Hello there I'm a 20 year old student who was lucky enough to be caught out by a revenues inspector before we'd even left the first stop (penzance).. i got the whole 'you dont have to say anything' etc followed by a set of questions. I chose to comply, i have a railcard, im not a train hopper, i wasn't hiding in the toilet, i was short for time as i was relying on a lift to the station and so i ran onto the train at the last minute. after the set of questions and after i spent time arguing my point, he told me i would receive a letter which would be a caution along with the cost of the ticket, no more, no less. I double checked this with him and he told me the fine would be no more than the ticket; £12. (12 quid max without railcard) i thought that was fair enough. ive just received the letter and its charging me 90 odd pounds after the cost of the ticket which he refused to sell to me on the spot. i will be ringing up tomorrow to contest this as i think its extremely unfair to treat a user of the trains this way, especially after a first offence. i buy tickets every time and i own a railcard and to be treated this way is a little upsetting, especially as i was told it wouldn't cost more than the ticket. I didn't even know i was committing an offence, i thought well if you havent left the station you havent stolen anything, right? its like arresting a person in a shop for stealing an item before theyve even tried to leave the shop! Another thing to point out is i ALWAYS get on the train from a station which doesn't have facilities to buy a ticket, which is fine with the workers, so of course i am a little out of habit Id appreciate any advice or buzzwords i can mention to them on the phone that will help my case, i'd also like to hear your opinions. am i in the wrong here? i think a railcard is proof alone that i pay for the service. Thanks

Hello Please advise! I have recieved a letter stating I travelled/attempted to travel with being in possession of a ticket from first great Western. There's a cost of £86 if I pay by 30/01 and I'm livid that I have been criminalised by this company. I am a commuter and regularly purchase tickets on this service which can be proved from bank statements. This is the first time I have been sent a letter of this nature. On the day of travel it happened to be the first time I forgot my wallet fortunately I had cash, however the machine at the station does not accept cash (only method of getting ticket). I had my bike with me on the train and had to stand with it due to how busy it was. I was unable to purchase a ticket from the guard either because his machine was not working or there wasn't enough time before the final stop. I cannot remember. I arrived at the station and requested to purchase a ticket as I have done so before and they decided to take my details. Trying to explain the situation and the guard being a stubborn [edited] he got the police involved At which point I caved in. Was sick that a company I have used for so long would treat me with such disrespect criminalise me and He asked me some questions which he wrote down as evidence - none of which were related to my payment method - I refused to sign as he misquoted at least one of my answers. 1. Do I have a case? 2. How do I fight my case? 3. Who do I contact? Please help!!

Due to FGW trains running half an hour late today our guest has been left stranded. She needed to get from Truro up to Plymouth to catch a Megabus onward to London Victoria and from there to Bracknell. However, the 14:42 train was late by half an hour, meaning she would arrive in Plymouth just as the Megabus was leaving Plymouth. Catching the later train and Megabus would have left her stranded in London overnight, so that option is not viable. We contacted Megabus to see if we could transfer her ticket for today to Monday but they have refused as we have given less than 24hrs notice, and told us that FGW should provide a refund for the entire journey. FGW have told us that all they will do is refund the ticket from Truro to Plymouth and are not responsible 'for consequential losses'. Surely as FGW have caused this problem they should do more to help? And I fil to see how Megabus would lose out financially by transferring the tickets from today to Monday? Meanwhile, our teenage guess is now stranded in Truro, and Passenger Focus have advised that it will take them 5 days to respond to our complaint. Does anyone have any advice please? tyvmia

Hi, this is my first post. I was stopped today by a FGW enforcement team as I got off the train at Windsor. The issue is I had used my wife's monthly ticket for the journey from Slough. I had actually driven from Uxbridge where I work to Slough to meet my wife who was on the train from Paddington; she had a patient to see in Burnham (she's a physio) so there seemed little point in her completing her usual journey to Windsor to then drive back so we did a swap; she took the car, I took her ticket (with photo ID). We didn't think it would be an issue, the ticket had been paid for and only one person was doing the journey. the enforcement officers didn't agree; they confiscated her ticket (so now she'll have to either buy a new one or dailys until it is returned, if it is returned) we are losing money there and i may be faced with prosecution. They didn't mention a fine so i feel i'm completely in no man's land. The journey to Windsor from Slough costs £2.30, the idea of a hefty fine and possible criminal record over such a stupid mistake is really scary. There was no intent to fair dodge, we felt as a couple we'd paid and had a valid ticket. Also one of the enforcement officers said when asked that if i'd had no ticket at all I'd have just been fined… so to FGW it seems it's worse to have your wife's valid ticket than no ticket at all. Any advice on what I should do would be very much appreciated.

