garethgray
Member
- Joined
- 9 Oct 2011
- Messages
- 6
Hi,
I travelled with my wife and 4yr old daughter from Newcastle to Edinburgh yesterday. I had advance tickets booked for the 1754 train from Newcastle.
We had inadevertently boarded the wrong train (an 'earlier' service which had arrived late in Newcastle) at approx. 1750 as we had assumed it was ours and there was no announcement given on the platform that it was a late running earlier service. An announcement was made on the train (literally 1 minute before departure) stating it was a late running service at which point we tried to disembark immediately. The guard on the platform would not allow us to leave the train, the whistle blew and it left.
The ticket inspector came round and immediately stated our ticket was not valid. I explained that when the announcement was made on board that it was not the 1754, we immediately tried to disembark (I have a witness statement from another passenger confirming we immediately left) but were not allowed to get off by the platform guard. I appreciate this may have been due to health & safety if the train was about to leave but my complaint is that there was nowhere near sufficient time between the onboard announcement and the departure to allow us to leave the late running train so we could get on the correct train (which was literally minutes behind the train we boarded in error). I was subsequently issued with an unpaid fare notice for £89.00. The attitude of the ticket inspector left a lot to be desired and he seemed pleased to be debating and issuing the UFN causing much distress to my wife and daughter. I refused to sign for the UFN and asked for the ticket inspectors name (which he did not give but stated his UFN would trace back to him).
What do you think my chances are of appeal?
I travelled with my wife and 4yr old daughter from Newcastle to Edinburgh yesterday. I had advance tickets booked for the 1754 train from Newcastle.
We had inadevertently boarded the wrong train (an 'earlier' service which had arrived late in Newcastle) at approx. 1750 as we had assumed it was ours and there was no announcement given on the platform that it was a late running earlier service. An announcement was made on the train (literally 1 minute before departure) stating it was a late running service at which point we tried to disembark immediately. The guard on the platform would not allow us to leave the train, the whistle blew and it left.
The ticket inspector came round and immediately stated our ticket was not valid. I explained that when the announcement was made on board that it was not the 1754, we immediately tried to disembark (I have a witness statement from another passenger confirming we immediately left) but were not allowed to get off by the platform guard. I appreciate this may have been due to health & safety if the train was about to leave but my complaint is that there was nowhere near sufficient time between the onboard announcement and the departure to allow us to leave the late running train so we could get on the correct train (which was literally minutes behind the train we boarded in error). I was subsequently issued with an unpaid fare notice for £89.00. The attitude of the ticket inspector left a lot to be desired and he seemed pleased to be debating and issuing the UFN causing much distress to my wife and daughter. I refused to sign for the UFN and asked for the ticket inspectors name (which he did not give but stated his UFN would trace back to him).
What do you think my chances are of appeal?