that you admit your wording was an 'error' - it's hard for people to take you at face value when you want them to and to read between the lines when your choice of words leads readers to a particular conclusion.

I can't really see what you are hoping for - you admit that you made a mistake, and some mistakes are more costly than others. You have had an opportunity to state your case and your reasons for evading the original fare are considered insufficient to warrant them writing off the penalty fare. Presumably everyone who fails to pay the fare can claim that it was a genuine mistake, but that doesn't mean that this can be accepted in every case, and you weren't lucky enough to find someone who believed you.

However, if they agreed to reduce the fine, that should stand. Have you got a breakdown of the sums involved as it's not clear what the original fine was and why they have changed the figure, so maybe a little more clarification on that would be helpful. That being said, even if you do only owe the smaller amount, I don't think that you have grounds for charging them for failure to pay or admin costs associated with your continued correspondence.

geordieracer

RadoJo wrote: »

To be fair, I think the fact that you include helpful 'hints' on how you 'get away with it' contributed to the general impression that you were in the wrong. Your rant in red seems a little OTT considering that you admit your wording was an 'error' - it's hard for people to take you at face value when you want them to and to read between the lines when your choice of words leads readers to a particular conclusion.

I can't really see what you are hoping for - you admit that you made a mistake, and some mistakes are more costly than others. You have had an opportunity to state your case and your reasons for evading the original fare are considered insufficient to warrant them writing off the penalty fare. Presumably everyone who fails to pay the fare can claim that it was a genuine mistake, but that doesn't mean that this can be accepted in every case, and you weren't lucky enough to find someone who believed you.

However, if they agreed to reduce the fine, that should stand. Have you got a breakdown of the sums involved as it's not clear what the original fine was and why they have changed the figure, so maybe a little more clarification on that would be helpful. That being said, even if you do only owe the smaller amount, I don't think that you have grounds for charging them for failure to pay or admin costs associated with your continued correspondence.

The original fine would have been for £50 reduced if paid within 21 days. Though you are allowed to appeal this within this time scale.