'First Capital Connect says sorry to woman over wrong fine'

[yorkie]

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10298520 ... rong_fine/

First Capital Connect says sorry to woman over wrong fine

A rail company criticised for its poor customer satisfaction levels has issued an apology to a grieving passenger it wrongly fined and then accused of being confused by ticket rules.

First Capital Connect (FCC) incorrectly fined Lucy Graubart, claiming she had bought the wrong kind |of ticket to travel to a friend’s funeral.

When Ms Graubart, from Brighton, complained through The Argus that FCC’s inspectors had been “rude, aggressive and intimidating”, the rail company insisted the passenger was mistaken and must have bought the wrong kind of ticket.

She said she had been subjected to “20 minutes of bullying” before being issued with a fine for having the wrong ticket by an inspector named Theo.

FCC claimed she had been correctly fined more than £50 as her ticket was only valid with a railcard.

But after Ms Graubart said she was determined to prove she had bought the correct ticket and been unfairly treated, FCC has finally admitted it was wrong.

'People power'

Customers rated FCC the third worst train company in the country for customer satisfaction with a rating of just 42 out of 100 last year.

Thanking The Argus for helping to resolve her complaint, Ms Graubart said: “Southern has now confirmed to me that the FCC staff were wrong. I was right.

“FCC treated me in that manner for nothing. It is ridiculous to have ticket inspectors out there without the proper training.

“People power does exist.”

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A spokesman for the train operator said: “We want to apologise to Ms Graubart for this genuine misunderstanding and the distress this has caused.

“We do need to ensure people pay for their journeys but clearly, in this case, Ms Graubart had indeed done so.

“As a result of her appeal, we have now been made aware of a promotional offer Southern is running on its website for tickets that are valid on our services.

“Ms Graubart is being compensated. The penalty fare of £50.40 is being refunded twice over in cash with a further £30 in travel vouchers.”

Basically the passenger had a ticket with an online discount. SOME printers will print 'DISC' on the ticket to indicate that a discount has been applied. The revenue protection inspector incorrectly asserted that the passenger had a Railcard, and issued a Penalty Fare.

In other news, FCC have threatened two passengers with prosecution, for using Season tickets in accordance with an itinerary provided by the FCC website! This comes despite being ordered to pay a significant sum in costs to a passenger who was prosecuted for travelling on an itinerary provided by the FCC website only a few months ago. I thought they may have learnt from that case, but obviously not!

When will they stop persecuting passengers with valid tickets?

[coolhand101]

You get it with all train companys.
A few years ago, a friend of mine wanted to travel from S.E London to southend victoria, then back from southend central to south ockenham.
She explained exactly that to a ticket clerk, and was issued with a ticket/card that was £28(off peak). At wickford, a ticket inspector got on, and claimed her ticket wasn't valid on this service. She tried to explained, but he wasn't having any of it and wanted to issue her a penalty fare. She refused to pay it, so he threaten to call the police at the next station. She explain that she didn't have any more money, so he started to issue a penalty fare. She recently moved back to her mums in ockendon, and when she couldn't fully remember her postcode, he become rude and intimidating.
Now i understand these inspectors get excuses everyday, they are verbally and physically abused by undecent passengers. But who will spend £28 to basically be accused of fare dodging. The ticket/card should have backed up her story. In the end, she appealed on the penalty fare website and it was squashed. They said the ticket clerk at the S.E london station was at fault, but i thought all tickets were computerized to avoid this very thing.
In general, there are so many train companys, charging different fares to the same destination. It is the public that always gets caught out!

[MGD11]

The issue, coolhand101, is not to do with ticket types (there are now only 4 due to some ACTUAL government intelligence) but the fact each company has it's own rules as to how these are enforced.