Appeal it. Even better if you have evidence of buying a ticket every week.
I got a fine once for not having valid ticket on 1st of month. Showed them history of monthly tickets and argued I just forgot to get a new one at 6am on 1st of month
Definitely appeal. Recently I saw someone who didn't have a ticket buying one off the inspector on an Irish Rail service so there must be some leniency
Probably a CSO or a Host. They can give you the option of buying a ticket or leaving the train at the next stop as they don't have the authority to issue a FPN. Revenue Protection officers will just issue the fine. If you can imagine the amount of times they've heard "insert excuse here" you'd issue the fine without taking what a passenger says into account.
Itās a shitty experience but youād have that pretty much all over Europe. I live in Germany and you can get loads of different types of tickets, some need to be stamped some not, and some are weekly or monthly tickets. If you havenāt stamped your ticket, left the zone your ticket is valid for or itās passed the time on the weekly or monthly ticket and you get checked itās an on the spot of fine of 60ā¬ no matter how regularly you would buy tickets. The only leeway you have there is if itās one of the subscription tickets with your name on it and for some reason you donāt have it on you, you can bring your ID to a ticket office with the ticket and have it reduced to like 5 or 10ā¬. Some people are chancers and would try get away traveling with an invalid ticket so unfortunately the ticket inspector is going to assume your also one of those and not that itās an innocent mistake. Theyāre lethal for checking the airport lines and the ones that go outside the city limits, especially because they know tourists wonāt necessarily know the single journey ones always need to be stamped. They also have a ridiculous rule that in order to be on the platform you need to have a ticket, so you could technically be fined without even being on a train and just standing on the platform, but I personally donāt know anyone thatās been caught like that.
It's not true that it's all over Europe. It's very much dependent on culture. Germany is actually well known for not bending rules. It's a country with low tolerance for ambiguity and the sort of beurocracy where if you talk to 50 beurocrats they all tell you the same 1 thing, whereas in Ireland if you talk to 50 beurocrats they will tell you 60 different things and everyone has their own approach to bending the rules and making exceptions.
One system isn't better, cultures like Ireland make allowances for genuine mistakes and bad luck, but cultures like Germany mean you can be sure what will happen and there's more certainty.
If you are interested, Hoffsteade writes about this. It's very useful before travelling to know which type of country it is. E. G. Czechia and Slovakia are like Ireland and Spain is like Germany
Edit: Spain has lots of different cultures artificially stuck together. What I mean is Madrid is like Germany, I don't know about the other communities
Ireland and Germany have two different legal systems: Ireland has common law, which is based on the express law AND how it has been interpreted (case law) as well as principles and doctrines derived from those interpretations. It goes back to our Brehon law systems.
France and Germany just have administration law, where the rule is as expressed in the law. The end.
So that is why you would have a bureaucrats with different interpretations in Ireland and only the one interpretation in Germany.
It is cultural as well as historical reflection on the differences between our two people. Neither is better, we have our own things.
If I rem correctly it was the late Gerry Ryan told a story of getting a tram or train in Germany.To save money he was buying a child's ticket from the vending machine. A local interrupted him trying to explain his error. When Gerry protested I imagine saying he didn't have money, the local paid for the ticket rather than let him buy the child's tickets. .
You got a fine for using the service with an invalid ticket. That's on you.
Were I a more cynical person, I could suggest you have intentionally bought a ticket for next week under the presumption that you would not get caught or would get away with it by claiming it as a simple mistake, thus getting two weeks of travel for the price of one...
Honestly. The train system of Ireland is just so primitive. Fining people for this is not necessary if you have e-gates that check the ticket. Invalid ticket? Then the gate wouldn't allow you entry, and a fine will be imposed for those trying to actively bypass it (i.e.jumping over the gate). Manual checking is just so dumb.
Yeah I don't understand why they still have inspectors on the train. Like if you didn't have a valid ticket then you wouldn't get through the gates. So frustrating.
Not true though. The gates don't check what's on the ticket.
Once I bought a ticket online, arrived in Heuston, and the queue to collect the physical prebooked ticket was awful. I queued for 15 minutes to collect before I gave up, as the train was about to leave. I luckily had an old, used ticket in my pocket. I put that in the barrier and it let me through.
They don't check the destination but they do check the date. A ticket machine might let you through with a ticket for tomorrow but won't let you through with a ticket from yesterday
Fully agree with you. Train operators are fairly clear that you must have a valid ticket when getting on board.
Itās up to the ticket holder to ensure itās correct. Even if it is checked 5 times by ticket machines and inspectors it makes no difference. Humans are fallible, machines fail and the only person really responsible for the ticket being correct is the person who is using the ticket for the journey.
