anonymous23r8y
New Member
Two weeks ago I had seven hours of train journeys and had a valid ticket for the entire journey and a valid railcard which I had correctly applied through the TrainPal app which I've used for years with no issue. Halfway through my journey for some reason I was unable to get back into the app (I still have no idea how or why that happened) and emailed the app company asking for help and saying that I was unable to access my railcard (which I can only access on that app). I showed my valid tickets multiple times no issue (including with the railcard before the app stopped working), but on one of the trains after it had stopped working I was issued an MG11. I was able to show the email receipt for the railcard showing that I had purchased it, when it was valid, and my name (which I could verify with my passport), but without the railcard itself the MG11 was still issued. The interaction was so upsetting that I spent the evening crying. The woman kept telling me not to worry because it wasn't a fine but I had literally no clue that this could be a criminal offence (it isn't in any other country!). Amongst other things, she read out my entire physical description for the carriage to hear, including commenting on my marital status ('is it miss or mrs? probably miss'), my hair length (which is 'very long' according to her), and my weight (I'm not sure if she thought calling me 'quite skinny' was supposed to be a compliment?). At the end of the interaction (throughout which I had cooperated fully whilst trying and trying and trying to log back into the app which was telling me I didn't have an account under my email address) she read my rights (the whole 'you have the right to remain silent' thing....which I obviously hadn't been because we'd been talking for ten minutes). She made it sound like it was going to be a massive ordeal, telling me I'd need to compile a huge amount of 'evidence' to show that I'm a trustworthy train user, like years of previous railcards and tickets etc. I can do this, and have been spending a lot of time doing it (I'm honestly surprised that I was able to find years of old physical railcards), but she didn't tell me I could just submit a form showing my valid railcard which took me all of three minutes. The whole thing was recorded on a bodycam, which also felt violating even though I can understand why they're used. That's a good ten minutes of footage of me trying not to burst into tears whilst explaining that I really did have a railcard and trying to prove it. After two weeks, I still haven't heard anything (either about the form I submitted or the MG11) and I'm really stressed about potentially getting a criminal record because I couldn't get into an app (which I can now get back into). I have three questions:
1) When might I hear from them and will they contact me if they decide not to go ahead with this?
2) Is it worth complaining about what happened? As well as being utterly humiliating and potentially giving people a lot of information that they could use to find me (more than I mentioned above which gave away things like my workplace), cautioning someone without telling them they are under investigation and also cautioning someone after collecting information is a violation of PACE regulations that surely isn't good for a train company if they are aiming to prosecute someone?
3) Should I proactively send the company all of this 'evidence' that I've compiled, or do I just have to wait for possibly months for them to contact me?
I've heard nightmare stories of letters being sent to incorrect addresses and criminal records from this sort of thing costing £25,000 to expunge so I'm incredibly stressed. I've never been in trouble for anything in my life.
1) When might I hear from them and will they contact me if they decide not to go ahead with this?
2) Is it worth complaining about what happened? As well as being utterly humiliating and potentially giving people a lot of information that they could use to find me (more than I mentioned above which gave away things like my workplace), cautioning someone without telling them they are under investigation and also cautioning someone after collecting information is a violation of PACE regulations that surely isn't good for a train company if they are aiming to prosecute someone?
3) Should I proactively send the company all of this 'evidence' that I've compiled, or do I just have to wait for possibly months for them to contact me?
I've heard nightmare stories of letters being sent to incorrect addresses and criminal records from this sort of thing costing £25,000 to expunge so I'm incredibly stressed. I've never been in trouble for anything in my life.
