I picked up the incorrect railcard - help requested.

[anonpower333]

(Split from the Student Room discussion in NR General - Mike395)

Hi, new here and thought this would be a good place to ask.

A couple months ago I purchased return tickets for a journey that I was planning to make a week later. I had 2 railcards at the time and one was coming to it's expiry date. I had picked up the wrong railcard for my journey but hadn't realized until an inspector came to check my tickets. I was asked to pay for a new ticket at twice the cost to the destination I was headed which came to around £75. I paid it there and then. I was also issued a penalty fare of £20, which to this day I have not paid.

On the back of the penalty fare ticket it states "you are required to pay [a penalty of] £20 OR twice the appropriate full single fare, whichever is the greater". With this as my basis I wasted my time sending an appeal off to the rail company which they quickly denied.

Can anyone give me any advice here?

 

[FGWman]

Well i am guessing that the penalty fare was for the first part of the journey and the 75 ticket was the fare from the next station to your destination.

Really we need more details of the journey and what the 75 pound ticket was for but at the moment I cant see any reason why you should not pay the penalty fare.

 

[island]

Welcome to the forum. For future reference it's best to post a new question as a new thread rather than tacking it onto an existing one, especially if it isn't really relevant to the previous discussion.

As FGWman mentioned, if you can post more specific details of your journey (ticket you held, where you were challenged by a revenue protection inspector, where you were travelling to) we can check the numbers to see what exactly makes sense. If you are able to upload a scan of the penalty fare notice and new ticket you received (blacking out any personal identifying information) that would help too.

 

[anonpower333]

Well i am guessing that the penalty fare was for the first part of the journey and the 75 ticket was the fare from the next station to your destination.

I can see that this is what has happened, then. I'll have to go and pay it off when i'm next at a station.

Still, that day costed me £150 in total. Shocked at the lack of leniency and clarity that these ticket guys have. They had me by the balls too because I was cutting it very fine for a meeting, no thanks to a fatality on the rail which delayed my train.

 

[island]

I don't think you can pay penalty fares at a station except by prior arrangement. If you are paying, then it needs to be done by post or over the phone.

We may possibly be able to assist you with appealing or getting a reduction if you're able to answer the questions I posted above.

 

[Lrd]

I don't think you can pay penalty fares at a station except by prior arrangement. If you are paying, then it needs to be done by post or over the phone.

You can also pay online as well.