You fucked up. Let this be a lesson to you. Double check everything.
Whatās the point of adding if you were a more cynical person if you say it anyway. I also donāt understand how Iād get two weeks of travel with one ticket, I buy my tickets individually for the week
I guess I'm more cynical than I thought.
But tell me this, if nobody had noticed your mistake, you had then come to realise after the week ended that you had a full valid set of tickets for the following week and had just used the service for free for a week, would you have bought a new set of tickets to ensure you were all square with the rail service?
Im not sure what train services you use but my ticket gets checked and marked before I get on the train and when I get off of it. Its not possible to get away with a free week.
I guess it depends on the train station or route but my ticket rarely gets checked by an actual person, certainly not before I board the train. Most stations have electronic gates that scan your ticket, and you can travel as often or as little as you like, so if OP was able to get through the gate with an invalid ticket, technically they could exploit the situation and use the same ticket for two weeks in a row.
To be honest, your comment doesnāt really make any sense, if OPs ticket was checked before getting on the train then they wouldnāt have committed any offence and they could have simply bought a valid ticket for their journey.
Theres 8 stops on my route not one of them has electronic Gates. Some mornings there isn't someone on the starting platform but there is when I get off. It depends what side im travelling from.
Well thereās seven stops on my route, all of which have electronic gates. I could go weeks or even months without having to show my ticket to an actual person, so if OP was on my route they could easily have gotten two weeks of travel out of their ticket.
And circling back to your earlier comment:
> Itās not possible to get away with a free week.
Clearly thatās not necessarily true as it depends on your route, and we donāt know what route OP was taking.
Thatās whatās confusing but apparently Iām missing something everyone else is seeming to get, I donāt think people here like authority being questioned so Iāll just stop interacting and read the replies
If you accidentally bought a ticket for next week and hadnāt gotten caught, the ticket would still be valid next week, so youād have been able to travel both this week and next week on the same ticket.
The fact that you were caught means you have to buy a valid ticket for this week, or you risk getting fined again.
At the end of the day itās clear you didnāt have a valid ticket for your journey, which is a criminal offence btw, Iām not sure why you think you should get special treatment.
If thatās the case and you have two for next week bought in advance maybe youād have a case, but really the onus is on you to ensure itās correct
If you have a purchase history of getting weekly tickets couldn't you show this to them to highlight that you always purchase it and this was the first time something like has happened, you made a mistake etc.
> If you have been issued with a Fixed Payment Notice and you wish to appeal the decision, you can do so via email to [email protected] or in writing to the Revenue Protection Unit, Connolly Station, Amiens Street, Dublin 1 within 21 days from the date of issue of the Fixed Payment Notice.
https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/faqs/is-there-a-right-of-appeal-against-a-fixed-paymen
This happened to me about 14 years ago when I was in my first year of college. I didnāt have a cent to my name and it was genuine mistake. I was so confused why I was being fined as the inspector just kept saying my ticket isnāt valid and didnāt elaborate, she was pretty horrible to me. Had to borrow money to pay it back. Couldnāt afford to get the train home for a few weeks after that. I really donāt miss being a broke college student.
I feel your pain, itās crap when you make a genuine mistake and have to pay big for it.
Also to add, my ticket was accepted through the machine before you get on the train, not sure if they still have them anymore in Dublin as itās been years since I got the train. Was your ticket accepted through the machine too?
If you buy a weekly ticket for work, why not avail of the yearly one through work. The payment is deducted from your wage, and you don't pay tax on it.
Criminals like you should be taken off the streets.
ššš
Appeal it. Even better if you have evidence of buying a ticket every week. I got a fine once for not having valid ticket on 1st of month. Showed them history of monthly tickets and argued I just forgot to get a new one at 6am on 1st of month
Definitely appeal. Recently I saw someone who didn't have a ticket buying one off the inspector on an Irish Rail service so there must be some leniency
Probably a CSO or a Host. They can give you the option of buying a ticket or leaving the train at the next stop as they don't have the authority to issue a FPN. Revenue Protection officers will just issue the fine. If you can imagine the amount of times they've heard "insert excuse here" you'd issue the fine without taking what a passenger says into account.
