The Gastepo on the Cork Commuter

Drimnagh Road

Iarnród Éireann threatens teens with conviction

By Eoin English

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

IARNRÓD ÉIREANN has threatened two teenagers with a criminal conviction for fare evasion after a "mistake" over student travel cards.
National Rail Users Ireland, the lobby group which represents rail passengers, criticised the company’s heavy-handed approach and called last night for the establishment of an independent appeals body to hear such cases.

Chris Bohane, 18, and his friend Tara McCarthy, 18, from Cork, were fined €100 for travelling on a student ticket with what they thought were valid student cards.

The friends are now facing a court appearance after the company refused to accept they had made a mistake, and refused to accept a bank draft they offered to cover the fare difference.

"We never set out to avoid the fare," Chris said.

"The company’s customer service is terrible. I raised loads of issues in my letters, all of which have been ignored. The company has been totally dismissive of us.

"Court is the last place I want to be but I am prepared to go to court because I genuinely feel wronged."

The friends booked the discounted €45 student fare online for a return rail journey from Cork to Dublin.

A warning sign pops up during the payment process which warns students that they must have a valid Iarnród Éireann Student Travel Card, issued by the rail company through the dedicated studentravelcard.ie website.

But Chris and Tara have the internationally recognised Irish Secondary Students Union card, issued through the studentcard.ie website.

They mistakenly thought their student cards would be accepted by the rail company.

They boarded a train in Cork and their tickets were inspected without incident.

They boarded the return train and their tickets were inspected again, without incident.

They were almost home when an inspector, who boarded at Mallow, checked their tickets and issued them with a €100 fare evasion fine each. The pair were told they had the wrong student cards and would also have to pay the full €66 fare.

Chris wrote to the company disputing its fare evasion claim, and explained that it was a genuine mistake over the student cards.

He sent a bank draft for €50 to cover the difference between the two student fares and the full adult fare.

But the company said it has adopted a very strict policy in relation to ticketing and penalty fares, and refused to accept the payment.

"You committed an offence when you failed to abide by the terms and conditions regarding student ticketing," the company said in a letter.

"You’ve committed an offence and were issued a fixed penalty. You have not paid the penalty within the set period and now are leaving me with the option of prosecuting you for fare evasion."

The company warned a conviction would result in a hefty fine and a criminal conviction.

A company spokesman defended the get-tough approach.

"For some time now we have been implementing a zero policy on people who fail to purchase or produce a valid travel ticket," spokesman Barry Kenny said.

He said the company’s website warning about valid student cards is very clear and that it is the responsibility of each passenger to adhere to the terms and conditions of travel.

But the Rail Users Ireland said this case highlights several issues of concern.

"Fare evasion has to be tackled but the response has to be proportional to the offence," spokesman Mark Gleeson said. "If you start punishing people for honest mistakes, no one will travel by train."

He also said the case highlights flaws in the company’s ticket inspection system, and inconsistencies in its approach.

Mr Gleeson said the inspectors should have spotted the tickets problem in Cork, and that the teenagers should have been warned, and made pay the full fare there and then.

"This case highlights the need for an independent appeals operation like they have in London," he said.

Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/iarnrod-eireann-threatens-teens-with-conviction-162182.html#ixzz1TQyQXPOi

Hilly Bill

Fares will only keep going up if people keep paying the wrong fare mistake or not.
They could raise the point that their tickets was checked and accepted twice beforehand so taking it to court seems unfair.

Judgement Day

You have to hand it to IE they have a truly great PR Department. Talk about own goals and the idea that George Hook's lovechild referred people to the IE website to look for information......

Hilly Bill

How is it an own goal?

Judgement Day

Hilly Bill wrote: »

How is it an own goal?

No you're right. It's great publicity for CIE who already have a reputation that's in the gutter. They are losing business hand over fist and their staff are so inefficient that they can't even check tickets properly and nip the whole problem in the bud. Then their PR supremo tells people they should have checked the website. Anybody outside of NASA would have a job understanding anything on that website.

