Irish Rail - Fine

Grantie86

Just wanted to get some opinion on a fine I received back in June. I'll try and keep it as short as possible. Basically I arrived at the station and tapped my leap card but nothing happened, I went to a second tag-on machine and again nothing happened. I went to a ticket machine to buy a ticket but it said it was not currently accepting credit/debit cards. I went to a second ticket machine and got the same message. As I had no cash/change on me at the time I boarded the train knowing I would have to pay when I reached Connolly.

When the inspector got on he could not read my leap card meaning it was faulty although I had used it two days before without a problem. When I explained what had happened he said he had to give me the fine but if I rang Leap and could confirm I had money on my card (which I did, approx €7.50) and then appeal to Irish Rail with details of what I was wearing and the time I reached the station, then once they could confirm it on CCTV the fine would be overturned. Taking his word I accepted the fine, co-operated fully and appealed an hour later.

In August I received a response saying Irish Rail have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to fines for not producing a valid ticket. I then asked for some clarification regarding what I was told by the inspector on the day in question but this was never addressed and instead I got another letter today asking that I pay the fine within 10 days.

Hilly Bill

Ive heard of the machines wanting exact change only if paying by cash but ive never heard of them not accepting the normal credit cards.
The thing here is that you failed to tag on with the fault being your leap card which you didnt know about at the time.
It sounds harsh when you even went to buy a ticket but failed there as well. From their eyes you had no ticket and a dud leap card hence the reason for the fine.
Maybe get a print out of the previous times that you were tagging on and off with the card and bring that into them to show that you usually tag on and off and there was no intent of trying to avoid the fare plus get them to check the cctv at the station you got on to show them that you went to try and purchase a ticket. (Maybe it wont be possible with it being 3 months since it happened. )
Best case scenario is that they will overturn the fine and just charge you the fare for the journey.
Did the leap card work on the way home?

Grantie86

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Ive heard of the machines wanting exact change only if paying by cash but ive never heard of them not accepting the normal credit cards.

Did the leap card work on the way home?

It seems like a fairly common occurrence at this station over the past few months, luckily I've been more prepared ever since. The message is a big red screen that notifys you straight away that to proceed you need cash.

I rang Leap while on the train that day and the girl told me if the machines couldn't read it and the inspector couldn't read it then it was faulty so I paid by card or cash (can't remember which) on the way home.

I guess it's frustrating because a man came up to me as I was getting off at Connolly and said "Thats how they get you" something similar happened to him before and they told him he could appeal it but they didn't overturn it, he said I should not have given my details.

I suppose i've no proof of this but on the grouds of being told by an Irish Rail employee the fine would be overturned if my story checked out, if the appeals office looked into the situation, their zero tolerance policy wouldn't apply.

Hilly Bill

Ive seen the red screen but it said credit cards only , i'll look a bit closer next time . Not giving your details would have just made it worse for yo . The staff that issued you the fine are not the ones that deal with the appeals so cant tell you for certain that your appeal will be successful .
Did you get a new leap card and what station was it and time of day? Not exact time but morning peak etc.

Grantie86

I agree that they can't say for certain if your appeal will be successful, therefore they shouldn't tell people that.

It was Coolmine at 1:00 and I ordered a new leap card the next day.

Fines should be there to punish people trying to avoid paying fares, not people who have a genuine excuse especially when the company was partly at fault for being unable to pay