Northern Rail -'debt recovery'

[Billyblah]

Just wondering if any fellow Clarets have any similar experiences with journeys on Northern Rail.

Before Christmas my 17 year old travelled from Accrington to Manchester Victoria by train.He's not a regular traveller.

He didn't get a ticket at Accrington as only one of the two kiosks was in use and with a queue (I've never yet seen both kiosks in operation simultaneously). The train arrived and he got on with the intention of getting a ticket from the conductor on the train.
During the 50 or so minute journey no conductor appeared. It's not as if you can hide in the loo to evade the inspector as there is no loo!!

He then attempted to obtain a ticket at a kiosk at Victoria. Apparently there is one prior to the barrier. Before he got to the front of the queue he was pulled out before he was able to purchase one and questioned as to why he hadn't obtained a ticket before or during the journey. He therefore wasn't asked to cough up for the journey to Manchester. They simply took his details.

He's now received a letter from the 'Debt recovery and prosecution unit' requesting payment of the fare which appears to be the return fare, and this despite him later buying a single ticket for the journey back.

Whilst I don't have a problem with paying up I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience?

Where was the conductor? Is the lack of one both a health and safety and security issue? Why, if he's in the queue at Victoria and attempting to purchase a ticket is he being pulled out and treated like a petty criminal? Why are passengers being penalised for an under resourced rail network?

Experiences please?.......

[Garnerssoap]

Stay on till Salford central. No barriers

[DCWat]

I had the same travelling from Bingley to Leeds. Had to give details and then log on to a website to pay the fare. I'm not certain but I think that they may have stopped this now (in West Yorkshire at least) as it was all a bit farcical. I've witnessed a good number of arguments on trains when guards refused to sell tickets due to the passenger not purchasing beforehand at a manned station.

[tybfc]

Just wondering if any fellow Clarets have any similar experiences with journeys on Northern Rail.

Before Christmas my 17 year old travelled from Accrington to Manchester Victoria by train.He's not a regular traveller.

He didn't get a ticket at Accrington as only one of the two kiosks was in use and with a queue (I've never yet seen both kiosks in operation simultaneously). The train arrived and he got on with the intention of getting a ticket from the conductor on the train.
During the 50 or so minute journey no conductor appeared. It's not as if you can hide in the loo to evade the inspector as there is no loo!!

He then attempted to obtain a ticket at a kiosk at Victoria. Apparently there is one prior to the barrier. Before he got to the front of the queue he was pulled out before he was able to purchase one and questioned as to why he hadn't obtained a ticket before or during the journey. He therefore wasn't asked to cough up for the journey to Manchester. They simply took his details.

He's now received a letter from the 'Debt recovery and prosecution unit' requesting payment of the fare which appears to be the return fare, and this despite him later buying a single ticket for the journey back.

Whilst I don't have a problem with paying up I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience?

Where was the conductor? Is the lack of one both a health and safety and security issue? Why, if he's in the queue at Victoria and attempting to purchase a ticket is he being pulled out and treated like a petty criminal? Why are passengers being penalised for an under resourced rail network?

Experiences please?.......

I would have a bloody field day with this and Northern Rail - the most incompetent company in Britain.

Don't pay them a penny.

[Danieljwaterhouse]

He's in the queue to purchase a ticket and he's been pulled out and given a 'fine' and I'd imagine later received a rather threatening letter about court, criminal record etc.

I'd also go to town with this, no clever arguement needed, a simple explanation of the facts will suffice.

Northern Rail are a horrendous rail provider.

[agreenwood]

I travel with Northern Rail every day, although I'm writing this on the bus I've had to get because Northern have cancelled my usual train. They are genuinely useless.

I sort of see their point re fares. I get their argument that we should arrive at stations with plenty of time to buy a ticket and that if you wait until you arrive at your destination it's easy to claim that you got on the train later than you did.

However, the staff they are employing to do this are far too aggressive in their approach and lack common sense. There will be times when people haven't been able to buy tickets in advance for genuine reasons, so the one-size fits all approach is OTT.

The other thing that irks people about them is that they have been introduced at a time when Northern Rail's performance is at an all time low.

[Claretmatt4]

Definitely sounds like an over aggressive approach. Debt recovery?

If he's since bought the required ticket and you still have it, take a photocopy of it and get in touch with them.

[Paul Waine]

Standard procedure on London/South East trains and underground: no ticket for journey "a penalty" fare is charged in addition to the fare for the journey.

Most people in London now have "oyster" cards - forget to "swipe" in at station where you board the card automatically charges the max fare for the full journey the train has made and not the shorter journey you might have made. If you don't have oyster card can also pay fare on a contactless credit card. If you get your cards mixed up, swipe in on oyster/swipe out on contactless it's your problem and max fares are charged on both cards - or more likely, use different cards at different parts of the day.

There are no provisions for buying a ticket when you are on the train/underground - occasionally ticket inspectors on board check that tickets have been bought.

Some stations don't have ticket barriers, especially in outer London. From time to time a large group of ticket inspectors (I think they also now go by the name "revenue protection officers") appear - possibly supported by a couple of police officers. From what I've seen there are always a number of passengers having conversations and giving their details to the inspectors.

There are always prominent notices re buying a ticket before boarding and penalty fares.

[CrispyClaret]

I am a bit confused why he would get pulled out of a queue at Victoria and not allowed to buy a ticket, did he think being questioned meant he didn't need to pay? As not all stations have ticket offices and many trains are driver only, surely they wait for you to try and go through the barriers before stopping you. Plus, they wouldn't have known he was ticketless at that point.
Being an infrequent train user, he should have arrived early enough to buy his ticket at Accrington. As for "debt recovery and prosecution", companies use scary names to make sure people pay the fine.