Cookie_Monster

Our best and brightest those two, can't even figure out the correct card

Drimnagh Road

There's one rule for one, another for others.

It that was Macker and Podge smoking and travelling without their welfare pass while sitting in first class playing 90s tekno at full whack, that same RPI guy wouldn't have bothered due to lack of interest. I see it on the LUAS daily, they get thrown off at a stop and wait for the next one to come. Meanwhile, a man in a suit who accidentially goes one stop too far would be fined.

If I found myself in that situation, where I genuinely made a mistake, I'd say to the RPI guy fair enough and give him a fake name.

If Irish Rail don't play fair, why should the honest fare paying customers who subsidise ridiculous practices in this monstrocity of a semi-state, for example I believe a driver who relocates to Drogheda depot from Dublin is on €60 expenses a day, is that FAIR?

Hilly Bill

Judgement Day wrote: »

No you're right. It's great publicity for CIE who already have a reputation that's in the gutter. They are losing business hand over fist and their staff are so inefficient that they can't even check tickets properly and nip the whole problem in the bud. Then their PR supremo tells people they should have checked the website. Anybody outside of NASA would have a job understanding anything on that website.

Would you have agreed if they had been caught and fined at the first check ? Have you an issue with the ticket checkers who may have only been lenient with the 2 and let them away with it?
The website is straight forward enough.

Hilly Bill

Drimnagh Road wrote: »

There's one rule for one, another for others.

It that was Macker and Podge smoking and travelling without their welfare pass while sitting in first class playing 90s tekno at full whack, that same RPI guy wouldn't have bothered due to lack of interest. I see it on the LUAS daily, they get thrown off at a stop and wait for the next one to come. Meanwhile, a man in a suit who accidentially goes one stop too far would be fined.

If I found myself in that situation, where I genuinely made a mistake, I'd say to the RPI guy fair enough and give him a fake name.

If Irish Rail don't play fair, why should the honest fare paying customers who subsidise ridiculous practices in this monstrocity of a semi-state, for example I believe a driver who relocates to Drogheda depot from Dublin is on €60 expenses a day, is that FAIR?

Yes its fair and its not €60 Why mention things that happen on the luas when making a point against Irish Rail? the 2 are not the same company.

Drimnagh Road

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Would you have agreed if they had been caught and fined at the first check ? Have you an issue with the ticket checkers who may have only been lenient with the 2 and let them away with it?
The website is straight forward enough.

The ticket bert on the barrier at Cork Station should have checked their i.d when the lads presented their student tickets, it's a basic principle of a ticket man's job.

"No i.d. lads - you don't get through this gate, you'll need to buy a new standard walk up fare"

That's what they have a ticket checker at the gates for,

although nowadays they are probably specifically there to hand out that famous free magazine.

Drimnagh Road

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Yes its fair and its not €60 Why mention things that happen on the luas when making a point against Irish Rail? the 2 are not the same company.

The point is that there is one rule for working class / middle class, and another, fairer rule for scroungers.

Irish Rail, Dublin Bus, Luas, TV Licence, Crime... I can go on.

Judgement Day

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Would you have agreed if they had been caught and fined at the first check ? Have you an issue with the ticket checkers who may have only been lenient with the 2 and let them away with it?
The website is straight forward enough.

I have little time for most of the platform staff at Cork at the best of times and they should have done their jobs thoroughly and asked to see the student cards. Incidentally, I think that you're unique amongst anybody posting here in thinking that IE's website is straightforward. It's a bad joke and even IE admitted to me in an email last week that it is to undergo a serious revamp.

mickydoomsux

Judgement Day wrote: »

Anybody outside of NASA would have a job understanding anything on that website.

There's a link for the Student Travel Card on the frontpage of the website.

AARGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH, i'm confused. Quick, call an expert :eek:

Hilly Bill

Its easy enough to check for ID when you havent got a crowd of people coming towards you. There would be more complaints if people was delayed because every single ticket is checked for at the barrier. Once the lad at the gate sees a ticket during a rush he is happy. If the 2 went through the automatic gates by putting the ticket in it then it will open the gate as it will read it as a valid.
Its up to each passenger to make sure they have a valid ticket before travelling as they will be liable to prosecution if caught without one.
To combat fare dodging , Irish Rail have to be seen to be prosecuting people for it no matter how unfair people might see it. The excuse that it was a genuine mistake is no excuse otherwise we would all be doing it.

Hilly Bill

Drimnagh Road wrote: »

The point is that there is one rule for working class / middle class, and another, fairer rule for scroungers.

Irish Rail, Dublin Bus, Luas, TV Licence, Crime... I can go on.

Same rule but they are not going to catch everyone but i know where you are coming from.

Hilly Bill

Judgement Day wrote: »

I have little time for most of the platform staff at Cork at the best of times and they should have done their jobs thoroughly and asked to see the student cards. Incidentally, I think that you're unique amongst anybody posting here in thinking that IE's website is straightforward. It's a bad joke and even IE admitted to me in an email last week that it is to undergo a serious revamp.

Ive no time for Cork either

You would be the first to complain if you was stopped and asked for a ticket and asked for ID.

ardmacha

There are two issues here.
If genuine mistakes are going to be penalised then some effort should be made to prevent them. This might mean checking the travelcard at the ticket barrier, but it could also mean requiring people to enter their travelcard number on the website when buying tickets.
Secondly penalties in such cases should be proportionate and not set for administrative convenience. These people were entitled to a travel card, but didn't buy one. Iarnród Éireann didn't lose a large amount of revenue in this case, so a smaller fine would have been in order than a person without a ticket or a person not entitled to a travelcard using a student ticket.

Judgement Day

mickydoomsux wrote: »

There's a link for the Student Travel Card on the frontpage of the website.

AARGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH, i'm confused. Quick, call an expert :eek:

Ah, I was wondering how long it would be before you appeared. I was not referring to the Student Travel Card in particular when I said that the website was a shambles and I think you know that. Just had a look at the site again now and the Student Travel Card info appears more like an Ad. than an instruction in how to book your student fare - anyway it's a long time since I was a student.

Referring to Cork in particular, while I have known quite a few very nice loco drivers and inspectors there I have always found the barrier staff fairly officious and unhelpful in common with their brothers in Dublin. I'll leave it at that.

kirving

Iarnrod Eireann have lost practically nothing over this anyway, because the pair were entitled to a card in the first place. It's not as though they we're older and should have been paying the full fare. It sounds like an honest mistake, it should be treated as one instead of this jobsworth crap.

(Oh and I know the Student TravelCard isn't free, but the price is nominal and they're sometimes free in college too.)

Hilly Bill

The point is that the person booking the tickets must have read where it says what cards are accepted to avail of the fares and continued with the booking knowing that they dont have a valid one which means it wasnt a mistake on their part.

highlydebased

The way I look at this is that it's been drawn out into an unnecessary protracted mess. A mutual solution could well have been reached (Yeah I know rules are rules, but where's the fun in sticking to the rulebook word for word, full stop for full stop?)- the pair already offered the difference in the fare. It's pretty obvious the pair of them are students as it stands. So for these two, they now have a tainted view of IE, as will their families and friends and as a result you have a group of people who will be reluctant to use the train again- This needs only happen a few people and lo and behold you have an increasing number of people who see IE in bad light because they or an aquintance have been presented with an unfair fine due to genuine human error.

They SHOULD be checking student ID if a student ticket is presented and hence these problems would not be happening.

Victor

Hilly Bill wrote: »

The point is that the person booking the tickets must have read where it says what cards are accepted to avail of the fares and continued with the booking knowing that they dont have a valid one which means it wasnt a mistake on their part.

In fairness, the Union of Secondary Students may be doing their members a disservice.

studenttravelcard.ie
studentcard.ie

But Chris and Tara have the internationally recognised Irish Secondary Students Union card, issued through the studentcard.ie website.

