Train fines

[nicebutdim23]

a few weeks ago i went to Newcastle for the weekend on the train with a ticket bought using my young persons railcard. On the saturday night i lost my purse out and with it (OR SO I THOUGHT) my YPRC . didn't know what to do coz had no money or anything so got on the train to go home and just fessed up to the conductor and explained the situation who fined me for travelling without it (stupid bastards never EVER ask me for the YPRC when i have the sodding thing). Then i got home and found the railcard at the bottom of a different bag i had taken so sent off everything to appeal the fine.

I got home today and there is a letter being a bit nasty and adding 15quid admin charges so phoned them and they said that they never received any appeal stuff and i still have to pay the fine before i get taken to court regardless of the fact i don't have the money. they said i have to send all the apeal stuff in again and pay the fine, they also said tough shit basically.

i don't have £82 to spare, does anyone have any advice?

[piecesofme]

I'd send the appeal letter again but not pay the fine

[Hellfire]

send it recorded signed for, let them take you to court, you can prove you've got a YPRC which was issued before the date of travel its the conductors words against yours ;) they'll lose.

[Calvin]

Let them take you to court, they have more to lose.

Hassle your MP and get them to right a letter to the train company on your behalf, that usually does the trick.

[kangoo]

You can try and fight it but the terms and conditions very clearly state that you cannot travel with a railcard ticket without a railcard, whether or not you have it at home. If you buy it online and it takes longer to get to you that it says you still can't travel with your ticket even though they know you have a railcard because its been issued.

The £15 fine sounds a bit shit though

[JsT]

you can prove you've got a YPRC which was issued before the date of travel its the conductors words against yours ;) they'll lose.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

If the railcard could have been produced when asked, the conductor/train manager would have not had an opportunity to even instigate and make a TI (travel/ticket irregularity form) so there is no way you could get away with it by saying 'its my word against yours'

You can try and fight it but the terms and conditions very clearly state that you cannot travel with a railcard ticket without a railcard, whether or not you have it at home. If you buy it online and it takes longer to get to you that it says you still can't travel with your ticket even though they know you have a railcard because its been issued.

The £15 fine sounds a bit shit though

Pretty much. Unless you had reported the railcard as stolen I doubt you would have a chance.

TOC's TI teams are quite difficult to deal with mainly because the number of scroats and idiots they have to deal with who are delibrately avoid the fare.

Were you travelling on an advance or standard ticket? I doubt you'd be able to get it all back but you might be able to come to some kind of agreement.

[Kat_B]

surely you losing yourd card (and finding it later) isn't a good enough to get you off paying the fine? that's like getting on a train and saying you've lost the ticket, getting a fine then writing to them and saying you found the ticket at home? yeah it's true you had one, but you didn't have it with you and that's kinda the point...

[nicebutdim23]

it was an advance ticket. It was either get on the train or stay in an unfamiliar city with no way of paying for anything or cancelling my cards or anything :(

[JsT]

If it wasn't advance you might have a chance but an irregularity on advance wont be forgiven. All you can do is honestly appeal and perhaps ask if they can just charge the difference between a Young Persons Railcard advance and one without (bout 1/3 extra). Other than that I dont think there is much else you can apart from being perfectly honest with them and sending the letter recorded :(

[Whowhere]

it was an advance ticket. It was either get on the train or stay in an unfamiliar city with no way of paying for anything or cancelling my cards or anything :(

You're only option is to appeal, but unfortunately for you they've probably heard your story that many times before they no longer listen to it.

[Disillusioned]

If you couldn't produce a valid railcard and ticket at the point of inspection then in accordance with their terms of carriage the train company is almost certainly in the 'right'.

It's unlucky when they don't even ask to see a railcard some of the time.

If you can prove that at the point of travel you did have a valid railcard (and you can by the sound of it) I would make that point... This also happened to someone else I know and they sent a begging letter - sob story basically, saying how they were a very poor student, etc and it worked. Try that, sending it to the train company and also write to your MP, explaining the circumstances and emphasise that you can't afford to pay - say it'll cause real hardship. Good luck.