Penalty fares - appeal or not to appeal?

piggeh

I would write a letter - what's the worst that can happen? I would also point out that its set out in their passenger charter to serve people within x minutes, etc. There's no harm in asking.

Iamthesmartestmanalive

Mistryman wrote: »

Reply to 'Iamthesmartestmanalive' :

I could be wrong, but it sounds like you have very few obligations (work, personal, whatever) in your life, which means you have as much time on your hands to get to stations 10/20/30 minutes ahead of your train.

Time management is one thing; draconian measures that tar everybody with the same brush & which tip the balance of responsibility significantly away from the company that provides a service to the consumer (passenger) is another.

You say that :

"Personally I always arrive at my station at least 10 minutes in advance, and we live at a quiet station were even in peak its relativly quiet"

In reply, I would say that even 10 minutes in my case would have been insufficient.

I would go as far as saying that if you undertook a straw poll amongst regular SWT passengers travelling into London from the 'smaller' stations, you would get very few people saying that they get to their station more than 10 minutes ahead of their train, at the less-busier times of the day.

Perhaps you work for a train company as one of these inspectors? If so, (& even if you don't), perhaps you could explain why the permit-to-travel machines have been removed from many (if not all) stations, & why the ticket machines are programmed to charge higher prices than those offered by the manned-office? This is certainly the case with Datchet station (my local station).

It's hard not to be suspicious of SWT's motives when you take the above into account.

Yawn your boring

You dont like my reply so I must be an employee yawn

No im not time rich but If I have to be somwere as important as you claim I make sure Im there in plenty of time

Frankly whether 10/20/30 mins would be enough for you is irrelevent, you arrived with 7 minutes to go

That isnt enough time imo to be guarenteed a ticket and boarding

Frankly if you were that concerned about your childs wellbeing you'd have been at the station far earlier than you were

You are making excuses and the fact is you made a conscious choice to board without the ticket

You were guilty as charged

Appeal if you want but you dont have a hope in hell, your excuse will be the exact same one every fare dodger comes out with

LCFC_Foxile

Funny that - so boring, that you took the time to put together a reply.

I find your sanctimonious tone rather wearisome too - but that probably won't bother you either.

You know nothing about me, so you are not in a position to comment on my concern about my "child's well-being"; if anything, that part of it is almost irrelevant to the story, because I could have been making a normal, unexpected journey, which did not allow for a ticket to be bought in advance.

You don't work for SWT - fine. However, I wish you well in your life travelling with the conditions that SWT (or whoever your local train company is) set out for you, because I'm sure there will be a point or an occasion where they will catch you out, even though you may 'feel' that you have made the necessary effort to buy a ticket for a train on the day, but have been unable to do so.

As I've said elsewhere on this forum, there is nothing to stop SWT tipping the balance so far towards the passenger, because at the end of the day, we all have to go to work, go shopping, be somewhere, whatever, & aside from using their trains, the alternatives are negligible.

My conscience is clear, on the basis that I know I didn't just bypass the ticket-purchasing options available to me on the day (as many others also who didn't on the day), & that as a last-resort, would have purchased a permit to travel, had that option been available.

Unfortunately, it's been to my cost, so lesson learnt. I will just have to allow SWT into my life that much more in the future!

misscutiepie1984

Even if the permit to travel machine was present you would not have been able to use it...... as it is only turned on in the event that there is no other means of buying a ticket or the ticket office needs to at least be shut.

It may have been busy for reason unknown to you.... there could have been something going on in windsor etc, The penalty fare system has been in place many years now and they were taught to been quite leniant whilst it was still quite new.

The posters are put up at the majority of stations if not ALL of them to alert you to the fact. Also but not buying a ticket you are not covered by insurance ie compensation for train delays accidents etc. Until you have paid for a service you are not even a customer.

LCFC_Foxile

Thanks misscutiepie - I wasn't aware that the permit machines were only on in those circumstances, rather than all the time.

Still, that problem is non-existent, if they have taken those machines away!

FannyHill

If everyone was honest and we lived in a perfect world your appeal would be successful.Thing is we live in an imperfect world and people are constantly trying to cheat so the train companies work on the assumption that you are all guilty.
That may not be right but that's the way it is.

The fact is human beings cannot be trusted. Sad but true.

The train companies care nothing about customer service also sad but true.

So we have to work with what we have.

I think I'd pay it and move on.

misscutiepie1984

that can't be true fanny hill i work for a different train company and i just went on a customer service course...... hope i haven't wasted my time.

FannyHill

Well I hope I get you when I buy a ticket. :beer:


I'll bet you have to ask every customer a hundred questions as you hand over the ticket and change.
At one time they would say thank you now it's twenty questions no wonder the queues everywhere are so long.
"Is there any thing else I can help you with".
" are you interested in joining our "whatever it is" scheme".
" have you got a points card etc".
"would you like to fill out our customer survey".

LCFC_Foxile

We're going off on bit of a tangent here, but I think your points are worth a reply :

1. You said : "Bearing in mind that trains arrive into the station a few minutes before departure, you only left yourself a couple of minutes to buy a ticket and board."

>> For SWTrains on the line I mainly travel on, I would say there are no more than 1 in 10 trains that arrive a few minutes before departure. 30 seconds or less at best, if you're lucky. More often, they are running late.

2. You said : "...you only left yourself a couple of minutes to buy a ticket and board. That's not the stations fault. That's not the train companys fault. That's your fault."

>> It's a simplistic way of looking at things but then at the very least, SWT should reinstate the permit machines at the stations where these have been removed, so that, in the event of unforeseen queues, that it's still possible to identify where a person has boarded a train. And have these permanently switched on. That way, anyone without at least a permit, can be identified as someone who has quite blatantly, not made any effort to pay. Or am I being too naive in thinking that everyone would be honest?

3. You said "All stations are assessed and adequate facilities are provided in accordance with the rules the DfT makes."

>> That's good to hear. However, if these are interpreted as the bare minimum that a train operator thinks they need to have at a station, isn't that what they are only going to do in the majority of their stations?

So - lesson learnt. The consensus appears to be that an appeal won't wash with SWT (something I had mentioned in my original post) & get to the station earlier.

misscutiepie1984

FannyHill wrote: »

Well I hope I get you when I buy a ticket. :beer:


I'll bet you have to ask every customer a hundred questions as you hand over the ticket and change.
At one time they would say thank you now it's twenty questions no wonder the queues everywhere are so long.
"Is there any thing else I can help you with".
" are you interested in joining our "whatever it is" scheme".
" have you got a points card etc".
"would you like to fill out our customer survey".

this is soooo annoying typed out reply and computer lost it.

typical customer

me: hiya
customer: cheap day return
me: where are you travelling too?
customer:london
me: where abouts london paddington, waterloo?
customer: anywhere
me:Do you require the underground with that????
customer:huh
me:tube
customer: huh
me:metro
customer: huh
me: ok, so london day return thats £13.00 please
customer: pays.... then ask if that includes the underground:mad:
me:No, thats just london return no underground but i can change that for you.
Customer: then pays the difference......... end of transaction??? er no cos now they suddenly remember they have a railcard!!!! which is in their terms and conditions to show us and there is a sign to say show it.( i do try to ask but after the first 100 time a day im a little bored!!!)