Interestingly ISSU appears to be disbanded and their website redirects to a twitter account. studentcard.ie is run by USIT.

blackdog2

IE need to differentiate. They can't call it a student ticket, as anyone with a student card can claim the same thing if these 2 succeed. It is as if it is intentionally confusing. Why not call it a 16-25 ticket or somesuch, and rename the CIE Id card with the same name(idea taken from the uk where people think about these things)

CramCycle

I remember huge fuss a few years ago when I was an undergrad complaining that there was a legal entitlement of any state transport service to provide a student fare and that a HEA card is proof enough.

Does anyone remember this? I remember UCDSU planning to boycott studentcard.ie etc but then the union got some ad money and it stopped being complained about. The future politicians of our country.

highlydebased

blackdog2 wrote: »

IE need to differentiate. They can't call it a student ticket, as anyone with a student card can claim the same thing if these 2 succeed. It is as if it is intentionally confusing. Why not call it a 16-25 ticket or somesuch, and rename the CIE Id card with the same name(idea taken from the uk where people think about these things)

To add to the confusion we also have an IE issued 16-25 railcard (previously called a faircard)

Rock of Gibraltar

CramCycle wrote: »

I remember huge fuss a few years ago when I was an undergrad complaining that there was a legal entitlement of any state transport service to provide a student fare and that a HEA card is proof enough.

Does anyone remember this? I remember UCDSU planning to boycott studentcard.ie etc but then the union got some ad money and it stopped being complained about. The future politicians of our country.

Yeah around 2007 I think, I remember reading in the Uni Observer that CIE forcing students to purchase a CIE student card to get the student rates was potentially illegal, I can't remember which law this was under.

I hope these kids do a Norris, all the way to Europe.

DWCommuter

The CIE student card is nothing more than a money making exercise. If their policy is to be respected, then every other business that offers a student discount, should introduce its own personalised card. Considering the amount of student discounts that are awarded on the basis of a valid school/college/uni card, you have to really wonder why CIE insist on being so different.

Monty Burnz

Drimnagh Road wrote: »

The point is that there is one rule for working class / middle class, and another, fairer rule for scroungers.

Irish Rail, Dublin Bus, Luas, TV Licence, Crime... I can go on.

Well, I'd say the rule is fair for decent people (pay or get trouble - that's fair enough) and it's very unfair for scummers (do whatever you like - how is that fair?)...

Hilly Bill

blackdog2 wrote: »

IE need to differentiate. They can't call it a student ticket, as anyone with a student card can claim the same thing if these 2 succeed. It is as if it is intentionally confusing. Why not call it a 16-25 ticket or somesuch, and rename the CIE Id card with the same name(idea taken from the uk where people think about these things)

Whats confusing about it? It clearly says when booking online like these did that you need either an Irish Rail student card or an Interlink student card. They didnt have either of these yet they still went on with the booking and got caught out.

Hilly Bill

DWCommuter wrote: »

The CIE student card is nothing more than a money making exercise. If their policy is to be respected, then every other business that offers a student discount, should introduce its own personalised card. Considering the amount of student discounts that are awarded on the basis of a valid school/college/uni card, you have to really wonder why CIE insist on being so different.

The discount the card offers is greater than the amount being charged for the card .

dowlingm

The Gastepo? So, you can pick them out of a crowd by the "Fart Police" on the back of their jackets, yeah?

Also - to compare the ability to get discounted train tickets to Norris vs Ireland is a bit precious.

KCAccidental

My girlfriend got fined for a similar thing last april. she is a foreign student who was studying in UCC at the time and thought that her ID card would acceptable (like in her home country of Germany (where students get free public transport) and most other EU countries).

she admitted to me that she found the IE website very hard to understand, especially as english isnt her first language. she was fined the full 100 quid despite having the cash to make up the difference on her and was shown up in front of the whole carriage.

i thought it was a disgraceful way to treat someone who had never used the Irish rail service before. she refused to travel with them again. (making me get 2 buses from cork to belfast!)

i understand that they have rules to follow, but the saving from the student card to the normal one way fare was about 8 quid. seems really unreasonable behaviour for what was an honest mistake.

Cookie_Monster

KCAccidental wrote: »

My girlfriend got fined for a similar thing last april. she is a foreign student who was studying in UCC at the time and thought that her ID card would acceptable (like in her home country of Germany (where students get free public transport) and most other EU countries).

plenty of other things you can do in Germany you can't do here either, silly assumption to make.

Judgement Day

Proof, yet again, that CIE/IE can't organise a ......:D

parsi

Many moons ago I was involved with the SU in UL. At the time we disassociated ourselves from USI for some reason and we had to make special representations with ICE management to allow our members purchase student tickets as the travelcard at the time was issued as part of USI membership.

At this stage student fares should be available to anybody with an id card from a relevant institution (not mockya colleges like "The JD College of Ferrovial Studies).

Of course we have the perennial problem of the RPU being more inclined to check ordinary paying customers rather than the "I've a pass, bud" brigade.

Regarding the Cork checkers - they're a different lazy ignorant breed.

Regarding Germany - I wasn't aware that students travel free. The BVG doesn't seem to be aware of it either http://www.bvg.de/index.php/de/214248/name/Semesterticket.html

highlydebased

parsi wrote: »

Many moons ago I was involved with the SU in UL. At the time we disassociated ourselves from USI for some reason and we had to make special representations with ICE management to allow our members purchase student tickets as the travelcard at the time was issued as part of USI membership.

At this stage student fares should be available to anybody with an id card from a relevant institution (not mockya colleges like "The JD College of Ferrovial Studies).

Of course we have the perennial problem of the RPU being more inclined to check ordinary paying customers rather than the "I've a pass, bud" brigade.

Regarding the Cork checkers - they're a different lazy ignorant breed.

Regarding Germany - I wasn't aware that students travel free. The BVG doesn't seem to be aware of it either http://www.bvg.de/index.php/de/214248/name/Semesterticket.html

It seems the problem with letting people use ID cards from a college is that some of them don't have an expiry date. So you could have graduated and still be using it. That said, nothing stopping them from accepting the ID's which DO have an expiry date...

corktina

Drimnagh Road wrote: »

If I found myself in that situation, where I genuinely made a mistake, I'd say to the RPI guy fair enough and give him a fake name.

?

is it any wonder they have (or try to have ) a zero tolerance policy!

killbillvol2

In fairness to Ianrod Eireann, and I'm loath to defend them, the pop up when you try to buy a student ticket couldn't be clearer. These two are either thick or they were chancing their arm.

As to "staff" at Cork...:mad:

bk

killbillvol2 wrote: »

In fairness to Ianrod Eireann, and I'm loath to defend them, the pop up when you try to buy a student ticket couldn't be clearer. These two are either thick or they were chancing their arm.

I work as a software engineer and do UI design.

There is a lot of very interesting psychology around software UI design (and hundreds of books on it!!), two points jump to mind here:

1) Most people don't read pop-up boxes, they just click ok (Hey do you ever read the stupid Terms and Conditions that pop up when installing most software?)

2) Most people don't read what is in front of them and when they do they only skim it typically actually reading 1 in every 4 letters and also skip words *.

So it would be very simple for the majority of people to mix up studenttravelcard.ie and studentcard.ie

It is like people totally missing the gorilla in the middle of a group of dancing people when they are asked to count the number of dancers (this is a famous psychology observance test that most people fail miserably).

* Many studies have been done that have found for the most part people can read and understand text by only reading about 1 in every 4 letters. In the UI business there is a whole specialised industry of tech writers who write docs and messages that confirm to this fact and they actually have specialised tests for checking if the text is still accurate and understandable and to avoid confusions like this.

So these two aren't thick or stupid, they just fall into the majority of people and the way that the human mind works and perceives the world.

This is why UI design is such an important and specialised field and also why the IR site is so terrible.

This problem could be easily solved by requiring the ticket purchaser to enter their student travel card number to buy a student ticket.

