Taken to court, facing criminal charges advice needed

[najaB]

Call them out on Twitter.

Good idea - it's a low-cost way to get some attention on the case.

 

[Mathew S]

Call them out on Twitter.
"You took me to court while I had a perfectly valid ticket, withdrew the prosecution when your incompetence was exposed, and now refuse to cover my losses. Is that how you treat a hardworking, honest fare-paying passenger?"

Only going to work if you've enough Twitter followers to make them pay attention. In all seriousness, if it were me I'd try to get the story in the national press (something like BBC You & Yours, or Watchdog, or perhaps The Guardian). There's no outstanding legal case, so no reason for them not to take it up, and it would hopefully make the TOC pay attention as well as attracting some sort of 'goodwill' payment to the affected passenger.

 

[bb21]

Call them out on Twitter.
"You took me to court while I had a perfectly valid ticket, withdrew the prosecution when your incompetence was exposed, and now refuse to cover my losses. Is that how you treat a hardworking, honest fare-paying passenger?"

It will just be treated as another pointless rant. How much effect do you think it will have, seriously?

The OP has my full sympathy and respect for her decision not to pursue this matter further. She must have her reasons. It would seem too many on this thread only want to consider what happens in an ideal setting while completely ignoring the reality and difficulty in taking a large corporation on.

I wouldn't take most of you seriously on your claims to be honest.

If there is nothing meaningful to be discussed on this thread apart from ranting then it will be closed until any further development is forthcoming.

 

[SHD]

Only going to work if you've enough Twitter followers to make them pay attention. In all seriousness, if it were me I'd try to get the story in the national press (something like BBC You & Yours, or Watchdog, or perhaps The Guardian). There's no outstanding legal case, so no reason for them not to take it up, and it would hopefully make the TOC pay attention as well as attracting some sort of 'goodwill' payment to the affected passenger.

Even if you do not have many followers, by mentioning CrossCountry (80k), the ORR (8k), Transport Focus (10k) you may hope for the ball to roll. And it's a low-cost, low-energy way to catch attention.
Though I do agree that it would be worthwhile to have a thorough media piece on the subject of private prosecutions gone wrong.

 

[bb21]

A bit OTT for the first offence, I agree, but perhaps justified for repeat offences ? After all, passengers who travel without a valid ticket are not normally imprisoned for a single offence, but can be for repeated fraud.
The behaviour of Virgin certainly sounds appalling, and I feel that they should pay substantial costs.

EDIT TO ADD that it is cross country who are at fault, no longer virgin cross country.

What is the point? It is never going to happen. Who are you going to throw into jail?

If anyone has the energy to channel into something positive, it would be far more effective pooling resources into realistic preventative measures rather than going all "pie in the sky", such as campaigning and lobbying for a truly independent ombudsman with real power and binding rulings, and/or the abolishment of the Railway Byelaws if abused, close monitoring of quality of staff training by an independent quality controller and regular mystery shopping exercises which cover all relevant knowledge areas, etc.

Retrospective punishment is only of use once the damage is done, and anyone serious about passenger rights would first and foremost focus on preventing that damage being done.

A case like the one illustrated in this thread should never have got anywhere near the stage it ended up at. That is the single biggest issue highlighted by this case.

 

[yorkie]

Call them out on Twitter.
"You took me to court while I had a perfectly valid ticket, withdrew the prosecution when your incompetence was exposed, and now refuse to cover my losses. Is that how you treat a hardworking, honest fare-paying passenger?"

Unless you have loads of followers, it will make no difference whatsoever.

Only going to work if you've enough Twitter followers to make them pay attention. In all seriousness, if it were me I'd try to get the story in the national press (something like BBC You & Yours, or Watchdog, or perhaps The Guardian). There's no outstanding legal case, so no reason for them not to take it up, and it would hopefully make the TOC pay attention as well as attracting some sort of 'goodwill' payment to the affected passenger.

The BBC were interested in this case, but XC have been persuaded to keep it out of court it's no longer particularly newsworthy, and - as is often the case - I've not heard anything from the passenger to say they are interested in taking up the option now anyway.

The media are not interested in a complex case where the case against the customer was dropped. Well, they might be if there was an audio or video recording of the incident. But as it is, it's just not particularly interesting to them. I think if the customer was interested in doing an interview and if other forum members were prepared to be interviewed, with a lot of effort I could perhaps get a few media people interested.

But I am becoming increasingly fed up of chasing these things and getting no good results.

There isn't anyone or any organisation with the power and determination to stop train companies threatening valid ticket holders with prosecution. I can get people out of these situations but it is frustrating that, even with various contacts, I am unable to actually do anything to get these incidents to stop.

I sometimes wonder why I bother to get worked up about it, it doesn't seem to achieve much. They will never change...

 

[AlterEgo]

This is the first time I have seen this.

This case is utterly outrageous in just about every way. I have first hand experience of XC's prosecution department (I used to work at an adjacent desk to them). I do not have anything positive to say about them, I'm afraid.

I'm disappointed to read the OP did not want to pursue further action but they may have their reasons.

 

[farleigh]

Yorkie - I hope you don't lose your will to fight. You have helped an awful lot of people.

 

[njr001]

Yorkie - I'm just somebody with an interest in rail transport but I am well aware of your contributions to this forum, please carry on helping people DON'T GIVE UP

 

[SA_900]

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