Hello Everyone,
Been meaning to join for a while but never got round to it. Got into a ruck with two FCC staff last night and I wanted to know if I stood a chance of appeal on the following letter which explains the situation....
I'm mainly so annoyed because of the lack of consistency and leniency. I think FCC were so blasé about it because I don't buy my season ticket through them, but Southern.
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to appeal against the penalty charge issued to me at St Pancras Domestic station on the evening of Tuesday 10th August 2010.
I made my regular journey from Portslade to Norwood Junction as always via Brighton and on this occasion, I needed to go past Norwood Junction and on to London to meet a colleague. I arrived at Brighton at 19.18 and intended to board the 19.34 FCC service to Bedford, with the plan to alight at St Pancras. I immediately went to the ticket office at Brighton to purchase a London travelcard for zones 1-4 as I do regularly at many stations using my annual gold card season ticket to receive a discount. I waited 12 minutes in the queue at Brighton and not one person infront of me got served in that time and when one window became free, the ticket officer simply closed his booth despite the queue of at least ten people. Please feel free to check the CCTV at Brighton to verify my claim.
As I had to leave the queue to catch the train to London I intended to purchase a travelcard at St Pancras Domestic excess fares window before the ticket barrier as I do regularly at Victoria and London Bridge when no ticket inspector is available on the train. I have done this at least fifty times within the last twelve months. Upon arrival at St Pancras, the excess fares window was unmanned and had bags and belongings of staff on it. I therefore immediately made my intentions clear to the gate staff at St Pancras that I wanted to purchase a travelcard as an excess fare on top of my season ticket, something I've done on numerous occasions without any problems at all at other London mainline stations. The member of staff, (Name removed) immediately went on the offensive and said he wasn't prepared to sell me a travelcard like at other London stations as I'd breached penalty fare regulations. I then proceeded to give the same defence to both (Name removed) and his colleague (Name removed) but they simply weren't interested and were determined to issue me with a penalty fare. (Name removed) in particular was very unprofessional throughout, texting on her mobile phone whilst dealing with me (again, check the CCTV) and claiming that St Pancras didn't have an excess fares window, despite us standing next to it with its ticket machine and tickets and said that St Pancras has a different policy to excess fares than both London Bridge and Victoria stations. I could have argued my case all evening to them but they weren't interested in logic, consistency or even discretion towards a customer who's annual season ticket costs £2500 a year.
I am therefore appealing against the penalty charge on the following grounds:
1. I attempted to buy a travelcard at Brighton station and I had to wait an unacceptable amount of time to do so and would have missed my train.
2. There was no guard or ticket inspector onboard the train to purchase an extension railcard from.
3. A severe lack of consistency, why can I purchase travelcards from excess fare windows at Victoria and London Bridge but not St Pancras? I could have alighted from the Brighton-Bedford train at London Bridge ten minutes earlier and would have purchased a travelcard without any problems at all, as I have done before.
4. I made my intentions clear to (Name removed) at St Pancras as soon as I alighted, at no point did I even attempt to get through the ticket barriers without a valid ticket.
5. The penalty fare slip is filled out as being from Brighton to St Pancras, this is incorrect as the accused offence would only have taken place between East Croydon and St Pancras as my season ticket covers me up to East Croydon
I await your response. I am very annoyed about this, not because of the money but because of the injustice given the inconsistency between members of staff and station ticket offices in London, and the unprofessional nature of the staff at both St Pancras and Brighton.
Been meaning to join for a while but never got round to it. Got into a ruck with two FCC staff last night and I wanted to know if I stood a chance of appeal on the following letter which explains the situation....
I'm mainly so annoyed because of the lack of consistency and leniency. I think FCC were so blasé about it because I don't buy my season ticket through them, but Southern.
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to appeal against the penalty charge issued to me at St Pancras Domestic station on the evening of Tuesday 10th August 2010.
I made my regular journey from Portslade to Norwood Junction as always via Brighton and on this occasion, I needed to go past Norwood Junction and on to London to meet a colleague. I arrived at Brighton at 19.18 and intended to board the 19.34 FCC service to Bedford, with the plan to alight at St Pancras. I immediately went to the ticket office at Brighton to purchase a London travelcard for zones 1-4 as I do regularly at many stations using my annual gold card season ticket to receive a discount. I waited 12 minutes in the queue at Brighton and not one person infront of me got served in that time and when one window became free, the ticket officer simply closed his booth despite the queue of at least ten people. Please feel free to check the CCTV at Brighton to verify my claim.
As I had to leave the queue to catch the train to London I intended to purchase a travelcard at St Pancras Domestic excess fares window before the ticket barrier as I do regularly at Victoria and London Bridge when no ticket inspector is available on the train. I have done this at least fifty times within the last twelve months. Upon arrival at St Pancras, the excess fares window was unmanned and had bags and belongings of staff on it. I therefore immediately made my intentions clear to the gate staff at St Pancras that I wanted to purchase a travelcard as an excess fare on top of my season ticket, something I've done on numerous occasions without any problems at all at other London mainline stations. The member of staff, (Name removed) immediately went on the offensive and said he wasn't prepared to sell me a travelcard like at other London stations as I'd breached penalty fare regulations. I then proceeded to give the same defence to both (Name removed) and his colleague (Name removed) but they simply weren't interested and were determined to issue me with a penalty fare. (Name removed) in particular was very unprofessional throughout, texting on her mobile phone whilst dealing with me (again, check the CCTV) and claiming that St Pancras didn't have an excess fares window, despite us standing next to it with its ticket machine and tickets and said that St Pancras has a different policy to excess fares than both London Bridge and Victoria stations. I could have argued my case all evening to them but they weren't interested in logic, consistency or even discretion towards a customer who's annual season ticket costs £2500 a year.
I am therefore appealing against the penalty charge on the following grounds:
1. I attempted to buy a travelcard at Brighton station and I had to wait an unacceptable amount of time to do so and would have missed my train.
2. There was no guard or ticket inspector onboard the train to purchase an extension railcard from.
3. A severe lack of consistency, why can I purchase travelcards from excess fare windows at Victoria and London Bridge but not St Pancras? I could have alighted from the Brighton-Bedford train at London Bridge ten minutes earlier and would have purchased a travelcard without any problems at all, as I have done before.
4. I made my intentions clear to (Name removed) at St Pancras as soon as I alighted, at no point did I even attempt to get through the ticket barriers without a valid ticket.
5. The penalty fare slip is filled out as being from Brighton to St Pancras, this is incorrect as the accused offence would only have taken place between East Croydon and St Pancras as my season ticket covers me up to East Croydon
I await your response. I am very annoyed about this, not because of the money but because of the injustice given the inconsistency between members of staff and station ticket offices in London, and the unprofessional nature of the staff at both St Pancras and Brighton.