I don't think there was any malice or intent at fair dodging here, not for the sake of a €8 card, I think it was an honest mistake and IR should have accepted the offer to pay the difference.

IR look really bad in this situation and just look like inflexible bullies.

KCAccidental

parsi wrote: »

Regarding Germany - I wasn't aware that students travel free. The BVG doesn't seem to be aware of it either http://www.bvg.de/index.php/de/214248/name/Semesterticket.html

yes apologies, i confused myself with that. as far as i remember Students can avail of free off-peak regional public transport and not national transport. this is certainly the case in Baden-Wurttemburg (where my gf studies) and in schleswig-holstein where i will be studying next year.

Cookie Monster wrote:

plenty of other things you can do in Germany you can't do here either, silly assumption to make.

im not sure it is a silly assumption to make considering that her in date UCC id card was accepted everywhere else as proof of being a student.

indeed I used to work in golden discs which up until a couple of years ago only accepted USIT cards for student discounts. Then they realised that all the people we were turning away with valid student ids were giving the company a bad rep and changed their policy.

invinciblePRSTV

Happened to me 4 years or so ago, and has happened to many of my cohort over the years who, like I, made the mistake of assuming the student card I had was valid when purchasing an Irish Rail student ticket, a common one to make seeing as IR's sister company Bus Eireann always accepted student cards issued by the institution when purchasing student tickets.

As mentioned by DW Commuter, the scheme IR operate is just a handy little number, it seems almost designed to dissuade students from travelling with IR.

I don't feel much guilt these days when I favour the car/plane or bus when travelling round the country, or skip on without paying on Cork commuter services, FU Irish Rail.

Niles

invinciblePRSTV wrote: »

Happened to me 4 years or so ago, and has happened to many of my cohort over the years who, like I, made the mistake of assuming the student card I had was valid when purchasing an Irish Rail student ticket, a common one to make seeing as IR's sister company Bus Eireann always accepted student cards issued by the institution when purchasing student tickets.

As mentioned by DW Commuter, the scheme IR operate is just a handy little number, it seems almost designed to dissuade students from travelling with IR.

Have to agree with this. I know the rules are there, spelled out in front of you when you book, but in all fairness IÉ seem to be making things more awkward than they need to be. Bus Éireann accept any student card, in my opinion IÉ, DB and Luas should look into the same. I'm aware of the reasons they aren't, but it's just over commercialisation and complication of a relatively simple thing. Of course I don't blame checkers on the ground, they're only doing their job, but IÉ management seriously need to review this. They're only alienating potential customers at the end of the day.

Ok, so someone could make up a fake college card, but if all college cards had an official symbol/counterfoil or something like that it might make it a bit easier.

highlydebased wrote: »

It seems the problem with letting people use ID cards from a college is that some of them don't have an expiry date. So you could have graduated and still be using it. That said, nothing stopping them from accepting the ID's which DO have an expiry date...

When I was in UCD there was certainly an expiry date on the card. In any case it can't be that complicated to get the colleges to make this standard.

Drimnagh Road wrote: »

The ticket bert on the barrier at Cork Station should have checked their i.d when the lads presented their student tickets, it's a basic principle of a ticket man's job.

Ticket bert?

parsi

Niles wrote: »

invinciblePRSTV wrote: »

Happened to me 4 years or so ago, and has happened to many of my cohort over the years who, like I, made the mistake of assuming the student card I had was valid when purchasing an Irish Rail student ticket, a common one to make seeing as IR's sister company Bus Eireann always accepted student cards issued by the institution when purchasing student tickets.

As mentioned by DW Commuter, the scheme IR operate is just a handy little number, it seems almost designed to dissuade students from travelling with IR.

Have to agree with this. I know the rules are there, spelled out in front of you when you book, but in all fairness IÉ seem to be making things more awkward than they need to be. Bus Éireann accept any student card, in my opinion IÉ, DB and Luas should look into the same. I'm aware of the reasons they aren't, but it's just over commercialisation and complication of a relatively simple thing. Of course I don't blame checkers on the ground, they're only doing their job, but IÉ management seriously need to review this. They're only alienating potential customers at the end of the day.

