Advice for newbie please! IRCAS.

[Fishboy]

Hi - first post so here goes!

I've an annual season ticket for London Midland and back in January left it at home so was presented with a Penalty fare notice. It's happened to me a few other times over the last 5 years, so I was geared up to appeal as before with my season ticket details.

However, due to the fact I went straight onto Paternity leave the week after it happened and then changed jobs the week after that (after 16 years service with previous employer!) it completely slipped my mind.

Next thing I know I get the letter saying I'm out of time to appeal and the fine has gone up to £50. I wrote to them explaining why I had missed the deadline but they've just written back saying I have to pay and no further appeal.

Is there nobody else I can appeal to? I feel after approximately 5 years of having a season ticket this is a bit tough. Or should I just bite the bullet and pay it?

Thanks in advance

 

[RPI]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but if the appeal time has gone then all you can really do is pay up, most TOC's allow you to forget your season a couple of times a year but it is down to the passenger to appeal within the given time.
you could take a gamble and send them a cheque for £30 (£20 PF and £10 as a reasonable admin fee), they may just take the money to save any hassle but then they may just cancel the PF and prosecute instead, and London Midland do have a bit of a reputation for prosecuting peopele who don't pay their PF's!
good luck....
either way act quick as IRCAS may hand the "debt" back to LM any time after the 21 days has passed in order to prosecute.

 

[Fishboy]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but if the appeal time has gone then all you can really do is pay up, most TOC's allow you to forget your season a couple of times a year but it is down to the passenger to appeal within the given time.
you could take a gamble and send them a cheque for £30 (£20 PF and £10 as a reasonable admin fee), they may just take the money to save any hassle but then they may just cancel the PF and prosecute instead, and London Midland do have a bit of a reputation for prosecuting peopele who don't pay their PF's!
good luck....
either way act quick as IRCAS may hand the "debt" back to LM any time after the 21 days has passed in order to prosecute.

Ah well, thanks for the advice

Had thought that would be the case, will just have to put it down to bad luck & pay. Fortunately my new employer is moving offices much more close to where I live, so will be the last season ticket I buy as will be cycling from now on!

 

[34D]

Next thing I know I get the letter saying I'm out of time to appeal and the fine has gone up to £50. I wrote to them explaining why I had missed the deadline but they've just written back saying I have to pay and no further appeal.

Is there nobody else I can appeal to? I feel after approximately 5 years of having a season ticket this is a bit tough. Or should I just bite the bullet and pay it?

Many people would have enclosed a copy of an earlier letter "that must have been lost in the post".

You could always try a nice letter to their MD, explain how long you've had a season ticket for etc etc. You may well get some goodwill, enclose copies of season and maybe even your little ones birth cert. I guess you had no ticket at all?

 

[Fishboy]

Many people would have enclosed a copy of an earlier letter "that must have been lost in the post".

You could always try a nice letter to their MD, explain how long you've had a season ticket for etc etc. You may well get some goodwill, enclose copies of season and maybe even your little ones birth cert. I guess you had no ticket at all?

Might try that, thanks. The "lost in the post" did cross my mind, but I thought when I explained the circumstances they might reconsider.

I had to scrape enough loose change together to buy a ticket to continue my journey as I'd forgotten my wallet with everything in it!

I made the payment yesterday, but will probably still write to the MD with the proof of payment and other relevant paperwork. The notice is actually headed CHILTERN trains, as they apparently run the station where I was stopped. I guess I'll have to write to them, even though most of the trains I get are LM?

 

[RPI]

Thats not a bad idea actually, write a grovelling letter to customer services and you may get something, probably only vouchers but better than nowt, you have nothing to lose!

 

[island]

If the PF was issued by Chiltern then you might get off on a technicality if the RPI was not an authorised collector for LM. Unlikely but you never know.

 

[RJ]

If the PF was issued by Chiltern then you might get off on a technicality if the RPI was not an authorised collector for LM. Unlikely but you never know.

If this is the best you can come up with to support an appeal then I really wouldn't bother wasting the time or money. I am authorised to Penalty Fare on behalf of numerous TOCs, not all of which serve my home location. The training on the situations where you can and can't issue a PF is quite extensive so I really wouldn't rely on something like this.

 

[RPI]

I'm a PF collector on behalf of 6 TOC's, 3 of which I will never go near! I can only presume that Chiltern issue PF's on behalf of LM and vice versa! I regularly issue PF's on behalf of SWT and I dont work for them!