Hi My boyfriend and I got caught trying to catch a short fare. I have received my fine and paid it (last Friday 12/7/13) but his has yet to come through. We both know we were in the wrong and are willing to pay the fine, but we have a problem that we are going away soon for over a month. As FGW only give you 10 days to pay the fine before they take you to court, does anyone know of any measures he can take before we leave in case it arrives while we're away? He doesn't want to go through the whole prosecution process just because we weren't here to pay the fine. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Yesterday I bought a train ticket on the FGW website which I then collected from a FGW ticket machine at a FGW station. It was an open ticket where I could return on a different day. As soon as I collected it I realised that I had bought the ticket the wrong way round - i.e from place B to place A rather than place A to place B. This means that as it stands I can travel out on the 'return' part as it's valid for one month but I can't get back on the 'out' part as it's tied to a specific day. My mistake, but a genuine one. I've done this a few times before, and it's always been a simple matter to get this sorted - the clerk just sells me a new ticket, and then voids and refunds the original one. A few days later the money goes back on my card and all is well with the world. But this was always at a ticket office. This time I've been informed that the ticket machine counts as a 'different location' (even though it's at the station I collected it from) and so they can't do that. In order to process a refund at a 'different location' I will be charged an administration fee of £10. Since the ticket only cost £7.55, this means that effectively I can't get it refunded as the admin charge is more than just buying a new ticket. The clerk suggested that I should probably just board the train anyway and explain to the guard (and the people on the ticket gates who will need to let me through) what had happened. The problem with that is that this area is part of a penalty fares scheme and there are some extremely jobsworths guards about. Doing that could risk me being charged £20 for the journey. As it stands I've had to buy a new ticket and am now stuck with another ticket I don't want and intend to make complaints to get it refunded. As I bought it online I thought I'd be protected by the Distance Selling regulations but apparently these exclude contracts to provide transport. Could their policy be considered a breach of The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts legislation? It seems very wrong to provide a refund process which costs more to use than the cost of the purchase - essentially they are advertising a process which can't be used in my case. It also seems wrong that if I go back to the original location (as in a ticket office) they would have refunded without an admin fee but in this case the £10 is for the service of being refunded from a 'different location' when they are providing no way of being refunded from the actual location (i.e. the ticket machine itself) which also seems wrong. I'm particularly irked when I spend about £2000 / year on rail travel, almost all of which is on First Great Western, to then be treated like this!

OK guys,a rather unusual one here. I was travelling on a FGW train from Exeter-Cornwall. Just before Plymouth station, the cleaner came through the train asking for any rubbish to be collected. As I hadn't got anything that needed to be taken, I just said No and went back to my book. I turned back in time to see him taking a paper bag out of my holdall which was on the seat next to me and throwing it into the sack. I yelled at him to stop but it was too late-it had been put in there . By then,people were getting up to get up at the station, and he got to the doorway before I could .I managed to get hold of the Train Manager and explained the situation, and was told that there was nothing they could do-once it was in the sack and had been taken off the train,it would be incinerated. 44 Besides some odds and sods, it also had in my wallet with my onward ticket and railcard and about £30 in cash. I've put in a complaint, but I've been told that even though it was their fault, there is nothing they can do unless I can provide proof of purchase for the railcard and proof of what else was in there. It was not just left unguarded, but was actually inside my property sitting next to me when it was taken. What to do next?

Hi I'm 16, will be 17 in the coming weeks. I was caught travelling on a child ticket on the return leg of my journey recently (TOC was First Transpennine Express), and the RPI wouldn't excess my ticket, so I had my name, address, dob, etc taken down in his notebook. He advised that I would receive a letter from the Prosecutions dept. Should I pre-emptively write to the department offering to pay the fare+admin costs or should I await the letter? Also, what region should I be looking at for the total cost with admin fee (just an estimate)? It was approx £28 for the child return, so the adult fare would have been double that. Also, what timeframe should I be awaiting a letter in? I rang the Prosecutions dept yesterday and was told it 'may take 2-3weeks' but I've seen up to 6 months on CAG? As irrelevant as it is, I did genuinely believe that 16 year olds could travel on a child ticket, but I accept it was my fault for not checking and at the first opportunity will offer my unmitigated apologies to FGW(?) for this. I was issued a Zero-Fare excess for the journey and had my ticket retained by the rpi. The reverse of the zero-fare says that the original ticket was kept due to a ticketing irregularity. I can't have a criminal record for my future career, hence why I am keen to ensure this doesn't go to court and I plan to outline this in the letter I send to FGW. Thanks for your help.