Ok, so someone could make up a fake college card, but if all college cards had an official symbol/counterfoil or something like that it might make it a bit easier.

highlydebased wrote: »

It seems the problem with letting people use ID cards from a college is that some of them don't have an expiry date. So you could have graduated and still be using it. That said, nothing stopping them from accepting the ID's which DO have an expiry date...

When I was in UCD there was certainly an expiry date on the card. In any case it can't be that complicated to get the colleges to make this standard.

Drimnagh Road wrote: »

The ticket bert on the barrier at Cork Station should have checked their i.d when the lads presented their student tickets, it's a basic principle of a ticket man's job.

Ticket bert?

A derogatory term used to describe the gentleman who checks the tickets at the gate in Cork.

Could also refer to a ticket checker called Albert.

Hilly Bill

IE is overstaffed by clowns who are now out too impress or justify there jobs as they now know that their jobs are at risk with cuts coming there way.....

You base that on what? Have you proof of that or is it just a random post?

Hilly Bill

I saw a sign in a Dublin bus today that warned about having the right student card and the penalties for not having one. What hope has this country when our future leaders etc cant understand simple rules and navigate around a website?

I cant see why students should get discount fares anyway seeing the unemployed dont . Students are getting discounts across the board so quit your moaning when you are caught out with the wrong card that you knew was not valid in the first place.

Its simple, Irish Rail are right to take the action they have otherwise everyone will chance their arm and claiming it was a genuine mistake knowing others have got away with it, and then the same heads on here will be back giving out that Irish Rail are not doing anything about it .

xOxSinéadxOx

But you have to put your student travel card number into the machine to buy a student ticket! How could such a mistake happen?

And the student travel card thing for Irish Rail and Dublin Bus is ****ing stupid, but that's a whole different kettle of fish.

xOxSinéadxOx

Hilly Bill wrote: »

I cant see why students should get discount fares anyway seeing the unemployed dont . Students are getting discounts across the board so quit your moaning when you are caught out with the wrong card that you knew was not valid in the first place.

Well it's price discrimination and students get a discount because it's easy, they have a student card! How could you prove you're unemployed?

Hilly Bill

But not the right student card

OurLadyofKnock

Judgement Day wrote: »

You have to hand it to IE they have a truly great PR Department. Talk about own goals and the idea that George Hook's lovechild referred people to the IE website to look for information......

Their shills will be along shortly to put you straight. They do not pay them 100K a year at the clerical offices just to play Farmville all day.

Hilly Bill

Farmville got reposessed by NAMA its the Lost Garden of time now

100k?

CramCycle

Niles wrote: »

When I was in UCD there was certainly an expiry date on the card. In any case it can't be that complicated to get the colleges to make this standard.

Not anymore in an attempt to save money by only issuing you one student card (on the basis you don't lose it).

Hilly Bill wrote: »

I cant see why students should get discount fares anyway seeing the unemployed dont . Students are getting discounts across the board so quit your moaning when you are caught out with the wrong card that you knew was not valid in the first place.

3000euro a year to cover everything is hardly enough. I personally worked full time through college so I was lucky but technically I shouldn't have been but if I hadn't worked there would have been no one else to pay my rent/bills etc. Being a student is cushy if you have the backing, not all students do.

I was caught my first week in college for not having a travel card on the train, no one had told me, I was a student and believed I was entitled to it. I got kicked off the train, under threat of the Gardai after halting the train for 10 minutes. I had never heard of a student card, no one mentioned it and to this day I think the system is a joke. I got let off the train 80 miles from my house, I hadn't the money to buy a full ticket. Luckily there was one train left I hopped on and no one checked again but seeing as it was September, I produced a first year ID, common sense would dictate the guy would explain the issue and let it slide this once on the basis he could kick me off if I did it again.

The guy was a c*nt and I told him so every time i got the bus from the station for the next year.