Firstly I want to say what a great forum this is and what a great source of information you all are regarding such ticket fiascos.
Today I got the letter:
I had already sent them a letter explaining that I could not buy a ticket at Whittlesey and that I thought I could buy a ticket on board the train to Kings Cross from Peterborough.
My main gripe with all this is the lack of consistency- so if a revenue protection officer saw me on the train ticketless I get all this grief- if a normal ticket conductor sees me I simply pay a full single fair- this just seems a ridiculous way of operating.
Anyway- I phoned the number to pay the £157.
I mentioned to the woman that I was paying despite the fact that if I went to court I’d win because I’d done nothing wrong- ie: caught a connecting train that was departing imminently.
She replied with the usual mantra- there are ticket facilities at Peterborough and I shouldn’t have boarded the train- 100% ignoring what I’d said regarding legislation about connecting trains/tickets. (I am an expert you see having listened to you lot).
Anyway, the woman seemed to soften in tone slightly and asked me to hold the line.
She then returned to the phone and said there was a note on my file saying not to charge £100 admin and only charge £57.
So I paid the £57 and that’s it, all over.
It seems odd there was a note on my file saying only charge £57.........in that case why did they send a letter asking for £157 ?
Anyway- it ended well and thanks everyone.