Oyster not validated due to staff startling me

[ez84]

Hi.

What do readers think is the chance of my successfully appealing a ticket for having an unvalidated Oyster card on the Overground, where I tapped the entry reader but seemingly failed to notice it didn't validate because the staff were shouting "Stop!" and "Don't cross the line!"? I looked up to see if they were shouting at me (they were not) and in that moment I must have missed the red light and the bad beep.

Thanks for your time.

 

[CheesyChips]

Hi.

What do readers think is the chance of my successfully appealing a ticket for having an unvalidated Oyster card on the Overground, where I tapped the entry reader but seemingly failed to notice it didn't validate because the staff were shouting "Stop!" and "Don't cross the line!"? I looked up to see if they were shouting at me (they were not) and in that moment I must have missed the red light and the bad beep.

Thanks for your time.

I'm the first person to berate the railways and the unfairness of the laws passengers fall foul of but this made me smile.

I think you're in the same position as a toddler that claims they didn't eat the chocolate bar despite the coat of chocolate around their mouth.

Did you approach a member of staff to explain your uncertainty as to whether your Oyster card was validated or not? Afterall, there were staff present as you mention.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Somewhere between "none" and "zero"?

 

[yorkie]

...What do readers think is the chance of my successfully appealing...

A chance so slim it's not worth trying, if you want my honest answer.

 

[ez84]

I see. Thank you!

 

[34D]

Hi.

What do readers think is the chance of my successfully appealing a ticket for having an unvalidated Oyster card on the Overground, where I tapped the entry reader but seemingly failed to notice it didn't validate because the staff were shouting "Stop!" and "Don't cross the line!"? I looked up to see if they were shouting at me (they were not) and in that moment I must have missed the red light and the bad beep.

Thanks for your time.

A penalty fare? For what amount? How much if any has been paid thus far?

 

[ez84]

I see. Thank you.

£40 if I pay up nice and easy...

 

[najaB]

I see. Thank you.

£40 if I pay up nice and easy...

Regardless of your intention to appeal you need to pay the fare.

 

[yorkie]

Just pay it.

I know this is going to sound crazy, but it's fortunate that LO have a proper bona-fide Penalty Fare scheme for mistakes such as these. If they didn't you could be looking at twice the amount, £80, on an entirely unregulated scheme (see Northern's £80 settlements if you want to know more).

In your case it's simply a case of pay £40 for the mistake and you won't have to spend any more time worrying about it. I'd simply pay up. (You can pay and appeal, but it's not worth your time appealing!)

A lot of people don't realise that £40 is the charge - on certain Train Companies - for a mistake under certain circumstances, and you are not accused of any wrongdoing other than making a mistake.

 

[gazthomas]

Be above the issue, pay the fair then appeal

 

[ez84]

Regardless of your intention to appeal you need to pay the fare.

I appealed. The IRCAS website says collection is suspended while your appeal is in.

 

[ainsworth74]

Whatever you do I would strongly suggest paying first and then appealing.

You could try asking for the CCTV and that would hopefully show you attempting to touch in but being distracted in which case you might be able to get them to cancel it on the basis of sympathy. But I wouldn't hold out much hope.

Technically speaking it's one of the passengers responsibilities to ensure they have a valid or validated ticket for travel so even though you only accidentally missed that you had a problem with your Oyster it's still sufficient for this to be very hard to appeal against.

I assume you had sufficient credit on your Oyster to make the journey you wanted to? That would go some way to showing that you weren't trying to avoid paying or anything. Do you do this journey regularly? If so you could also mention that you do this journey all the time and always pay for it again that might help persuade them to drop the Penalty Fare.

But I fear even if you could marshal all the above evidence they would still have been correct to issue the PF and therefore perfectly entitled not to cancel it.

I guess the question you have to answer for yourself is 'how much time and effort am I willing to spend to try and get £40 back?'.


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The discussion about why the PF was £40 not £20 has been split off into a new thread here.

A reminder that these threads she solely be focused on assisting the OP. If you wish to discuss an issue separate from that please do so on a new thread.