scottinthesky
Member
Hi,
I travelled from York to Birmingham New Street back in October. I bought a ticket using the Trainline app shortly before travel and saved the electronic ticket to my phone. At York station the app gave me an option to get a collection reference to print a paper ticket at a machine instead of using the app. I generally prefer hard copies so I tried to do this. The app gave me an error message that stated there was a fault and I could not proceed and to use the electronic tickets instead.
I boarded a Cross Country (XCT) train and the Tain Manager scanned my ticket but said there was a problem and it "wouldn't scan." She did some more tapping and said the tickets had been cancelled. I hadn't had any e-mails or messages from Trainline so this was confusing but I showed her the receipts in my e-mail inbox and checked my banking app to see if the charge had been reversed, neither had happened. She said it was likely a Trainline systems fault and printed off a gate exit ticket for me to use at Birmingham. She also asked me to fill in a personal details form in case they needed to contact me in the future, which I did.
In December I got a letter from TIL. They said they had "substantial evidence" of my intentional plan to travel as a fare evader and they would shortly issue a court summons. This was very stressful as I hadn't heard anything from XCT and the charge for the tickets had been fully processed. I sent a copy of my tickets, printed from the app, along with my credit card statement and receipt. I also sent their letter to XCT to ask what was going on and I contacted Trainline with the same question. TIL wrote back with a very unpleasant letter saying they had "no intention of accepting my additional evidence and would shortly proceed to court." They did not ask for a penalty fare or other fee. In the meantime Trainline wrote back and said XCT are not allowed to ask for payment of tickets after the fact and confirmed that the tickets were not cancelled. They said they wrote to XCT to explain this and to ask for an explanation. XCT have denied every hearing from Trainline.
I wrote to TIL and told them after checking with my bank and with Trainline, they had no evidence I was a fare evader and that I would gladly present this evidence in court. They wrote back with an oddly defensive letter saying they were "confident in their evidence" and they see "no reason they shouldn't proceed to ask for a court summons." XCT have said they believe I intentionally did not pay my fare and its their policy to prosecute through TIL rather than recover fares. The frustrating thing is that I don't have a debt - I paid the fare and have proof of it. TIL seem to drip-feed information rather than presenting all of their evidence at once - in their last letter they sent me a printed copy of a photo the train manager had taken of her hand-held device that does clearly show 'Ticket refunded' on my ticket. She did not say this at the time and did not use the word 'refunded' - even if she had, I showed her my banking app that showed a debit of £70.
Now I'm stuck in the middle of TIL, XCT and Trainline. Trainline say the ticket was paid for and used and have told XCT, who deny they've heard from Trainline. TIL keep writing to say they are not interested in my evidence and they'll issue a court summons.
Does anyone have any advice about where to go from here?
I travelled from York to Birmingham New Street back in October. I bought a ticket using the Trainline app shortly before travel and saved the electronic ticket to my phone. At York station the app gave me an option to get a collection reference to print a paper ticket at a machine instead of using the app. I generally prefer hard copies so I tried to do this. The app gave me an error message that stated there was a fault and I could not proceed and to use the electronic tickets instead.
I boarded a Cross Country (XCT) train and the Tain Manager scanned my ticket but said there was a problem and it "wouldn't scan." She did some more tapping and said the tickets had been cancelled. I hadn't had any e-mails or messages from Trainline so this was confusing but I showed her the receipts in my e-mail inbox and checked my banking app to see if the charge had been reversed, neither had happened. She said it was likely a Trainline systems fault and printed off a gate exit ticket for me to use at Birmingham. She also asked me to fill in a personal details form in case they needed to contact me in the future, which I did.
In December I got a letter from TIL. They said they had "substantial evidence" of my intentional plan to travel as a fare evader and they would shortly issue a court summons. This was very stressful as I hadn't heard anything from XCT and the charge for the tickets had been fully processed. I sent a copy of my tickets, printed from the app, along with my credit card statement and receipt. I also sent their letter to XCT to ask what was going on and I contacted Trainline with the same question. TIL wrote back with a very unpleasant letter saying they had "no intention of accepting my additional evidence and would shortly proceed to court." They did not ask for a penalty fare or other fee. In the meantime Trainline wrote back and said XCT are not allowed to ask for payment of tickets after the fact and confirmed that the tickets were not cancelled. They said they wrote to XCT to explain this and to ask for an explanation. XCT have denied every hearing from Trainline.
I wrote to TIL and told them after checking with my bank and with Trainline, they had no evidence I was a fare evader and that I would gladly present this evidence in court. They wrote back with an oddly defensive letter saying they were "confident in their evidence" and they see "no reason they shouldn't proceed to ask for a court summons." XCT have said they believe I intentionally did not pay my fare and its their policy to prosecute through TIL rather than recover fares. The frustrating thing is that I don't have a debt - I paid the fare and have proof of it. TIL seem to drip-feed information rather than presenting all of their evidence at once - in their last letter they sent me a printed copy of a photo the train manager had taken of her hand-held device that does clearly show 'Ticket refunded' on my ticket. She did not say this at the time and did not use the word 'refunded' - even if she had, I showed her my banking app that showed a debit of £70.
Now I'm stuck in the middle of TIL, XCT and Trainline. Trainline say the ticket was paid for and used and have told XCT, who deny they've heard from Trainline. TIL keep writing to say they are not interested in my evidence and they'll issue a court summons.
Does anyone have any advice about where to go from here?