thatjamiebloke
New Member
Not sure if this is the right place for this issue, but here goes.
In April I tried to travel from Stevenage to London oon LNER, but there was an issue at the turnstiles preventing me from passing through and resulting in me missing my train. When I asked a member of staff about it she advised me to "jump on the next one, it'll be fine". Which I did, the next being Thameslink in two minutes and the next LNER being an hour away.
On the train the ticket inspector checked my ticket and tried to charge me the penalty fare (which was in excess of £30) but I didn't have that with me at that time. She then printed off the slip. When I explained to the ticket inspector what had happened at Stevenage station and what the other member of staff said to me, her reply was "doesn't matter you got caught".
I noticed on the slip it said that it was issued at Weleyn Garden City, the problem there is the train didn't stop at Welwyn Garden City. We were nowhere near there. We were so far away from Welwyn Garden City that she had to get off the train at Finsbury Park to finish the process of giving me the slip. The train we were on even left her on the side of the platform and continued it's journey to Kings Cross without her.
The slip itself did not state how much she tried to charge as a penalty, when I asked her about this (about five times in order to get a clear answer from her) she said that Thameslink will write to me about appealing or paying the fine and that letter will have the amount on it.
About two weeks later I get a letter in the mail threatening to take me to Magistrates Court, no amount, no appeal process and it still said we were in Welwyn Garden City when the incident occurred. They just wanted to get my side of the story, which I gave them. They sent another letter since then saying they are continuing with the court process.
I've since spoken to the rail ombudsman who directed me to a website where I can appeal or pay the fine proposed by the reference number Thameslink have put on the slip and following letters don't work. Even using a link on the Thameslink website doesn't work with the reference number they've given.
It doesn't seem right, right?
They don't seem to be following the standard pay or appeal process. Regardless of the false information issued. They've just jumped straight to the court process.
If anyone can offer any insight on this, I would be very grateful.
In April I tried to travel from Stevenage to London oon LNER, but there was an issue at the turnstiles preventing me from passing through and resulting in me missing my train. When I asked a member of staff about it she advised me to "jump on the next one, it'll be fine". Which I did, the next being Thameslink in two minutes and the next LNER being an hour away.
On the train the ticket inspector checked my ticket and tried to charge me the penalty fare (which was in excess of £30) but I didn't have that with me at that time. She then printed off the slip. When I explained to the ticket inspector what had happened at Stevenage station and what the other member of staff said to me, her reply was "doesn't matter you got caught".
I noticed on the slip it said that it was issued at Weleyn Garden City, the problem there is the train didn't stop at Welwyn Garden City. We were nowhere near there. We were so far away from Welwyn Garden City that she had to get off the train at Finsbury Park to finish the process of giving me the slip. The train we were on even left her on the side of the platform and continued it's journey to Kings Cross without her.
The slip itself did not state how much she tried to charge as a penalty, when I asked her about this (about five times in order to get a clear answer from her) she said that Thameslink will write to me about appealing or paying the fine and that letter will have the amount on it.
About two weeks later I get a letter in the mail threatening to take me to Magistrates Court, no amount, no appeal process and it still said we were in Welwyn Garden City when the incident occurred. They just wanted to get my side of the story, which I gave them. They sent another letter since then saying they are continuing with the court process.
I've since spoken to the rail ombudsman who directed me to a website where I can appeal or pay the fine proposed by the reference number Thameslink have put on the slip and following letters don't work. Even using a link on the Thameslink website doesn't work with the reference number they've given.
It doesn't seem right, right?
They don't seem to be following the standard pay or appeal process. Regardless of the false information issued. They've just jumped straight to the court process.
If anyone can offer any insight on this, I would be very grateful.