Issue with Revenue Protection Office (Trains!)

int

int

int

Soldato
Joined
14 Apr 2008
Posts
2,654
Location
Exeter
Back on December 11th 2007, I traveled up to Slough for an interview for an internship placement. I'd accidentally left my wallet in Bristol Temple Meads, but the nice man on the train let me travel to Slough without my ticket.

To return from Slough to BTM, I had to get a "zero fare ticket" written for me by the ticket inspector at Slough station and was informed that I'd be contacted within 7-14 days, so that I could provide a receipt/proof of purchase for the journey.
I could do this because my girlfriend had gone to BTM to claim my wallet for me, so I had all of the tickets when I got back.

6 months down the line, I received a letter from the RPO, demanding the money for the journey, after making no previous attempts to contact my via my phone or email address.

The problem is, after 4/5 months, I'd decided to chuck the tickets and figured they weren't going to follow up the "case".

Right now they're asking for £48.80, when the journey was £50.20 (bank statement). So even though I do have proof of purchasing tickets on the 11th Dec for £50.20, it doesn't match the amount they're asking for, so they could claim it was payment for a different journey.

There is no form of contact on this letter, just an address to send a cheque to.

I do have a screen shot of my journey details on my pc, along with my FastTicket reference number (so that I could collect my tickets), but is this along with the bank statement, enough to get them to leave me alone?

Cheers chaps :)
 
Aha, I just posted something up here to see if anyone has had any experience with the branch of First Great Western. I've got a letter written up to send off to them, but communication for something like this via snail mail doesn't seem like a good idea.
As a (very) poor student it's something I want to resolve quickly and not to have it hanging over my head whilst I have exams! Might as well give it a go though :)
 
I'd have thought that if you have the reference for a online ticket purchase then it would be tracable and hence provable that you purchased a ticket for the journey for that day.

But whether they would accept that as proof is anyones guess
 
6 months down the line, I received a letter from the RPO, demanding the money for the journey, after making no previous attempts to contact my via my phone or email address.
Click to expand...

wait so you travelled for free (at the time) and waited for them to ask for proof/money afterwards? wtf?

.... If it was me i'd have emailed/posted them proof straight away. 5 mins sorted. I wouldnt have just left it for 6 months... i mean basically thats a total lack of respect imho. They kindly let you travel provided you can provide proof later. I'm guessing at the time you said to the ticket inspector that YES you could do this. So now they think you are just a fare-dodger...

You shouldnt be waiting for them to contact you about it......dude.....

it's something I want to resolve quickly
Click to expand...

6 months down the line
Click to expand...

:confused:
 
Last edited:
I wasn't provided with the details on how to get the information to them.

In all honesty, after a week of waiting I had forgotten about it until I came across the tickets tucked away in my drawer 4 months later.

Tried an online "feedback" for issues with funds/tickets fares. Let's see where that gets me.
 
markyp23 said:
What is your problem?!

People share experiences. Unless all threads in GD should be cooking with Slinwagh threads and NOTHING else.
Click to expand...

The are hundreds of threads on here that are perfectly valid. There are also a vast number of posts by people too stupid or lazy to think for themselves.

I mean for the love of god there are still people posting scam emails and asking if they are for real.
 
Unfortunately it seems I was stupid enough to post on a forum, home to thousands of members for a quick bit of advice, some of whom may have had experience with this problem. :rolleyes:
 
int said:
Unfortunately it seems I was stupid enough to post on a forum, home to thousands of members for a quick bit of advice, some of whom may have had experience with this problem. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Instead of contacting the organisation that you had the issue with, yep makes sense that does.:rolleyes:
 
The organisation that contacted me in the first place left no telephone number or email address. Just a postal address, to which only cheques should be sent.

I'd contacted FGW directly and they told me themselves that there's no contact number to talk directly to the Revenue Protection, so I'm going a different way about it and going via disputes/fares. Hopefully they can help.
 
markyp23 said:
Go and ruin their thread then...



And this is not exactly a prime example. It's a well thought out, substantial post clearly looking for experiences.
Click to expand...


I'm sorry but it is common sense.

Maybe its a generation thing...but in my day if i travelled on the train and the inspector was kind enough (he basically did the op a favour) to still let me travel.

Then i'd make damn sure i provided the receipt ASAP. Why would i wait for them to contact me??? I dont get that at all. I'd be the one who had a responsibility to pay/provide proof so the onus is on me to do that not them.
I wasn't provided with the details on how to get the information to them
Click to expand...

And int sorry but you dont come out of this with a lot of credit. Forum rules stop me being more harsh.

Using ignorance isnt an excuse for you to essentially break the law. In the eyes of the inspector/train company you have travelled for free illegally until you can prove otherwise.

You've had 6 months to prove your innocence.

Basically dude... the responsibility lies with you. Not them. Please post them the proof and a letter of apology that it took 6 months for you to take action.
 
Surfer said:
Basically dude... the responsibility lies with you. Not them. Please post them the proof and a letter of apology that it took 6 months for you to take action.
Click to expand...

Agree with this. You should have contacted the train company pretty soon after the journey, especially when the 7-14 days had expired. It's not really surprising that they're now being harsh with you.

Use some initiative... find some contact details for the company on the web, or else ring them up and ask them about it.
 
The point I've tried to get across is that the company that deals with this only has a single address to post cheques to.

I had provided my details to the inspector, who had passed it on to the company (Revenue) and it was them who were supposed to get in contact with me, providing an alternative address to mail the receipt to.

I've already contacted FGW and they've told me they have no other details for this company other than the address I already have. This would have been the case 6 months ago too :/

e: Just stumbled upon a FGW forum, I'll try there. Cheers for the help guys :p
 
Mattus said:
Agree with this. You should have contacted the train company pretty soon after the journey, especially when the 7-14 days had expired. It's not really surprising that they're now being harsh with you.

Use some initiative... find some contact details for the company on the web, or else ring them up and ask them about it.
Click to expand...

... or maybe have gone into to Temple Meads with all the documentation and asked/showed them in person at the time ...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom