South west trains and IRCAS

swale0

Good evening all.

In February I boarded a train at norbiton using (so I thought) my contactless credit card. I tapped it on and the bloke let me through. The barriers are always down.

When i got to the other end the card didn't work. I'm told at that end it shouldn't have worked and evidently didn't.

The card troubles aside, I sent the ticket back to them with my card details on and thought nothing's more of it.

A couple of weeks later I got a letter from IRCAS as I apparently hadn't paid my fine and was now due to pay 50. I sent an email to south west trains explaining my quandary and was told to expect a response within 10 working days.

Another couple of weeks later I receive another letter saying
90 was now due. I appealed, explaining I sent the details back in February. I today received a refusal of my appeal.

Am I barking up the wrong tree? I called SW Trains imploring them to check if they had my details but refuse to say anything as they don't deal with anything to do with it.

Do I have a leg to stand on? I'm not disputing that I was in the wrong, I'm long past that, but 90 over 20?! A little help?

Pyxis

There's a member called ticketcollector who may be able to help you, if you PM him/her.

(See the thread 'Travel across London during a tube strike', #12)

dzug1

Whilst I can find plenty of press releases about contactless cards on SWT I've seen nothing to suggest it's actually live - even now, let alone in February. Certainly no list of stations or implementation dates at them

princeofpounds

It's not live. The SWT station nearest me has had a card reader sitting under a hood unused for 2 years now. Some stupid dispute between the TOCs and TFL over who gets to control the revenue collection I think.

At norbiton they might have oyster readers. So depends where 'the other end' is I guess

aleph_0

princeofpounds wrote: »

It's not live. The SWT station nearest me has had a card reader sitting under a hood unused for 2 years now. Some stupid dispute between the TOCs and TFL over who gets to control the revenue collection I think.

At norbiton they might have oyster readers. So depends where 'the other end' is I guess

I think we're confusing two things. Sometime in the future contactless cards will essentially be able to act as oyster cards. Norbiton is in Zone 5. Currently though, contactless cards can only act as oyster cards for bus journeys, and for tube/rail *if* you are taking part in the trial.

So, I think the OP tried to tap in with his contactless card, but it didn't work. Regardless of whether he's taking part in the trial, the fact the tap-in didn't work correctly means the OP didn't have a valid ticket. Thus, he was given a (legitimate) Penalty Fare for his mistake.

swale0, you should be aware that if you don't pay the Penalty Fare, the train company might decide to go down the prosecution route. So this could get worse.

I have sympathy, since the situation appears to be a result of bad luck/innocent mistakes (paying by post probably wasn't the best decision with hindsight, since you've no proof of postage; contacting SWT CS rather than IRCAS). Others might have more useful advice, but if I was in your shoes, I would pay the £90. After paying, you might want to take the whole thing up with SWT, but I wouldn't expect any of the money to come back.

The covered readers princeofpounds is talking about is for the ITSO smartcard scheme, where you can buy/load multiple tickets onto a smartcard. The DfT, in their wisdom, said SWT had to install the readers, and run a trial, but then things stagnated.

yorkie2

swale0 wrote: »

Good evening all.

In February I boarded a train at norbiton using (so I thought) my contactless credit card.

Are you participating in the contactless card trial?

swale0 wrote: »

I tapped it on and the bloke let me through. The barriers are always down.

If your card is accepted, the barrier should open. You shouldn't have to be let through.

swale0 wrote: »

A couple of weeks later I got a letter from IRCAS as I apparently hadn't paid my fine and was now due to pay 50. I sent an email to south west trains explaining my quandary and was told to expect a response within 10 working days.

Were you issued with a Penalty Fare?

swale0

No, I'm not disputing I didn't have a valid ticket (I should've done my research into the contactless beforehand), my main gripe was just with the persistent increases despite my repeated correspondence.

In any case, I've decided to pay this one. Thanks for the assistance anyway.

swale0

Well I was going to, however I've now noticed it says I was travelling to Waddon, not Waterloo.

Given I have never even heard of Waddon, any possibility of getting out of this on a technicality I wonder?

Pyxis

Sounds possible. Have a word with 'ticketcollector' (see #2 above).

swale0

Just tried sending a PM, but nothing appearing in my sent items...

Will try on another browser shortly. Something doesn't want me to win this one!

Shelldean

Just for interest Waddon is one stop away from West Croydon