disappointed
Member
On the first of June, my 18 year old daughter travelled from Torre to Paignton on a great western railway train and didn’t purchase a ticket on the platform because they were late and the train was at the station. No guards were on the platform and none went past on the train. At Paignton there are no barriers, but rather than walk away, she attempted to buy a ticket (£3.80). The staff refused her. She is not a fare dodger, she has many receipts of previous journeys.
She was detained and interrogated by the transport police and told she would receive a request for the money and a small administrative fee within three weeks. Two months later, the £90 admin fee plus the original ticket request came in the post, along with other threats of legal action.
After some deliberation we pragmatically decided to pay this admin fee. She does not want to set out on her career with any type of record.
Personally, I travel on trains quite infrequently, but about a third of the time it is a disaster and I am entitled to compensation. I never claim this because I think it is hard to run a railway. I have left many hundreds of pounds in your coffers because I wanted to support what should be an environmentally friendly efficient mode of transport. We should be encouraging people to use it.
No more. I will claim every penny going forward.
My complaint here is that Great Western has missed the point of what they should be doing. They are a public service, heavily subsidised by hundreds of years of taxpayers money. My daughter’s fine is obviously not the right approach and obviously not the right use of the legal system. It is vindictive. Indeed recent events (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyx0p18kq74o) have shown the rail companies do not understand the legal system. Had we taken this to a real magistrate’s I feel 100% sure we would have won.
Incidentally, a friend in a very similar situation on South Western railway, was treated in the manner you would expect, they bought a ticket on the train and that was the end of the matter. Good for them.
She was detained and interrogated by the transport police and told she would receive a request for the money and a small administrative fee within three weeks. Two months later, the £90 admin fee plus the original ticket request came in the post, along with other threats of legal action.
After some deliberation we pragmatically decided to pay this admin fee. She does not want to set out on her career with any type of record.
Personally, I travel on trains quite infrequently, but about a third of the time it is a disaster and I am entitled to compensation. I never claim this because I think it is hard to run a railway. I have left many hundreds of pounds in your coffers because I wanted to support what should be an environmentally friendly efficient mode of transport. We should be encouraging people to use it.
No more. I will claim every penny going forward.
My complaint here is that Great Western has missed the point of what they should be doing. They are a public service, heavily subsidised by hundreds of years of taxpayers money. My daughter’s fine is obviously not the right approach and obviously not the right use of the legal system. It is vindictive. Indeed recent events (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyx0p18kq74o) have shown the rail companies do not understand the legal system. Had we taken this to a real magistrate’s I feel 100% sure we would have won.
Incidentally, a friend in a very similar situation on South Western railway, was treated in the manner you would expect, they bought a ticket on the train and that was the end of the matter. Good for them.
