Hi all

To cut a long story short i recieved a train fine some time ago and decided to appeal against it. They fined me £20 plus another £20 for admin charges as the yhad to write to me twice.

Anyway as i didnt appeal within the 21 day timescale they are refusing to consider my appeal. They tell me i need to send a cheque in and thats it, case closed.

I dont mind paying the penalty fare even though i think this is excessive, however i refuse to pay another £20 for a late/admin charge.

Any advice

Thanks Marvin

Hi all

 

To cut a long story short i recieved a train fine some time ago and decided to appeal against it. They fined me £20 plus another £20 for admin charges as the yhad to write to me twice.

 

Anyway as i didnt appeal within the 21 day timescale they are refusing to consider my appeal. They tell me i need to send a cheque in and thats it, case closed.

 

I dont mind paying the penalty fare even though i think this is excessive, however i refuse to pay another £20 for a late/admin charge.

 

Any advice

 

Thanks Marvin

Is the "Penalty Fare" definately Penalty.

On the Buses its known as the "Standard Fare" payable by anyone who has not purchased a valid ticket or holds a valid pass for the journey.

It is the standard fare as i boarded the train without a ticket, however what i am quierying is the £20 admin fee they have put on top as i didnt reply to the original letter in time. Can they do this? I mean £20 does seem a bit much.

Thanks Marvin

Send them the 20.00 with a covering letter asking them to give you a breakdown of the 20.00 admin fee.

If they are unwilling or unable to do this then come back and let us know here.

Make sure that all your dealings are done by letter and sent recorded delivery.

I have decided just to pay the full £35. It seems like teh wise thing to do. I will possibly look at trying to claim teh admin charges back at a later date.

Marvin

Ok if you are going to do this,then you should let them know within 8 weeks.

This will then stop them from claiming there was an assumption that the matter was concluded and you gave no indications that you were taking things further.

Hi

Similar story but it gets better - this company issued 20 fine and 20 admin fee aginst my daughter for travelling on First Great Western without a ticket - even though the ticket machine at the station she boarded was not working and she could not find a guard on the train to pay. They took her details at Basingstoke and said she would be fined £20 - noce one 1stGWR - anyway the notive from RPSS has spelled her surname wrong so it is tecnically invalsid(I believe?) also my wife sent a cheque for the full amount which they say has not been recieved - I giess due to postal strike. We have tried to contact thier number but they don't pick up and heres the real humdinger - its an 0870 number which from my virgin media phone is 10p a minute - my wife tried for over two hours.

What do you think I should do now? I will proably refute the calim because it is technically invalid and make a counter claim for the cost of tepelphne charges - what do you think? regards Peter

Hi all

 

To cut a long story short i recieved a train fine some time ago and decided to appeal against it. They fined me £20 plus another £20 for admin charges as the yhad to write to me twice.

 

Anyway as i didnt appeal within the 21 day timescale they are refusing to consider my appeal. They tell me i need to send a cheque in and thats it, case closed.

 

I dont mind paying the penalty fare even though i think this is excessive, however i refuse to pay another £20 for a late/admin charge.

 

Any advice

 

Thanks Marvin

sorry for the spelling mistakes just so furious with these people - peter

Helloo Everyone..

ii Just Need Help With Something.. ii Got Fined £20 on the spot last time i got on the train from Paddington to Slough... i Paid £10 of it on the spot, and they gave me a receipt, i gave them the wrong address but real name and date of birth, coz they asked for my Oyster card.. the inspector person said that they were going to check my details but he didn't say anything about it being wrong.. Oh and coz im under 18 he asked for my parent/guardian's name to check it.. so i gave the right name..

UNFORTUNATELY ii Lost the receipt and now i dont know what to do.. i went to paddington station today to try find out what to do but they said i should send a letter to Revenue Protection Support Services,Freepost P.O. Box 89, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 1YA. i got a cheque for 10 to send with the letter, but i dont know what i should adress the cheque to.. does anyone think that they'll fine me AGAIN, coz the deadline to give the money is 28th October..HELP!!

yh, my problem is some use my name and details othe southeastern rail services, and now i have to pay a £20 fine.

someone please help me what should i do?

