€100 fine for no ticket on train, even though I paid €22 for it

pulpfictionost

I left my ticket worth €22 on the counter at train station, and got €100 fine for not having a ticket on the train. Should i just ignore it when it arrives?
This is particularly sick because if i was a fare dodger i would have only had to pay 100 but now im paying 122. How can i get out of this? Can i get cctv footage of myself paying for the ticket?

Cookie_Monster

pulpfictionost wrote: »

I left my ticket worth €22 on the counter at train station, and got €100 fine for not having a ticket on the train. Should i just ignore it when it arrives?

no, do not ignore it. It will only get bigger. In fairness you didn't have a ticket with you while on the train. I would go back to the station and see if you get proof of buying the ticket, from staff member or cctv and appeal it.

gmale

Its not the conductors fault that you didnt have the ticket on you. Dont blame him and hopefully you didnt get argumentative with him.

Dont ignore but certainly appeal it. As the previous poster said go to the ticket office and see if they have CCTV or if the person behind the counter can remember you. Check to see if somebody found the ticket and returned it, from that they will be able check the ticket against the data base and see that you purchased it before the time of the fine. Did you pay with cash or (hopefully) laser/credit card?

But...you didnt have the ticket on you and it is your responsibility to ensure that you have all of the appropriate documentation. So even if you can prove that you purchased a ticket, you still didnt have it on you. Most likely it will be left up to somebody to determine if the fine should be enforced so when you are dealing with Irish Rail, either on the phone, in person or through post/email...be polite, be corteous, be friendly. You screwed up, not them!

mickydoomsux

Yeah OP if you have proof or can get it from the company then you should be alright.

As others have said, it's your fault for forgetting your ticket. The checker has no proof that you ever had a ticket so that's why you got the fine.

lucernarian

Just on a small point, these sort of threads can have a number of posts quick to point out that the rules were breached etc. But in this case, the OP was quite reasonable. I didn't see him/her blaming anyone. It won't help to chide someone even further when they've already appeared to accept the mistake (and breach of rule). It often riles people up and I've seen enough flame wars break out on the internet stemming from suchlike.

Terrontress

If I were to buy a ticket, give it to a friend and then both of us get on the train. I get a fine, he doesn't as he has a ticket. I then send in the Laser or Credit Card evidence or ask them to check their CCTV.

Will that get me off?

sellerbarry

Quick question. If you left it on counter, how did you get through the stiles without it?;)

Oliver1985

They have heard all the excuses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUTF8DMVvmM

corktina

Terrontress wrote: »

If I were to buy a ticket, give it to a friend and then both of us get on the train. I get a fine, he doesn't as he has a ticket. I then send in the Laser or Credit Card evidence or ask them to check their CCTV.

Will that get me off?

excellently put. Its impossible to distinguish genuine error from fraud usally so don't lose your ticket, or if you do, go back to the ticket office straight away and explain. Make sure you dont get on the train without a ticket under anycircumstances if you dont want a fine

murphym7

Furthermore - forget about using CCTV. This isn't a TV show or a movie, there is not a hope in hell in gettign them to either hand over tapes or review tapes for you.

Best bet is proof of purchase - but I don't know what the offense is exactly though. Is the offense not having a ticket to produce or not having a ticket purchased? Big difference there.

goingnowhere

Legally under data protection act you can get the CCTV

The offense is not to have a valid ticket when challenged

murphym7

goingnowhere wrote: »

Legally under data protection act you can get the CCTV

The offense is not to have a valid ticket when challenged

Did not know that about the CCTV footage - thanks. (murphym7 gets off high horse!!:o)

SteM

goingnowhere wrote: »

Legally under data protection act you can get the CCTV

I was told something different recently. Can you provide a link to where it says otherwise, I'd find it useful.

NuMarvel

SteM wrote: »

I was told something different recently. Can you provide a link to where it says otherwise, I'd find it useful.

From the Data Protection Commissioner's guidance on Data Protection and CCTV:

Access Requests

Any person whose image has been recorded has a right to be given a copy of the information recorded. To exercise that right, a person must make an application in writing. A data controller may charge up to €6.35 for responding to such a request and must respond within 40 days.

Practically, a person should provide necessary information to a data controller, such as the date, time and location of the recording. If the image is of such poor quality as not to clearly identify an individual, that image may not be considered to be personal data.

In giving a person a copy of his/her data, the data controller may provide a still/series of still pictures, a tape or a disk with relevant images. However, other people's images should be obscured before the data are released.

BrianD

goingnowhere wrote: »

Legally under data protection act you can get the CCTV

The offense is not to have a valid ticket when challenged

But would it be a reasonable request under the act when it's not a major incident? There was no question of a privacy issue while the person was under the gaze of CCTV nor did anything occur other than the omission of the person.

Having said that, he has 28 days from the event date to get his request in. Plus there may be a fee.

NuMarvel

BrianD wrote: »

But would it be a reasonable request under the act when it's not a major incident? There was no question of a privacy issue while the person was under the gaze of CCTV nor did anything occur other than the omission of the person.

Having said that, he has 28 days from the event date to get his request in. Plus there may be a fee.

The Data Protection Commissoner's website doesn't mention anything about there needing to be a major incident in order to access the data. It's simply a case that if an organisation holds information about you (including CCTV images), then you are entitled to know what that data is, what reason the data is held, (probably obvious enough with CCTV), and request to have the data changed if it's incorrect (not really relevant for CCTV, but it's there none the less).