Happy New Year!
Well not so much for me on my return to work 5th January.
On 5th January I tried to catch the train from my usual station, I've been train commuting for about 8 months now and it's nowhere near as bad as trying to drive into Birmingham on the M6 but I digress. My usual train was 2 carriages instead of 4 and I could not physically get on the train. I decided to drive to the next station in an attempt to catch the more regular trains from there into Brum, I thought about buying my ticket at the bigger station but it was a long queue and a train was due in. In the past I have travelled from the small station I usually use into Brum on an expired season pass and was advised by the barrier staff to purchase a single journey ticket to exit the station then get it refunded upon purchasing my pass. No problem at all that's what I did previously, they were happy to do it so I carried on thinking it wasn't a problem, had a look on the train for someone selling tickets as I expected it would be easier than queing in Brum, but nothing doing.
I arrived in Birmingham and joined the queue to buy tickets, and 10 minutes later explained to the operative exactly what had happened and that I needed to purchase a one way ticket in order to leave and buy my pass...at this point London Midland decided to cheer me up on my return to work. I was asked to leave the queue and speak to another member of staff who informed me that I was subject to a £20 penalty fare for not purchasing my ticket before travelling (essentially because the larger station I drove to had a ticket office). I explained everything again but he was adamant I was liable to pay the fine, but I have 21 days to appeal.
I have 21 days to appeal, but he completed the form incorrectly and the information is inaccurate:
1) He marked the notice as issued on the train, when in fact it was issued in the station ( a technicality?)
2) The amount must be paid by the 25th January 2015 - so before my right to appeal has expired
3) There is a facility to appeal online, but having attempted to do so on the day (because I was rather annoyed) I have been told by the helpdesk that it can take up to a week for these to be logged in their systems, and it would be better to do it by Post (presumably so it can be lost)
I was inconvenienced by this company, and I fully intended to pay for my journey in accordance with instructions issued by their staff previously, I didn't even approach the barrier, I joined the "Buy tickets here" queue. They refused to sell me a ticket in order to issue me a penalty. Is extortion too strong a word for this? They were clearly manned up and prepared for this first day back after Christmas, where usually I would see 1 or 2 staff there were 2 selling tickets 2 on the barrier and 2 issuing penalty notices.
What a shower of b*****ds!
I intend to appeal and I was just wondering if you lovely Legal Beagles might know of some weighty legal mumbo jumbo I can use to add weight to my appeal.
To add to the annoyance, the roads were busy, so the train I ended up catching at the next station was the later one I would have caught if I had just stayed at my original station and waited...
Please feel free to laugh at my expense...
Well not so much for me on my return to work 5th January.
On 5th January I tried to catch the train from my usual station, I've been train commuting for about 8 months now and it's nowhere near as bad as trying to drive into Birmingham on the M6 but I digress. My usual train was 2 carriages instead of 4 and I could not physically get on the train. I decided to drive to the next station in an attempt to catch the more regular trains from there into Brum, I thought about buying my ticket at the bigger station but it was a long queue and a train was due in. In the past I have travelled from the small station I usually use into Brum on an expired season pass and was advised by the barrier staff to purchase a single journey ticket to exit the station then get it refunded upon purchasing my pass. No problem at all that's what I did previously, they were happy to do it so I carried on thinking it wasn't a problem, had a look on the train for someone selling tickets as I expected it would be easier than queing in Brum, but nothing doing.
I arrived in Birmingham and joined the queue to buy tickets, and 10 minutes later explained to the operative exactly what had happened and that I needed to purchase a one way ticket in order to leave and buy my pass...at this point London Midland decided to cheer me up on my return to work. I was asked to leave the queue and speak to another member of staff who informed me that I was subject to a £20 penalty fare for not purchasing my ticket before travelling (essentially because the larger station I drove to had a ticket office). I explained everything again but he was adamant I was liable to pay the fine, but I have 21 days to appeal.
I have 21 days to appeal, but he completed the form incorrectly and the information is inaccurate:
1) He marked the notice as issued on the train, when in fact it was issued in the station ( a technicality?)
2) The amount must be paid by the 25th January 2015 - so before my right to appeal has expired
3) There is a facility to appeal online, but having attempted to do so on the day (because I was rather annoyed) I have been told by the helpdesk that it can take up to a week for these to be logged in their systems, and it would be better to do it by Post (presumably so it can be lost)
I was inconvenienced by this company, and I fully intended to pay for my journey in accordance with instructions issued by their staff previously, I didn't even approach the barrier, I joined the "Buy tickets here" queue. They refused to sell me a ticket in order to issue me a penalty. Is extortion too strong a word for this? They were clearly manned up and prepared for this first day back after Christmas, where usually I would see 1 or 2 staff there were 2 selling tickets 2 on the barrier and 2 issuing penalty notices.
What a shower of b*****ds!
I intend to appeal and I was just wondering if you lovely Legal Beagles might know of some weighty legal mumbo jumbo I can use to add weight to my appeal.
To add to the annoyance, the roads were busy, so the train I ended up catching at the next station was the later one I would have caught if I had just stayed at my original station and waited...
Please feel free to laugh at my expense...
Rail Penalty Fare Notice £20
