Travel incident report

[woody505]

Hi, asking for advice please.

I arrived at a station today to find the one ticket collection faulty. As I could not collect my tickets, I took a photo of the machine which said please speak to the conductor before boarding.

The conductor wasn't at the door which I got on at but talked to as soon as possible. I explained the machine was broken and showed them a photo of the machine broken and my ticket reference collection number with my itinerary. I was told I would have to claim a refund on that ticket which was only £2 in a recent northern rail sale and pay full price for a replacement. This would have been £41.30.

I was not prepared to hand over this amount of money, as I was only doing the trip because of the sale. As I was not prepared to give him £41.30 I was issued with a Travel incident report and told to expect a letter from Northern rail in due course.

As I had a tight connection for my next train, I asked another member of the train crew, if I collect my ticket there but miss my connection because of this, will I be allowed to travel on the next train? They said they couldn't advise me on that. I ran to collect my tickets and did make my connection.

On the next train I told the conductor about my experience, and he told me I shouldn't have been issued with a travel incident report he even contacted colleagues for me, and they agreed with him.

Why did that member of staff think I should hand over £41.30 because of faulty machines at a station, or have they followed the rules and everybody else is wrong?

 

[skyhigh]

What was the starting station?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Hi asking for advice please. Arrived at a station today to find the one ticket collection faulty. As I could not collect my tickets I took a photo of the machine which said please speak to the conductor before boarding. The conductor wasnt at the door which I got on at but talked to as soon as possible. I explained the the machine was broken and showed them a photo of the machine broken and my ticket reference collection number with my itinerary. I was told I would have to claim a refund on that ticket which was only £2 in a recent northern rail sale and pay full price for a replacement. This would of been £41.30. I was not prepared to hand over this amount of money as I was only doing the trip because of the sale. As I was not prepared to give him £41.30 I was issued with a Travel incident report and told to expect a letter from Northern rail in due course. As I had a tight connect for my next train I asked another member of the train crew if I collect my ticket their but miss my connection because of this will I be allowed to travel on the next train? They said they couldn't advice me on that. I ran to collect my tickets and did make my connection. On the next train I told the conductor about my experience and he told me I shouldn't of been issued with a travel incident report he even contacted colleagues for me and they agreed with him.Why did that member of staff think I should hand over £41.30 because of faulty machines at a station or have they followed the rules and everybody is wrong?

Hindsight's a wonderful thing, but it might have been worth collecting your ticket some days before travelling - just in case.

But we are where we are. It sounds to me as if the first conductor was being a bit over fussy, and maybe wrong. As other staff think that you weren't in the wrong, there's a fair chance that whoever deals with the TIR will think the same. So for the moment, hang on to your picture of the broken machine, the ticket as issued, and anything you have electronically. Wait to see if Northern get back to you. If they don't, then all well and good: if they do, come back to us and we'll help you to respond.

 

[woody505]

Thank you I'll keep hold of everything.

 

[MotCO]

As far as I can see, you did everything correctly. Why did the guard think differently?

 

[woody505]

He said it's Northern policy that anybody without a ticket has to get a travel incident report.

 

[John R]

All you can do now is wait to see if you were contacted, and if you are then post a copy here and experts here will give you sound advice.

Actually, there is one thing you can do now, which is write down in detail your recollection of events, so that when you come to explain what happened, you will have a consistent and accurate version to refer to.

Well done for taking a photo though - that could be extremely helpful. I recently had a penalty fare overturned because I had audio evidence of a conversation with a guard in which they allowed me to board without a ticket.

 

[jamiearmley]

He said it's Northern policy that anybody without a ticket has to get a travel incident report.

That's ridiculous, and untrue. There is detailed guidance, and there is certainly no blanket ruling.

I should point out that this would not have been a guard - no guard is going to issue a TIR for non collection of tickets.

You mentioned that you asked another member of train crew about your onward journey - if there was more than one crew member in the carriages of the train then you were almost certainly dealing with revenue officers, who always work in pairs.

However, no revenue officer should write you up for failing to collect tickets from a broken ticket machine.

All very odd.

 

[AlterEgo]

Bizarre case. It would be helpful to know the origin station just so we can check it has only one machine and there wasn't another - not accusing you, but it will help any defence if we can backstop what you've said!

 

[janb]

Also of note there was a network wide IT issue for Northern on Monday including TVMs, so again starting station could be relevant if it was a Northern station and travel was at a time when the issue was still ongoing.

 

[woody505]

Thank you for your help and advice. I had a letter during the week asking me to pay the full fare or appeal and tell them what happened that day and proof of my tickets. I had an email this morning saying the matter is now closed on this occasion. I am very happy about this. But not too happy on there wording
.

"Please be aware that you MUST be able to produce a valid ticket with a valid railcard if applied throughout your journey.
We can confirm that on this occasion, we have closed this matter down and no further action is required.
Please ensure that you can produce a valid ticket/rail card for your journey in the future."

Have I actually done anything wrong and letting me off and actually being nice? With some advance tickets being available literally minutes before departure, is it acceptable northern ask for full fare if the collection machine is broken?

 

[AlterEgo]

You haven't done anything wrong, they are just enjoying being a scold because they're a miserable company which has an institutional dislike of its customers.

 

[Rab Smith]

You haven't done anything wrong, they are just enjoying being a scold because they're a miserable company which has an institutional dislike of its customers.

Are Northern RPO's contracted out? I hear terrible stories from the Northern Area and think that they seem to have an absolute disregard for any customer relations.