Penalty Fare on DLR

Guest101

winged_2001 wrote: »

I'd really rather this post didn't descend into a tit-for-tat. Please can we keep it on topic re: penalty fare legitimacy and hearing people's experienced opinion on the process and chance of appeal being successful. Thanks.

You're situation isn't unique, I bet it's happened to hundreds of people.


I bet the majority just paid up, and only a few challenged it.


The chances of success I would say are reasonable, however it will depend on the person you get on the day. They may agree, as you say, that the fare was paid and therefore issued in error, or that you didn't follow the necessary steps and the penalty is valid.

wealdroam

OP, you might like to follow the suggestion made in post#4 on this thread.

Bollotom

You have to tap in and out on each journey. The fact you have reached the daily cap is of no consequence as you didn't know that at Lewisham. As far as the DLR bod goes, you were travelling without a valid ticket, even if it was an oversight. Now you have to forget MSE and compose a letter along the lines of rush hour, lots of bustle, the gate opened and you obviously thought your ticket had been accepted and opened it and you went through. A genuine mistake and lots of people do it, I'm ex-London Underground, and know it can happen that perhaps the person behind you put in their ticket and the gate opened and you quite obviously would think it was yours. Don't belabour the point about finding out about the cap later, mention it as an aside and just see what DLR do. I would have said "Make sure it's your ticket opening the gate" and wagged a finger at you but I don't know these days. Corporations are more into penny pinching, but best of luck...and don't do it again. :cool:

winged_2001

wealdroam wrote: »

OP, you might like to follow the suggestion made in post#4 on .

Thanks! What are your thoughts on the appeal?

winged_2001

Bollotom wrote: »

You have to tap in and out on each journey. The fact you have reached the daily cap is of no consequence as you didn't know that at Lewisham. As far as the DLR bod goes, you were travelling without a valid ticket, even if it was an oversight. Now you have to forget MSE and compose a letter along the lines of rush hour, lots of bustle, the gate opened and you obviously thought your ticket had been accepted and opened it and you went through. A genuine mistake and lots of people do it, I'm ex-London Underground, and know it can happen that perhaps the person behind you put in their ticket and the gate opened and you quite obviously would think it was yours. Don't belabour the point about finding out about the cap later, mention it as an aside and just see what DLR do. I would have said "Make sure it's your ticket opening the gate" and wagged a finger at you but I don't know these days. Corporations are more into penny pinching, but best of luck...and don't do it again. :cool:

It's a shame ticket officers don't use discretion, or that once you cap out on PAYG the same rules apply as per a travelcard. Isn't it the same principle?

Bollotom

I'm not sure discretion is as widely used as it once was. Certainly hasn't been for a number of years. I think the problem is that Revenue Inspectors at one time applying discretion had to explain why. You might get your ticket back and waved through but quite rare these days. But just write your appeal letter and keep your fingers crossed.

harz99

winged_2001 wrote: »

Thanks! What are your thoughts on the appeal?

Never mind his/her thoughts. Follow the suggestion, you'll get much, much better advice there!

wealdroam

harz99 wrote: »

Follow the suggestion, you'll get much, much better advice there!

The OP has already done that.

macman

Is there actually a gateline at Lewisham, or is it an open platform system there? If so, the reader may have been faulty and not beeped. If so the OP would be none the wiser. I've done the same and had to claim a refund after being charged the maximum fare.

chuckley

macmac - the DLR is an open/no gateline method of transport. I think maybe stratford is the only one barriers.


OP -
the thing is these inspectors don't work with common sense. they simply have revenue targets. so even though your card was already daily capped and could see that they didn't care.

Furthermore they don't account for machines not registering entry/exits. this happens to me all the time and I have a travelcard, yet the machine beeps me through green...

just send an appeal letter explaining and they should hopefully apply common sense when they see your card use that day, and 'issue a warning' if they still want the last word.