Ok... so I'm a little stumped, on Wednesday the 14th of April 2021 I travelled from Bolton to Manchester Piccadilly (3 stops) £4.70 ticket price, but I, without knowing that my Railcard had expired bought the ticket with my Railcard active, I didn't know the card had expired as it was the first time that I had travelled since August 9th 2020 and it was a 3 year card, I only noticed it had expired once a member of staff at Manchester Piccadilly asked to see my Railcard, where I proceeded to open the app only to find out that it had expired 12 DAYS PRIOR, I have had a Railcard for years now and have never had an issue on any train service so I assumed I'd be able to just pay the difference/buy a new ticket... Boy was I wrong, the member of staff proceeded to lecture me and I was kind of bereft as I explained that I hadn't travelled, and even showed her my Trainline account and Bank statements to show her that, after I said I'd pay for a new ticket, she said ''That won't be necessary sir'' then proceeded to ask for my name, address and behold, I got a letter from DRPU (Debt Recovery and Prosecutions Unit) saying that I had to explain my side of the story, I proceeded to email them explaining the whole situation and told them that it was a genuine mistake and due to the current circumstances, especially due to my Railcard only being expired for under 2 weeks, I hoped that we'd be able to come to some sort of reasonable conclusion. 4 days passed and today I received a 'FIXED PENALTY NOTICE' telling me that I had 14 days to pay £94.70 or else I'd be taken to court, the reasoning being and I quote 'You Travelled from Bolton to Manchester Piccadilly without paying the full fare and with the intent of avoiding that fare'???? I'm sorry but I specified in both person and the emails that it was a mistake and that I was more than happy to pay for a new ticket/pay the difference, I'm not wanting to go through all of this over £1.40... This whole situation has kind of caught me off guard, if anybody could give me any help as I'm looking to possibly appeal this after this Bank Holiday weekend is over, I'd greatly appreciate it!
Attached are both the email I sent to them regarding my turn of events and the letter that I received in the post today.
Thank you for reading!
Attached are both the email I sent to them regarding my turn of events and the letter that I received in the post today.
Thank you for reading!