Professor slapped with £155 railway fine for getting off his train one stop EARLY

amcluesent

A university professor who got off his train one stop before his final destination was stunned when he was asked to pay £155 to leave the station.

Martyn Evans was told he would have to pay up after leaving the train at Darlington, near his home, rather than wait until Durham where he works at the university’s philosophy department.

Prof Evans said: 'Like most people, it did not enter my mind that I was in default of the terms and conditions by getting off the train early.

FACT- One to be careful of split-ticketing fans!

Quentin

This is a non story.

In fact the prof was let off the £155 he did owe for breaching the rules for his cheap ticket.

Livingthedream

That's the problem with advance tickets, there very cheap but the restrictions can easily catch people out, costing them extra money, IMHO this is a caveat that the train companies at present are exploiting to raise extra income.

Thankfully the train company refund Mr Evans his money, but would they, if it wasn't for the publicity created by the Daily mail?

daveyjp

It's because, believe it or not, it sometimes costs less to go further. Fares are based on popularity of routes, not distance travelled.

boliston

It annoys me that a privately owned company has the ability to "fine" someone at all!

Livingthedream

boliston wrote: »

It annoys me that a privately owned company has the ability to "fine" someone at all!

That's the perk of privatisation, you inherit Railway bylaws.

All the train companies' have to do is threaten to use these in a letter and the majority of people will fold and pay up, very similar to Private Parking Companies you see in this Sub-forum but with more bite than bark.

Quentin

Livingthedream wrote: »

Thankfully the train company refund Mr Evans his money, but would they, if it wasn't for the publicity created by the Daily mail?

No they didn't refund him at all - he never actually paid it!

Livingthedream

Quentin wrote: »

No they didn't refund him at all - he never actually paid it!

Oh! missed that, must have something to do with that 3 crates of beer for £20 at tescos.:o

But still would they have cancelled the fee if it wasn't for the publicity created by the papers.

dzug1

boliston wrote: »

It annoys me that a privately owned company has the ability to "fine" someone at all!

But it's NOT a 'fine'.

It's the standard fare for the journey. He was travelling without a valid ticket and asked to pay the normal fare for the journey he had just completed. No more, no less.

gordikin

Triskaidekaphobia wrote: »

I could understand the fine if he was getting off the train late but fining him for getting off early seems pretty stupid - like fining people for getting off the bus before the destination they've paid for!

I guess you don't understand rail ticketing pricing and how it works?

datostar

Triskaidekaphobia wrote: »

I could understand the fine if he was getting off the train late but fining him for getting off early seems pretty stupid - like fining people for getting off the bus before the destination they've paid for!

You could argue, I suppose, that if a bus stopped specially to let someone off there would be some element of cost to the operator. The train was stopping anyway at a scheduled stop so there's certainly no loss to the train company. It's the modern way of doing business, unfortunately. Screw the customer as much as possible and tie up everything in the small print.