failure to pay and display Railway Station

[feknoze]

Hi, I have recently been sent a Final Notice to owner/keeper/hirer under Railway Byelaw 14.

The car park in question has a new feature, that you can book and pay for your ticket online, I had been doing a combination of this for the past few weeks, I had to run for the train to make it, and was trying to regulate my breathing, and stop sweating before I bought my ticket, I purchased a book of 10 tickets which I still have 4 unused, the email I received with them stated that they were not valid on that date, so I attempted to purchase an additional ticket, however, I was unable to do this due to a very patchy internet connection as we went in and out of tunnels, I then arrived at the office, and again forgot to buy a ticket, it wasn't until I was on my way home that I remembered. I attempted to purchase the ticket online (there is a new fangled system where you don't have to display the ticket; you just need one registered to the car registration, and the cameras register as you enter and exit the car park). This is similar to the ANPR systems a lot of company's employ. However within 15 minutes of my arrival I had already been given a ticket. I was trying to pay, and could show that I had attempted to purchase, I decided I would ignore the ticket as most people appear to suggest, and that as this was a contract issue, I felt it was unlikely to go to court, and that if it did, I could bring in the following arguments, and at the very least agree to the £6.50 in lost revenue; detailing that I had been allowed previously to purchase the ticket after arriving, to complain that a railway company can charge me 400% more than the original £6.50 daily charge. I would refuse to pay the fine as they already receive over £600 per month from me. When their trains are late, I get £3.50 back. unfortunately now it does appear they are arguing it is civil, and that they are planning on taking me to the magistrates court. The original ticket was produced via their parking managment company, but this final notice comes from the train company itself, acting as PCN Debt Recovery and Prosecution Service. Do I take this on the chin or fight it? (I refuse to park in the station car parks again) It makes me warm inside knowing that for the sake of £165, they lose £1000 per year. Please advise.[ATTACH=CONFIG]45603[/ATTACH]

[ericsbrother]

Civil cases are heard in the county court, the magistrates court is for criminal matters. Now, railways are a funny situation for private parking because they use the Railways Act to claim you are trespassing on railway property but like to charge you for doing so as a breach of contract or civil tort because that way they gets pots of money rather than you just getting a criminal record and no money for them.

I would challenge the penalty as you had purchased the required ticket-ie paid the prescribed fee for parking and thus not in breach of contract. Did you get an explanation for why your prepaid tickets werent valid? If so, were the trems and conditions made clear to you before you purchased these prepaids? If the answer to those questions is yes then you should probably cut your losses and pay up but if the i's werent dotterd and the t's not crossed then at least appeal to the railway company and argue that you had paid so the penalty applied was unfair.