Ring up the number on your letter, and talk to them. I did this, and actually had the whole charge dropped.

Admitedly in my case they were in the wrong, however when my dad rang them up, the woman didn't actually ask what happened. My dad just explained that the charge was somewhat extortionate, and the lady said that was fine, and dropped the charges. (I still can't believe they were that nice about it to this day).

But yea, give them a ring, and see what they say!

yh, my problem is some use my name and details othe southeastern rail services, and now i have to pay a £20 fine.

someone please help me what should i do?

asnwer my question man

yh, my problem is some use my name and details othe southeastern rail services, and now i have to pay a £20 fine.

someone please help me what should i do?

seriously:eek: i will give dem a ring asap! thanks mantisinc :)

Several things really bug me about this agency:

They are very inconsistent with the issuing of penalties. I commute on the train and every day I see guards catch people without tickets and allow them to buy a ticket on the spot. My 18 year old son also commute and having witnessed this general practice, tried it himself one day because the train was in the station and he didn't want to miss it. Guess what: the guard threw the book at him, refusing sell him a ticket or let him get off to buy one, despite the fact that the train hadn't left the station.

They are bullies who pick on young people. On another occasion, my son forgot his student railcard, but had a student ticket. Again, he met with an officious response; no sympathy, no leniency (despite his age being a pretty strong indicator of his student status) and a penalty fare.

The appeal process is a joke. On both of the above occasions, we have tried to appeal, but it has been a waste of time. All we get are standard responses which take no account of the circumstances or arguments presented and a reminder that extra fees will apply if we don't pay up quickly. On the second occasion, we sent the railcard details as requested within the time allotted, but they claim not to have received them. We appealed, but as above, got nowhere. We didn't send the letter by recorded delivery, so we haven't got a leg to stand on. These guys can't lose. It's a joke.

As I understand it, they are a debt collection agency paid for by the train operators. Their operations are approved by the Secretary of State. The problem is that the appeals process is administered by the same group who are no doubt working to penalty targets, so no surprise that my attempts to appeal have on both occasions been dismissed with little or no consideration. I also understand that both the government and the regulator have acknowledged the shortcomings of this situation.

So, does anyone have any ideas what can be done to challenge this faceless and seemingly impenetrable agency?

hi im stuck in a similar position to sm of u guys. i was wondering if some one can give me the fone no for revenue protection support services. my case is a bit extreme, i was racialy assulted by a first great western guard checking tickets and they have given me a £20 plus £20 admin fine. not fairr.

thanks

Hello everyone.

I need an advice.

On 24th of march i was traveling from Enfield Chase to Finsbury Park and i was issued the 20£ penalty fare because i was unable to produce a valid ticket.An authorised collector said that he would send me a letter with penalty fare notice within 1-2 weeks to my adress.I was planning to move out to another house at that time,so I gave him two adresses.

After that I was waiting for this letter to pay my penalty 3 weeks and it still didn't come.Then I moved to another house.

Today after 2 month I received 2 letters from my previous house's landlord,and was shocked to see that Revenue Protection Support Services charged me 40£ and calling me to court for not paying the penalty on time.

But how can I pay it if i didn't even see this letter?Why they didn't use my another adress which i gave them?I been everywhere and no one wants to help me,i've tried to call to RPSS office hudred times but no one pick ups the phone!!That just not fair!My hands are shaking,I don't know what to do!!

It is the standard fare as i boarded the train without a ticket, however what i am quierying is the £20 admin fee they have put on top as i didnt reply to the original letter in time. Can they do this? I mean £20 does seem a bit much.

 

Thanks Marvin

I have just recieved a full refund thanks to the help from local MP William Cash who went directly to the engine driver Metaphorically speaking. good luck from Patrick o malley.

I got a train fine not so long ago, and the conductor made me pay £10 of it there and then. I was really worried because I had no money, and the money I gave him wasn't even mine. The only reason I got the fine was because I couldn't find my rail card.

He specifically said to me that I will get my money back as long as I photo copy this receipt (it was a notice not a penalty) and photo copy my rail card to an address (he highlighted it for me). Which I did, the very next day.

