Hi there. Can anyone give me some advice regarding a dispute with Northern Rail? Me and my hubby travelled from Leeds to Hornbeam Park on Sunday 4th Feb. I bought our tickets on my app for the 12.06 train but when we got to the station the earlier 1136 train was still on the platform so we asked the guard if we could get on and he said yes. When the ticket inspector came round I showed him the tickets on my app but he said they were for the later train. So we explained the above and said he would have to report us. Both journeys were the same price. He said that when we got the letter in the post we just needed to appeal explaining the circumstances and the matter would be dropped. We have now written 2 letters as he told us. Two more final demand letters received today saying the charge is now £100 plus the cost of the ticket for EACH of us or Magistrates court action. The telephone numbers on the letters are just automated messages. Can anyone advise me please? This is sooooooo annoying I could understand if we were trying to dodge paying but we weren’t at all!!! Many thanks.
Were you issued with a
Penalty Fare (£100 or £50 if paid promptly) which has a right of Appeal or one of Northern's '
Fixed Penalty Notices' which have no right of appeal as as I understand it are a request to pay a sum (often / usually £100) with the condition that if you do not pay this they will escalate to prosecution.
The difference may be pertinent in terms of what your options now are but I fear if it is the later that you have received there is little in the way of options and you are probably best advised to pay this quickly to prevent further escalation.
If you upload copies of the paperwork with your personal details and ref numbers blocked out ppl here can check this for you.
There are numerous cases on here where staff tell people along lines of 'have to issue this but if you appeal it will be ok' as a way of diffusing a situation at that moment in time (or prevent customers getting angry).
My advice is that on these short local journeys where the sum saved by selecting a times specific train is worth very little over having a ticket valid on any or many trains (Anytime or Off Peak tickets) the sum saved is not worth the loss in flexibility - and it's certainly not worth it when it results in a punishment of £50 - £100 or threats of prosecution. I suspect that across the purchase of a rtn ticket - or a single each way - you probably only saved £2 or £3 ish maybe by (presumably) selecting an 'Advance' fare.
My other advice would be to make sure to claim 'delay -repay' on any delayed trains you are ever on as a way of recouping something from the railway, since you would be owed it with legit claims.