Southern Railway thieves charge me £20 penalty fare and lie.

Hintza

I had a similar experience; Easy Jet to London, train to Kings Cross and then Underground to Waterloo. On arrival at Kings Cross i looked for a ticket machine but ended up on the platform having not gone through any barrier so boarded the Tube. Arrived at Waterloo and fined £10 for not having a ticket.

To keep it short I fought it for months going through all the relevant bodies (I was so annoyed as I felt it was very unfair) long and the short of it was I paid the blasted £10 fare in the end. It would have been a darn site easier just paying it in the first place.

Fight it if you want but they will probaqbly just side with the railway so it might just be easier paying the blasted fine and keep the blood pressure down.

KeithP

LuciferTDark wrote: »

Going back to the OP for a second, I have a few questions that I feel need answering as it seems we haven't heard the entire story.

Would waiting for the next train have been a life threatening inconvenience?
were you late for work?
were you actually on your way anywhere important?
was it just a shopping trip as your post seems to suggest?

Don't think you will get your answers Lucifer.
The original post was over a year ago.

ngali2009

I went last weekend on Sunday, off peak from Victoria station with Southern to East Croydon. I had my Oystercard with a Zone 1 & 2 travel card and £3.70 of pay as you go credit. I know that the fare extension between the edge of Zone 2 to Zone 5 (East Croydon's zone) is £2.40, and expected that it would be deducted from the pay as you go balance that was on my Oysercard. Logical I thought.

I was told at the barrier that I needed to pay a £20 penalty becuase I did not purchase the correct ticket. I was told that if I had a valid Zone 1 to 5 travelcard loaded onto my Oysercard that the gates would have let me out. If the gate can recognise a travel card then I really fail to see why it can not recognise Pay as you go credit and make the appropriate deduction?

I argue the point with the inspector at the gate as it was my expectation that the fare necessary would be taken when I touched out on the East Croydon gate. He would not listen to me, saying that at every gate there is a sign that says you can't use Oyster pay as you go on the railways, even if you are travelling within Zones 1 to 6. I have never seen such a sign I protested, truthfully, and he still charged me £20!!

When I returned to Victoria later in the day I did see a sign at the point where you enter the gate and swipe your oyster card, it said only that you must have the right fare, nothing about not using your oyster card!!!

Any advice?

Thanks,

Damien

chuckley

yes u can use oyster as an extension but only at PAYG stations.... east croydon, or any station in croydon in fact is not a PAUG zone. ticket or oyster with zone five on.

its on tfl webby that east croydon doesnt count... they have a PDF map of overground services it can be used on.

sucks i no.

gner_ex

ngali2009 wrote: »

I was told at the barrier that I needed to pay a £20 penalty becuase I did not purchase the correct ticket. I was told that if I had a valid Zone 1 to 5 travelcard loaded onto my Oysercard that the gates would have let me out. If the gate can recognise a travel card then I really fail to see why it can not recognise Pay as you go credit and make the appropriate deduction?

Here is the link (map linked from here) http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/london/oystercard.html


Oyster is a product used by TfL - it is basically crap. You can only use it on certain national rail lines - not East Croydon as of yet.


What you tried to do was basically go into Asda and demand that they accept your Tesco clubcard.


Finally, a single ticket from BOUNDARY ZONE 2 to EAST CROYDON is £2.40, but if you were coming back you could have purchased a day return ticket for £3.30 (purchase from the booking office from any convenient station PRIOR to making your journey).

noddingdonkey142

smawle wrote: »

I am in the process trying to get back a penalty fare taken unfairly by South West Trains. I had no luck with the Appeal Panel as they seem to just ignore any correspondence and London travelwatch are the same, 2 months of getting no response to emails.

I did try and take this to the county court, but the judge would not proceed with it as he didn't think he had the jurisdiction to process the case. So, now I am also out of pocket for that.

It seems that if I didn't pay this fare I would get taken to court in an instant, but I am unable to take South West Trains to court.

Does anyone have any experience about taking train companies to court?

NEVER ever pay the full amount of a penalty fare on the spot, you do not need or have to and it makes it much harder to claim it back on appeal. All you need to do is give your details and at most a part payment equivalent to the cost of the journey.

IPFAS , the appeals service for all penalty fares is about as independant and impartial as my toe is from my foot. It is a sub devision of South Eastern which is South Eastern all but in name. Same Staff,Same Office.

wealdroam

noddingdonkey142 wrote: »

NEVER ever pay the full amount of a penalty fare on the spot, you do not need or have to and it makes it much harder to claim it back on appeal. All you need to do is give your details and at most a part payment equivalent to the cost of the journey.

IPFAS , the appeals service for all penalty fares is about as independant and impartial as my toe is from my foot. It is a sub devision of South Eastern which is South Eastern all but in name. Same Staff,Same Office.

Good to see your reply, Noddingdonkey.

Shame that it is over three years since Smawle asked the question, and he hasn't been on MSE forums since.

property.advert

I travel with South West Trains every day and it is widespread not to charge as they actually tout over the intercom for people to buy a ticket. It is so common that at Waterloo, they have people on the platform to issue tickets to people who have none simply to get through the barrier !

Wig

It would appear that a passengers charter, clear and simple needs to be introduced by the government so everyone knows their rights, and the rights of the passenger are improved.

And matt189 was wrong, if they lose or don't turn up in small claims court it would not stop them from ever issuing penalties again :rotfl:

geordieracer

Wig wrote: »

It would appear that a passengers charter, clear and simple needs to be introduced by the government so everyone knows their rights, and the rights of the passenger are improved.

And matt189 was wrong, if they lose or don't turn up in small claims court it would not stop them from ever issuing penalties again :rotfl:

There is a passenger charter. There is even a national conditions of carriage which is available on line or from your local manned station.

There are also sings at every station that participates in the PF scheme to let you know of this and that you should buy a ticket before you travel.