Today I have received a letter saying that in 15 days if the outstanding balance (£19.60) is not paid by then a further £20 admin charge will be added. I generally do not have any money to spend.

I don't feel that I should get my money back because the conductor told me that I definitely would get it back. This is unfair.

I got a train fine not so long ago, and the conductor made me pay £10 of it there and then. I was really worried because I had no money, and the money I gave him wasn't even mine. The only reason I got the fine was because I couldn't find my rail card.

 

He specifically said to me that I will get my money back as long as I photo copy this receipt (it was a notice not a penalty) and photo copy my rail card to an address (he highlighted it for me). Which I did, the very next day.

 

Today I have received a letter saying that in 15 days if the outstanding balance (£19.60) is not paid by then a further £20 admin charge will be added. I generally do not have any money to spend.

 

I don't feel that I should get my money back because the conductor told me that I definitely would get it back. This is unfair.

you need to start your own thread.

dx

I can empathise with a lot of people on here for the treatment they have received by the ''men in black''.

When I travelled without a ticket, there was another woman in the same situation as myself without a ticket. Reaching my destination I told the guy on the exit door I did not have a ticket but would willingly pay as there was no guard on the train to ask. When approaching the ticket window I noticed how the woman who travelled the same journey as me was allowed through but he challenged me. So I challenged as to why he had let the other woman in front of me go when I knew for a fact she had no ticket? Having a noticable accent he then went on to threaten me with a penalty fare. I asked what his problem was with me as I had offered to pay the fare at the window (which was another hurdle!) and was not looking to dodge my train fare? All he could resort to was that it was an offence to travel without a ticket! I stood my ground and argued he was discriminating against me because of what reason? He then ignored this and issued me to pay at the window. I went forward and then was confronted AGAIN with the same problem with the guy behind the counter who had stood and listened to the debate. Who then went on to repeat some of what the guard had said. I immediately asked " what was his problem ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS PAY FOR MY JOURNEY!" I paid for my ticket and went on my way, furious at the way I had been treated. Once home, I wrote a letter of complaint to Southern Railways and provided the POP (proof of payment) for my journey but was questioning why was the treatment I received so OFFENSIVE when I was willing to pay.

SOUTHERN RAILWAYS ANSWER was to send me back a leaflet about £20 penalty fare. With a couple of lines stating the matter would be looked into and the guard dealt with by their own internal procedure. I was not convinced by this and knew it was dismissed to the bin.

Hence to say that guard is still there today [and he pulls the blind every time he sees me!!!!] LOL!!!

Hi I dont know if there is much I can do but any help would be great. I have had a problem with the Revenue Protection Support Services. I got on a train at Charing Cross heading to work using my oyster, I had just come from a job interview. My destination was Dartford however I had never travelled this way before as I usually get a bus to work and don't travel from central. However unknown to me was the fact that Dartford is not in the Oyster zone. On arrival I was fined £20 I paid the minimum of £2 on the spot. If I had known it wasn't in the zone I would of paid for a standard ticket. Anyway due to not getting job and working the fine totally slipped my mind. I then went away for just over two weeks. When I returned I had a letter saying that I needed to pay the fine. 3 days later I received another letter telling me I had £20 admin charge on top. I rang them up and they weren't very helpful stating I had to pay the full £38 when I offered to pay the the £18 charge and appeal the admin charge they refused to accept that offer and said I should appeal. I immediately typed a letter and posted it and then posted a 2nd letter a week later. On the 6th May they sent me another letter saying that they had added a second admin charge of £20 and if I didn't pay that I would be taken to court. Then on the 7th they sent another letter saying my appeal of the charges had been unsuccessful, so they charged me again even though I was awaiting the result of my appeal. I have now paid my fine but is there anyway I can report this and try to claim back the admin charges. I acted as they said yet I still got fined and charged £40. On top of that Oyster have taken £6 for the initial journey. I have paid £66 for this £6/ 7 journey. It is absolutely crazy. Any help would be much appreciated.

Hello and Welcome, Ramya.

I've started a new thread for you.

Thanks for the 'heads up' HB

Scott.