I'm actually amazed looking at the progress of this thread just how many people had not read the original thread carefully before posting rash comments. We established these points in the original thread:
1. The OP did what he was supposed to do before the journey by checking LM's own website and paid what was
supposedly the correct fare. Assuming his story was true, he was not over-riding/deviating from permitted routes, or worse, fare-evading.
2. According to the Routeing Guide, the St Albans ticket was not valid at St Albans Abbey, and I stand by that point.
3. LM's site, in contrary, would sell a St Albans - R1256 travelcard and route the passenger via St Albans Abbey, presumably due to an error in the system. Both
MikeWh and I produced screen grabs to confirm this fact.
4. The OP therefore is perfectly entitled to travel via Watford Junction and St Albans Abbey as the terms defined by London Midland themselves, although errorneously, was in place at the time of purchasing the original ticket.
My recommendation for the OP is to decline payment and appeal. Why should he have to pay for a mistake on LM's part? If LM wishes to sort the issue out then it is their problem, not the OP's.
I think you should pay it - the penalty could have been a much larger amount, though I would stop short of saying you have been lucky!
Would you pay a penalty if you followed the supposedly correct information given by a TOC to the best of your knowledge?
What justice? Your ticket wasn't valid, although it is a very understandable mistake given the similarity of the station names.
Please read the original thread carefully.
Personally speaking, I would just pay them the 25 quid and be done with it. Not worth the trouble and hastle to take it any further (and you'll probably have to shell out more money in doing so)
True to an extent, but £25 is not a small amount to some people, especially these days. More importantly, as the OP said, it
is a matter of principle.
One solution would be to pay and then compalin to get your money back. Go through LM then Passenger focus.
I wouldn't pay. You never know when you'll get your money back.
Why? Surely the court is the fairest way to decide this. Whoever's in the wrong will get their knuckles rapped, whether LM or the OP. And if the OP is so confident to be requesting LM to drop the matter and to be wanting compensation then he needn't be worried about cost, as if he wins he doesn't pay.
True, but going to court would involve paying at least some of the solicitor's fees before the court date. (I might be wrong on this.) Even though you can get it back if you win the case, not everyone can afford to stump up a huge sum of money themselves to start the case off.
Always best to make sure you have the correct tickets in the first place and you never give them the opportunity!
He
did have the correct ticket, or at least he thought so, by following LM's advice.
We cannot assume (tempting though it may be) that both the RPI and the person "in the office" are both idiots, there must be a justification for this.
... which is why the OP needs to appeal and point out explicitly to them that their own website is advising such a journey. If they get no ORCATS revenue for the ticket, then it is for LM to sort out themselves. It is not an excuse to charge an innocent passenger who did what he could to ensure that he was
supposedly valid.
Surely if LM are advertising the ticket as valid then the onus is on them to accept it and then correct the information they are providing to passengers? Pretty certain there is a consumer protection issue here if they are continuing to pursue payment in spite of the fact that this issue has been caused by a lack of clarity or cohesion on their part. No other industry would get away with retrospectively realising they had made a mistake and trying to change to price after accepting payment.
Precisely.
Exactly my point. People on here complain that rules are unfair, and that they would like to see more cases go to court. But, when the chance comes they shy away from it. What are they worried of? Surely if you consider your case to be so watertight that you are demanding an apology then what's to worry about? If you want something changed you actually have to do something to get it changed. Stand up for what you want!
See my response above about the fees for one reason why sometimes we all want to do something, but may not be able to. If I have a couple of million pounds stashed away somewhere I would definitely fight this in court if it ever happens to me.
I see your point but I also see that of others who feel sometimes you need to have your day in court to prove a point, if you feel that proving your innocence over-rides other considerations like cost. Let's face it, if nobody stood up to things like this because of their principles, we'd have an even worse legal system and even less justice than we do now.
I agree, as long as one has the resources to do it in court.