Ticket Irregularity Report

[Hadders]

I suggest writing a short, concide reply mentioning the following points:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter

Transpennine Express are normally prepared to offer an out fo court settlement to people who co-operate with their investigation, and who haven't come to their attention before. Expect to have to pay the cost of the fare avoided at the full Anytime rate in addition to an admin fee of around £150.

You'll find similar replies if look through other threads in this section of the forum. If you post a draft reply in this thread forum members will proof read it for you.

 

[zyndosu]

Thank you for your response


Could you kindly look through the attached letter in the last post? The contents are a bit vague as they hadn’t mentioned the circumstances I was given the TIR for.

In writing my part of the story, could I omit mentioning the journey from SmithyBridge to Manchester Victoria? And just start from where there inspector had stopped because I’d gotten a ticket while onboard?

 

[Hadders]

Thank you for your response


Could you kindly look through the attached letter in the last post? The contents are a bit vague as they hadn’t mentioned the circumstances I was given the TIR for.

In writing my part of the story, could I omit mentioning the journey from SmithyBridge to Manchester Victoria? And just start from where there inspector had stopped because I’d gotten a ticket while onboard?

I would say that your journey was from Smithybridge to Ashton Under Lyne as this was journey you actually made.

You haven't got the ticket covering the portion of the journey between Smithybridge and Manchester Victoria and if you try and claim your journey was from Manchester Victoria or Manchester Oxford Road to Ashton Under Lyne there could then be questions about how you got through the barriers at those stations (the answer is you didn't get through the barriers because you didn't start your journey at either of those stations...)

If you co-operate with Transpennie Express then there's a good chance that they will offer you an out of court settlement. If you mess them around then you could end up in the Magistrates Court.

 

[JBuchananGB]

The TIR is from Smithy Bridge to Piccadilly. This is the fare avoided. Surely the OP's line of least resistance is to apologise for short-faring on that journey by only having a ticket from Smithy Bridge to Rochdale. There is still the question of how they then continued to Ashton after receiving the TIR at Piccadilly.

 

[zyndosu]

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The TIR is from Smithy Bridge to Piccadilly. This is the fare avoided. Surely the OP's line of least resistance is to apologise for short-faring on that journey by only having a ticket from Smithy Bridge to Rochdale. There is still the question of how they then continued to Ashton after receiving the TIR at Piccadilly.

They took me back to Manchester Victoria, free of charge after realizing I’d lost my bag. Infact they put me on a northern train to Manchester airport to catch up with my initial train to see if I’ll find my bag inside.

Then the train brought me back to Victoria where I thankfully found the bag. I was late for what i needed to do at Ashton, so I didn’t eventually go. I took the tram out

 

[Pushpit]

There are several ways to handle this, but probably TPE will offer an out of court settlement with the £150 or so admin fee, plus the train ticket fare that is deemed by TPE to be avoided. My reading is that you accept that for at least some of the journey you did not hold a ticket, plus the final sector you had boarded the train before getting the ticket.

So as you indicate in your previous post, there are several options open to you as to whether to say "I had a ticket to Rochdale", and/or "I had a ticket but bought after boarding" and various mitigations in between, but nothing that gets you off a core fact that you travelled without payment. Luckily the deemed avoided fare is relatively small, £8.20 at most.

So one approach is to admit to TPE that you made the trip without a valid ticket, just to keep it simple. Alternatively you could say "I know that I didn't have a valid ticket for the journey, for which I'm very sorry, however I did pay £x (the two fares) in total that morning, including a ticket bought after boarding". I suspect the details of what happened and how are very much in you mind at the moment, along with potential consequences, but TPE will see this every day in all sorts of ways, and won't greatly care about your story once you admit to not paying the correct fare. For TPE it's not complicated.

By all means put up a draft reply of what you think is best, in your own words, and you will get further advice.

 

[zyndosu]

Hello everyone,
Thank you for your responses thus far. Please kindly help proofread my response to TPEs letter.


I deeply regret that I was unable to present a valid ticket when requested by your revenue protection inspector on [DATE].


On the [DATE] I was travelling from SmithyBridge to Ashton Under Lyne. I only purchased ticket from SmithyBridge to Rochdale, but I remained in the train which took me on to Manchester Victoria - without paying the train fare. For this, I am genuinely sorry.

I took the TPE train to Manchester Oxford, I rushed in because I was running out of options for the fastest route to Manchester Oxford, as I result I didn’t purchase my ticket until I had boarded. This, I know is illegal and irresponsible of me. I presented the ticket when the train inspector requested for it, after which he confirmed it was an invalid ticket. He went further to ask of the ticket I used in accessing the station, I couldn’t present it because first, it wasn’t a complete purchase of SmithyBridge to Manchester Victoria and secondly, I had honestly misplaced it.

Again I’ll like to reiterate how sorry I am and I would like to work with you to rectify the issue.


With this in mind, I politely request that you consider resolving this matter out of court. I am willing to pay any fare inconsistencies along with the administrative fee incurred by the Transpennie express.


Thank you for your consideration, I look forward to hearing from you

 

[Pushpit]

I think you manage to summarise that quite well and overall the letter looks good. I would usually say not to bother telling TPE the things they know already, which is the second paragraph, but in this case it's fairly succinct and is easy to read and understand. The one thing that is missing is a commitment to never do this again, so perhaps a few extra words after "with you to rectify the issue"? E.g. "I undertake to always pay the correct fare from now on". So by all means wait for any other reactions, but personally I think it can go as it is.

 

[zyndosu]

Thank you very much, I’ll add that to it

 

[mrdel]

@zyndosu have you heard back? what was the outcome?

 

[Gloster]

@zyndosu have you heard back? what was the outcome?

If you have a problem please start your own thread. No two problems are exactly the same and good advice for one can be bad advice for another.

 

[mrdel]

@Gloster I read through the thread, but there is no outcome or conclusion. Hence my question. It's good to know what the final outcome was, otherwise why would anyone read through the entire thread only to be left hanging on a cliff edge with no ending!

 

[John R]

@Gloster I read through the thread, but there is no outcome or conclusion. Hence my question. It's good to know what the final outcome was, otherwise why would anyone read through the entire thread only to be left hanging on a cliff edge with no ending!

These threads are to provide advice to the OP. Whilst we do appreciate being told the outcome, it’s entirely up to the OP whether or not they let us know, and we respect their decision if they choose not to.