IRCAS Prosecution Question

[mango1775]

In November last year I was stopped at Stansted Aiport station with an expired railcard. I was travelling from Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport with a railcard ticket (London Terminals to Stansted return ticket). It was a 3-year 16-25 railcard I had purchased during university, and I had not realised it was a month out of date. The person at the gate was understanding (I was on crutches at the time), took down my details and said there should be no problem. I have evidence of all tickets and railcards.

The next day I purchased a new 16-25 railcard. I used this on the return journey after my trip abroad, and since. Today I received a settlement offer from Ircas for £107.45 (£7.45 fare, £100 towards "their cost").

I tried to raise an appeal on their website but it requires a notice number beginning with either GA or GU for Greater Anglia which I do not see in the letter I received. Looking on trustpilot, it looks like their customer service is terrible.

Any advice on how to proceed from here would be appreciated.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

This is an unfortunate incident but legally speaking you did not have a valid ticket because your railcard had expired. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have a valid ticket before boarding the train. The train company would be entitled to prosecute you under the Railway Bylaws in the Magistrates Court where all they have to show is you had an invalid ticket to secure a conviction.

Unfortunately there is no right of appeal against an out of court settlement, you would have to go to court and argue your case. Had you been issued with a Penalty Fare then there is a right of appeal. Greater Anglia have been in the news recently over ticketing issues at Stansted Airport but that relates to non-acceptance of contactless.

They have offered you an out of court settlement which means that if you pay it they will discontinue any court action against you. My advice would be to pay the settlement and chalk it up to experience, however unfair it seems. The last thing you need is this escalating to court because, amongst other things, it would end up costing you far more than £107.

 

[spag23]

And set up an alert to remind you of the new card's expiry. You can't rely on the seller to do this.