uni student fine help

[Elizabethsh12]

hi, I was told to come here from reddit to get some advice with my situation.

I got fined at Waterloo. I brought tickets from Trainpal it was a return journey, the first journey being Friday the 31st January from High Wycombe to Portsmouth and Southsea, this journey went smoothly and my ticket was swallowed upon arrival as usual. then my ticket to leave portsmouth and Southsea on February 3rd returning to High Wycombe didn't work? well I didn't have it I found out on reddit that I only had a seat reservation and a collection receipt. the tickets were two advanced singles with one seat reservation. the receipt says "numbers 07404-07408" so there should be 5 coupons numbered 07404, 07405, 07406, 07407 and 07408, but the collection only says 3 coupons and my return ticket which should be the higher number is numbered 07404 and 07405. as well as this the return reservation is coupon 07405-07406. im a university student and I cannot possibly afford this fine. I believe it to be some kind of system error but I need some advice/help on appealing this fine. link to the reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/uktrains/comments/1iibzws/train_fine_need_some_help/

forgot to add that the the barriers opened for the seat reservation card (which im told is not possible but that's how I got on my train) had I known I would've purchased a new ticket

 

[Watershed]

Welcome to the forum. I have added the picture you uploaded to Reddit to your post, so that people can see it.

Please could you attach a copy of any paperwork you have had so far (with any personal details such as name/address/reference no. redacted)?

Have you submitted any appeals yet? If so, it would be helpful to see a copy of this, as well as any appeal response you have had so far.

It sounds like there may have been an error somewhere along the way, but it's also plausible that there was an additional ticket (coupon) that printed but which you didn't pick up.

 

[Elizabethsh12]

Welcome to the forum. I have added the picture you uploaded to Reddit to your post, so that people can see it.

Please could you attach a copy of any paperwork you have had so far (with any personal details such as name/address/reference no. redacted)?

Have you submitted any appeals yet? If so, it would be helpful to see a copy of this, as well as any appeal response you have had so far.

It sounds like there may have been an error somewhere along the way, but it's also plausible that there was an additional ticket (coupon) that printed but which you didn't pick up.

thank you for uploading the photo it said it was too large for me I have the receipt of the fine given at Waterloo, I haven't submitted any appeals yet. Im not really sure what to do at this stage regarding who to contact and what to say I just know I cannot pay this fine.

 

[Watershed]

thank you for uploading the photo it said it was too large for me I have the receipt of the fine given at Waterloo, I haven't submitted any appeals yet. Im not really sure what to do at this stage regarding who to contact and what to say I just know I cannot pay this fine.

Can you compress the image? You could also try cropping it. Alternatively you can upload it to Reddit and I can then attach it for you.

You don't need to pay the Penalty Fare straight away. There are 3 stages of appeal, and each appeal 'stops the clock' on the 21-day period you get to pay the reduced Penalty Fare of £50 + the fare. So overall you could be looking at nearly 2 months - would that be enough time to save together the necessary money if all three appeals are rejected?

 

[furlong]

If this was me, I'd go to my local station with a ticket office and ask them to read the magnetic stripe of the reservation coupon you have there and give you a screenshot of everything it says. If it opened a barrier the magnetic stripe would say it's actually the ticket as well (as the reservation coupon).

Also, can you fully expand the journey displayed on your phone and upload screenshots so we can see the details of all the journey legs, both out and back.

I would also attempt to contact both Trainpal support and Chiltern asking them to investigate.

First things first. How many coupons did you actually have - it says 3 plus the receipt making 4.
How many did you take out of the ticket machine?
If you might have left one in the machine, it's sometimes worth asking at the station as people sometimes hand them in.

The barrier on arrival swallowed one. You've shown us images of 2. Where is the other one?

From the full journey details it should be possible to work out what was meant to be on them all.

 

[Haywain]

If this was me, I'd go to my local station with a ticket office and ask them to read the magnetic stripe of the reservation coupon you have there and give you a screenshot of everything it says.

You'd be wasting your time - very few, if any, stations would have the ability to even read the magnetic stripe.

 

[furlong]

You'd be wasting your time - very few, if any, stations would have the ability to even read the magnetic stripe.

Have things deteriorated so far?!

Anyway, the numbering looks consistent with a single mandatory reservation on the outward being included on the ticket, making it a normal 'lost ticket' situation and the receipt should always print last - on the other hand it is Trainpal, and we also know there are some failure modes where the system believes a coupon printed but it never did.

 

[janb]

The 11.18 is a non-reservable train so the outward journey would have printed on one piece of card.

Potentially,
07404 - Return ticket
07405 / 07406 - Return reservations
07407 / 07408 - Outward ticket, with outward SWR reservation

That would account for 3 coupons and 5 numbers, but I don't know why it printed the return before the outward.

 

[Haywain]

That would account for 3 coupons and 5 numbers, but I don't know why it printed the return before the outward

Machines may use two printers or printers with two printing tracks. This can mean that the printing appears not to be sequential.

 

[furlong]

They are advances, so separate tickets - Trainpal could sequence them in either order.

 

[Haywain]

They are advances, so separate tickets - Trainpal could sequence them in either order.

The ticket numbers provide a sequence.

 

[island]

Indeed, but they can be printed in either order, and it is the print order that will give the ticket numbers.

 

[father_jack]

Ask in High Wycombe ticket office, the errant ticket portion may have been handed in or the staff may have found it left on top of the ticket machine. I've checked a railway system and all coupons were successfully printed.