It seems a few people have had this problem - do you think there is any chance of them reimbursing me? Thanks for your help by the way.

It is a basic current account with black raised numbers. However, I have spoken to Santander and they have said that there are no restrictions on the card.

My thoughts exactly.

I did have a conversation with a rep from the prosecutions unit (for which a number is provided on the letter). He basically just reiterated what was in the letter - although he did agree to send me the guard's report which is being forwarded to me from my parents' address. The letter is dated 6th May 2015, obviously a while ago now, this had to be forwarded to me too.

I had a problem with a card from the same account many years ago, and I did mention this to the guard and the customer service rep on the phone, but they both said that those problems have been fixed. It's a Visa Debit card.

Hi BazzaS, thanks for the quick reply. The document is entitled 'Pre-Court Action' and states that "consideration is now being given to preparing the case for Court. If convicted of any offence, you could be ordered to pay a fine of up to £1000.00 and / or be sentenced up to 3 months imprisonment. The Court also has powers to impose other financial penalties on you, including the Company's costs of bringing the prosecution together with compensation of your outstanding fare". The £166 charge (sorry - it wasn't £168 - I misread) is the £86 full fare for the journey plus £80 admin costs. Do you think there is any point in taking this to court? Also: There was a notice on the door saying that the office had closed early at 16:45 - hopefully they will have a record of this.

Hi all, Can anyone help or has anyone been in this situation? On the 10th April I was in Redruth, Cornwall and needed to travel to Bristol. On arriving at Redruth I found that the ticket office was closed (it was around 5:30pm) and found that there was not a ticket machine at that station. I did not believe this was a problem, as I knew that I should be able to purchase a ticket from the guard, and so I boarded the 18:11 service to Bristol Temple Meads. When the guard came into my carriage, I promptly asked for a ticket from Redruth to Bristol Temple Meads, with a 16-25 railcard discount. The price for this was around £30-35. When I attempted to pay with my Santander visa debit card, it was twice declined by the guards card machine. As a result, the guard told me that I could either get off the train at the next stop, or be questioned under caution and pay the fare at a later date. I took the latter option as I was fully prepared to pay the cost of the fare at a later date (I had been expecting to anyway), and he provided me with a zero fare excess ticket. However, the amount detailed in the letter I mentioned above is £168 - which is obviously far more than I am prepared to pay for the journey. I found the guard very helpful but he did not explain to me that I would have had to pay this extortionate price; for the same money I could have easily found somewhere to stay and travelled back the next day. I understand that there may be some doubt as to whether the card I tried to pay with was working, or had money available on it. As a result I obtained a mini-statement from my bank showing that there was available balance on that day, and showing that I used the card in the days following the incident. I have also checked with my bank who say that there was no attempt to access my account on that day. I firmly believe that there was in fact a problem with the card machine. This is why I believe that I should be given the chance to pay the original off-peak fare (the same train today would be £30.45). It is plainly unfair that I should have to pay a far higher fare through no fault of my own. Does anyone know if it is worth taking this to court? I am being asked for the £168 fee by the 27th May, so I am running out of time. Any help would be much appreciated. Regards