Complained, been grumpy, and skulked off.
Apologies - I was indeed.
They wanted their fiver.
Have you been on the railway before?
Many announcements are made in error, they’re often queued so by the time it plays the information it is announcing is out of date.
Very wordy, This train is for alighting passengers only, please do not board would surely suffice.
As far as I know they still do but happy to be corrected. If it’s the same amount as other operators they might have made a fiver on that ticket.
It’s really quite important not to call it a fine, it’s not even really a penalty as such as it’s just an any time ticket. It just so happens that it’s difficult to comprehend any time tickets from
How would you say they were “legally correct”? Allowed, perhaps although I’m not convinced, but legally correct?
Or just a Crewe to London ticket at that. I wouldn’t put it past a guard with this attitude to still try it on though.
Indeed. He wasn't making a ticket check, he was targeting a single passenger. Why? There must be a financial advantage for him. It's disgraceful behaviour.
To be fair, if only a single passenger got on at that station, then checking only that single passenger is presumably a complete ticket check, assuming he checked the rest of the train between Crewe and Watford Junction.
They weren't - they were told to go to platform 7, but not necessarily to board the next train.
Unless they were explicitly told not to board the next train, the holder of an Any Permitted ticket would not unreasonably board the next train, given London Euston would be the stated destination on screens adjacent to the doors of that train.
This could prove a conversation took place, but not what was saidm so I am not sure it is worth doing, though it might be. It could also be worth asking West Midlands Trains (the company who operate Watford Junction station under their LNR brand) if the employee recalls the conversation.
I agree, but it's important to distinguish inference/assumption from what have actually been told.
I would bet ten pounds I know who the TM is.
OP says "there was no announcement telling people not to board on the platform" so this isn't in play here.
But it plainly was. Thankfully, pseudo-technical nonsense at the level of claiming that a train which stops at X, opens its doors, closes them, and runs to Y does not count as a train from X to Y rarely stands up in court. It is a principle of law that ambiguities in contracts always fall in favour of the party that did not write the contract - i.e. the passenger.
Exactly. OP's ticket was valid on the direct train, whatever footnotes Avanti might have added to their timetable. A TOC cannot make an Any Permitted fare invalid on a direct train by mere fiat.
Equally, whether or not an assumption is a reasonable inference defines whether it carries weight in this kind of dispute.
The OP not hearing one, or saying there wasn't one, isn't the same as there not actually having been one, and as a regular user of Watford Junction find it hard to believe there was no indication that the train was not for public boarding. This is always very clearly denoted by announcements and by the info screens. I have only come across one person making this mistake before, who was not charged but rather admonished and confused, and I used to handle complaints at Virgin West Coast.
I think the WesternLance is wrong here so as a local media editor I would say definitely inform your local paper/radio etc as it IS the sort of story that they might be interested in. I would be if it was the area I cover. Trains are so complicated now for the average user full of traps and £142 is a huge amount to play for a simple mistake.
Thanks - happy to bow to this knowledge - just occurred to me the OP started journey in London and lives in Staines so wasn't sure what impact a local paper in that area would have on Avanti's response. But happy to be corrected. Nothing really lost after all - BUT the OP needs to contact Avanti about it all I would say, (at least as well as making other contacts eg press) and they have not returned to the thread as yet with what they favour doing next.
Assumption of members is the OP picked up the 1848 ex MAN. LNWR trains stop on platform 7 at xx.15. After the 1848 there are 2x to Euston services from platform 9 before the 19.15 on platform 7.
Importantly though, this shouldn’t make it the passenger’s problem.
Although, as you say, this is an assumption, and without knowing the date we can't know if another LNWR train was moved to platform 7 on that day, or if they actually arrived after 1848 but the Avanti was running late, or any number of other possible circumstances.
Codswallop. A Euston bound train, by the time it gets to Watford Junction is very much in its final stages with staff busy closing things, preparing for arrival, putting coats on or other things which must happen before arrival. The only reason for someone to be ticket checked, especially if it was a single passenger, is a gung-ho member of staff.
Yes;hit the nail on the head. The aggressive attitude to someone who was not dishonest, but just did something against the rules that didn't do any harm, puts people off rail travel. A horrible way to treat people.
