Charged twice on EastCoast Trains

Teapotalot

Hi, I'm looking for some advice.

Myself and my boyfriend were booked onto the 15.00 Eastcoast Train from Edinburgh to London Kings Cross. We paid £50 each and reserved two bike spaces.

When reaching the train with the booking confirmation the Train Guard explained we needed to print the tickets associated with the confirmation to get on the train. He was of course right. But having spent two weeks cycling Lands End to John O'Groats my brain must have been a bit frazzled, and with the lack of barriers at Edinburgh station I was fooled by being able to walk straight up to the train without retrieving the tickets. The train guard looked at my reservation, said we really needed the tickets, but on this occasion he'd accept it and told us to secure our bikes and hop on.

30 mins into the journey the same guard was doing his ticket inspection rounds and explained my confirmation was not valid for travel and we needed actual tickets. Obviously that was now impossible as we'd left the station. After a lengthy (and remarkably calm and polite) discussion we were forced to pay a further £125 each for new tickets home. He fully accepted we'd made an innocent mistake and that we had paid for tickets already, but that was tough and my old tickets are void because I didn't collect them.

Frustrating because he knew and accepted that I only had the confirmation at the point of loading the bikes. Had he explained that our piece of paper would not count for much as far as we, as passengers, were concerned, we could have got to a ticket collection machine before leaving the station.

Now the T&Cs do put me in the wrong, but this is clearly incredibly unfair. We had paid £100, then were forced to pay a further £250. I know many people have suffered at the hands of train company conditions that seem to verge on the almost unlawful. Anyone have any advice on where I can go to dispute this? I am in the process of formulating an email to the East Coast customer services obviously, but I already know their response. There must be a watchdog for this sort of thing surely?

Many thanks in advance...

Indie_Kid

I can't see how you have a case here. For all they know, you may have purchased tickets, collected them and given them to someone else. It's your responsibility to ensure you have your tickets.

wealdroam

Teapotalot wrote: »

There must be a watchdog for this sort of thing surely?

There is:

Passenger Focus

I am not sure what you will be asking them to do though.

agrinnall

Your only possible argument is that the guard told you that he would allow you on board with the documentation you had then changed his mind, whereas if he had refused entry in the first place you *might* have had an opportunity to print the tickets before departure that was clearly not possible afterwards. I'm not sure that there is anywhere at Waverley station where you could have printed anything, but for all he knew you might have had a friend living nearby who could have done it.

GingerBob_3

Teapotalot wrote: »

Hi, I'm looking for some advice.

Myself and my boyfriend were booked onto the 15.00 Eastcoast Train from Edinburgh to London Kings Cross. We paid £50 each and reserved two bike spaces.

When reaching the train with the booking confirmation the Train Guard explained we needed to print the tickets associated with the confirmation to get on the train. He was of course right. But having spent two weeks cycling Lands End to John O'Groats my brain must have been a bit frazzled, and with the lack of barriers at Edinburgh station I was fooled by being able to walk straight up to the train without retrieving the tickets. The train guard looked at my reservation, said we really needed the tickets, but on this occasion he'd accept it and told us to secure our bikes and hop on.

30 mins into the journey the same guard was doing his ticket inspection rounds and explained my confirmation was not valid for travel and we needed actual tickets. Obviously that was now impossible as we'd left the station. After a lengthy (and remarkably calm and polite) discussion we were forced to pay a further £125 each for new tickets home. He fully accepted we'd made an innocent mistake and that we had paid for tickets already, but that was tough and my old tickets are void because I didn't collect them.

Frustrating because he knew and accepted that I only had the confirmation at the point of loading the bikes. Had he explained that our piece of paper would not count for much as far as we, as passengers, were concerned, we could have got to a ticket collection machine before leaving the station.

Now the T&Cs do put me in the wrong, but this is clearly incredibly unfair. We had paid £100, then were forced to pay a further £250. I know many people have suffered at the hands of train company conditions that seem to verge on the almost unlawful. Anyone have any advice on where I can go to dispute this? I am in the process of formulating an email to the East Coast customer services obviously, but I already know their response. There must be a watchdog for this sort of thing surely?

Many thanks in advance...

My son has had occasion to complain to East Coast about a misunderstanding which resulted in him having to pay another £125, even though he'd already paid for a ticket. They would not budge and he got no refund. Also, apparently the guard was rude to him stating that "everyone has the right ticket on MY train". I think if this happens again your best bet is to state that you have no means of payment and get off at the next available stop - if feasible to do so. Tell them to send you an invoice (but maybe don't give your name and address ), then when it arrives, query it and complain.

Oh, and bad mouth them as much as you can.

Voyager2002

GingerBob wrote: »

I think if this happens again your best bet is to state that you have no means of payment and get off at the next available stop - if feasible to do so. Tell them to send you an invoice (but maybe don't give your name and address ), then when it arrives, query it and complain.

Oh, and bad mouth them as much as you can.

How would that help? They would still need to get home, and would face the same problem with the next train, and the one after...

Voyager2002

Teapotalot wrote: »

The train guard looked at my reservation, said we really needed the tickets, but on this occasion he'd accept it and told us to secure our bikes and hop on.

30 mins into the journey the same guard was doing his ticket inspection rounds and explained my confirmation was not valid for travel and we needed actual tickets. Obviously that was now impossible as we'd left the station. After a lengthy (and remarkably calm and polite) discussion we were forced to pay a further £125 each for new tickets home. He fully accepted we'd made an innocent mistake and that we had paid for tickets already, but that was tough and my old tickets are void because I didn't collect them.

How did the guard explain his change of mind?

When he allowed you to travel, are you SURE that he said that he would accept your tickets? Or did he perhaps mean that he would allow you to buy a ticket on the train rather than forcing you to pay a penatly fare?

If a train manager allows you to travel without an appropriate ticket then you are entitled to rely on what he tells you. However, I cannot imagine that he would actually have said what you understood him to say: making you pay again was correct according to the rules that he has to follow.

GingerBob_3

Voyager2002 wrote: »

How would that help? They would still need to get home, and would face the same problem with the next train, and the one after...

I qualifed the advice with "if feasible to do so". Ideally though, stay on and get them to invoice you.

Mrs_Ryan

East Coast are a pain in the backside and they like to do everything in their power to overcharge you and charge you multiple times for things. Their mistake left my mate a lone female with a disability stranded at Sheffield station with no way to get back to Newcastle. They then blamed me for not checking the tickets as it is, allegedly, ALWAYS the sole responsibility of the purchaser to personally check the tickets even if they're going to an address 200 miles away and the purchaser won't see them. Idiots. We got the penalty fare back though thanks to passenger focus although they dragged their feet in paying that and they paid right on the deadline they had been given..

yorkie2

Mrs_Ryan wrote: »

East Coast are a pain in the backside and they like to do everything in their power to overcharge you and charge you multiple times for things. Their mistake left my mate a lone female with a disability stranded at Sheffield station with no way to get back to Newcastle. They then blamed me for not checking the tickets as it is, allegedly, ALWAYS the sole responsibility of the purchaser to personally check the tickets even if they're going to an address 200 miles away and the purchaser won't see them. Idiots. We got the penalty fare back though thanks to passenger focus although they dragged their feet in paying that and they paid right on the deadline they had been given..

What are the details of this case? A new thread would be best.

EC don't charge Penalty Fares, nor operate to Sheffield, so I suspect EMT may have had something to do with this...

geerex

We only have the OP'S word for the alleged conversation with the guard, so essentially what this boils done to is yet another "didn't read ticket terms and conditions, waah waah it's SO unfair".