Hi All, I'm pretty new to this so I'll try and summarise this as quickly as possible. I'm not too sure if this is the right place to post this either so please let me know. In December 2023, I was issued a rail irregularity ticket, involving a railcard. I won't tell the whole story as it's rather long however transpennine express wrote back to me after I explained my circumstances to fine me around 11k for the issue. I obviously panicked as I do not have this much money and would never be able to pay this. I emailed their customer service and was told the fine was a mistake and my appeal had been upheld so l did not need to pay anything. I have since had no correspondence from them. however the situation is still often on my mind and stresses me out. I decided last week to go online and double check what it said when putting the ticket irregularity into the website and it said I owed £0.00 for the fine and £17.60 for the overall cost? Now I am not sure what to do. Do I pay it online? Or leave it as I am worried it will bring up old issues and they overturn their Decision to appeal? Or email them and ask? I'm not sure if I'm completely overthinking the issue but it is causing me lots of anxiety Thanks all!
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Appeal situation
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It's too late for them to prosecute you now.
When a Penalty Fare is successfully appealed, the base fare remains due, but the £50 or £100 penalty element is no longer payable.
Without knowing the whole story I cannot advise whether £17.60 or any other amount might be due, though I am fairly certain you do not and have not at any time owed them "11k".
When a Penalty Fare is successfully appealed, the base fare remains due, but the £50 or £100 penalty element is no longer payable.
Without knowing the whole story I cannot advise whether £17.60 or any other amount might be due, though I am fairly certain you do not and have not at any time owed them "11k".
In Short, I travelled without a railcard having bought a ticket with a railcard. I believed when buying it that I had renewed my railcard but I hadn’t. I explained in my letter to them that I understood my mistake, I bought a new valid railcard the same day i travelled (just after I had realised) and they sent a letter back asking for 11k in costs and I think it was about £11 for the cost of the ticket? I may be wrong here though I can’t remember the exact details but £17.60 could be the correct amount . Via email with the transpennine revenue protection they clearly stated no payment is needed and that the 11k was a mistake. I’m just very anxious about the situation still and whether to pay the amount it says online or not.
WesternLancer
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What stations was the trip concerned between where you didn’t have a valid railcard?
Mcr Warrior
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A Liverpool Stns to Manchester Stns Anytime Day Single would have been exactly £17.60 last December. As the OP is apparently from Liverpool, and the train company is TPE, it might possibly have been something like that.
Thank you.
The situation you are in is that you legally owe the fare for the journey you made, which appears to be £17.60. The value of your invalid ticket is lost and doesn’t count towards this.
The law says that it’s too late for the train company to take criminal proceedings against you for not paying your fare. They do have up to six years from the date of travel to take civil proceedings, although our experience on the forum is that train companies virtually never do so.
As such, whilst it’s pretty likely you will never hear about this again, if you want absolute peace of mind you could pay the £17.60.
Two thoughts spring to my mind:
(1) absolute peace of mind by paying the £17.60 (as noted by @island )
(2) in the event of their being a ticket problem in the future, this old issue could come to light and may influence how they treat that new incident.
Personally I think £17.60 is a small price to pay for peace of mind.
(1) absolute peace of mind by paying the £17.60 (as noted by @island )
(2) in the event of their being a ticket problem in the future, this old issue could come to light and may influence how they treat that new incident.
Personally I think £17.60 is a small price to pay for peace of mind.
WesternLancer
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Some good advice and info here I think.
If I was the OP I think I'd pay the £17.60 to 'close the matter' bring peace of mind and expect to hear nothing more about it, which would be good in terms of any nagging anxiety.
If this is done then keep proof of payment (eg screen grabs or receipts / bank statement showing payment) and keep this for some time - certainly more than a year. Along with keeping any messages about the £11k mistake too.
If I was the OP I think I'd pay the £17.60 to 'close the matter' bring peace of mind and expect to hear nothing more about it, which would be good in terms of any nagging anxiety.
If this is done then keep proof of payment (eg screen grabs or receipts / bank statement showing payment) and keep this for some time - certainly more than a year. Along with keeping any messages about the £11k mistake too.
How often do they review outstanding amounts? And am I more likely to not be checked in such reviews if I pay the £17.60? Thank you !
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Yeah I think I’ll pay the £17.60 now. How come it is too late for them to take up criminal proceedings? And is it too late for them to change their mind- I assume to
I mean you owe them £17.60 for the outstanding fare, this is not in dispute here. I'd pay it and move on.
Yeah I will be paying the £17.60 I think . I was just worried that if I payed it then it would flag up in the system as odd and TPE would change their mind. Also when you say ticket problem, do you mean if I were to do it again Or something similar? I definitely won’t be doing so and always triple check my ticket now due to the anxiety this situation has brought
By ticket problem I meant if you got stopped a second time and were found to be in possession of an invalid ticket, expired railcard, short faring or not having a ticket at all. They may then decide to treat you more harshly for this "second offence".
The TPE is extremely unlikely to change their mind as to the decision they have already made. Besides paying the £17.60 demonstrates you doing the right thing.
The TPE is extremely unlikely to change their mind as to the decision they have already made. Besides paying the £17.60 demonstrates you doing the right thing.
Thank you all so much. I definitely will never be doing anything like it again and always check now. Last thing- do you know how often they review such things? I am just so worried they’ll change their mind even though they are unlikely to do so.
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