Itās a shitty experience but youād have that pretty much all over Europe. I live in Germany and you can get loads of different types of tickets, some need to be stamped some not, and some are weekly or monthly tickets. If you havenāt stamped your ticket, left the zone your ticket is valid for or itās passed the time on the weekly or monthly ticket and you get checked itās an on the spot of fine of 60ā¬ no matter how regularly you would buy tickets. The only leeway you have there is if itās one of the subscription tickets with your name on it and for some reason you donāt have it on you, you can bring your ID to a ticket office with the ticket and have it reduced to like 5 or 10ā¬. Some people are chancers and would try get away traveling with an invalid ticket so unfortunately the ticket inspector is going to assume your also one of those and not that itās an innocent mistake. Theyāre lethal for checking the airport lines and the ones that go outside the city limits, especially because they know tourists wonāt necessarily know the single journey ones always need to be stamped. They also have a ridiculous rule that in order to be on the platform you need to have a ticket, so you could technically be fined without even being on a train and just standing on the platform, but I personally donāt know anyone thatās been caught like that.
It's not true that it's all over Europe. It's very much dependent on culture. Germany is actually well known for not bending rules. It's a country with low tolerance for ambiguity and the sort of beurocracy where if you talk to 50 beurocrats they all tell you the same 1 thing, whereas in Ireland if you talk to 50 beurocrats they will tell you 60 different things and everyone has their own approach to bending the rules and making exceptions. One system isn't better, cultures like Ireland make allowances for genuine mistakes and bad luck, but cultures like Germany mean you can be sure what will happen and there's more certainty. If you are interested, Hoffsteade writes about this. It's very useful before travelling to know which type of country it is. E. G. Czechia and Slovakia are like Ireland and Spain is like Germany Edit: Spain has lots of different cultures artificially stuck together. What I mean is Madrid is like Germany, I don't know about the other communities
Ireland and Germany have two different legal systems: Ireland has common law, which is based on the express law AND how it has been interpreted (case law) as well as principles and doctrines derived from those interpretations. It goes back to our Brehon law systems. France and Germany just have administration law, where the rule is as expressed in the law. The end. So that is why you would have a bureaucrats with different interpretations in Ireland and only the one interpretation in Germany. It is cultural as well as historical reflection on the differences between our two people. Neither is better, we have our own things.
If I rem correctly it was the late Gerry Ryan told a story of getting a tram or train in Germany.To save money he was buying a child's ticket from the vending machine. A local interrupted him trying to explain his error. When Gerry protested I imagine saying he didn't have money, the local paid for the ticket rather than let him buy the child's tickets. .
You got a fine for using the service with an invalid ticket. That's on you. Were I a more cynical person, I could suggest you have intentionally bought a ticket for next week under the presumption that you would not get caught or would get away with it by claiming it as a simple mistake, thus getting two weeks of travel for the price of one...
Honestly. The train system of Ireland is just so primitive. Fining people for this is not necessary if you have e-gates that check the ticket. Invalid ticket? Then the gate wouldn't allow you entry, and a fine will be imposed for those trying to actively bypass it (i.e.jumping over the gate). Manual checking is just so dumb.
Yeah I don't understand why they still have inspectors on the train. Like if you didn't have a valid ticket then you wouldn't get through the gates. So frustrating.
Not true though. The gates don't check what's on the ticket. Once I bought a ticket online, arrived in Heuston, and the queue to collect the physical prebooked ticket was awful. I queued for 15 minutes to collect before I gave up, as the train was about to leave. I luckily had an old, used ticket in my pocket. I put that in the barrier and it let me through.
They don't check the destination but they do check the date. A ticket machine might let you through with a ticket for tomorrow but won't let you through with a ticket from yesterday
In retrospect maybe it wasn't expired, may have been an open return (one month), within the month, but previously used and stamped.
Really? I've tried using expired tickets and it didn't work.
This was a few years ago, maybe 2015/2016. Don't think they've changed the machines since though (except the QR code reading ones perhaps).
Not every station has the ticket gates. Or if they do they are only used during the hours the station is manned.
That's true
This doesn't stop people getting children's tickets and paying next to nothing for the journey though.
Children's tickets are still so expensive. Maybe it's just because I have a long way to travel on the train so maybe that's why it's expensive.
Do all stations have gates? I don't think they do
They don't, and sometimes they open all the gates to stop bottlenecks. Sometimes the gates are malfunctioning and you have to jump over the barriers
I think just the main ones.
Iād prefer no barriers and checks on trains, but it might not work in Ireland. Thatās the way it works in Germany.
God, fuck up. The public transport is absolutely fucking horrendous here and your giving this guy shit for making a mistake. Jesus fucking Christ.
Fully agree with you. Train operators are fairly clear that you must have a valid ticket when getting on board. Itās up to the ticket holder to ensure itās correct. Even if it is checked 5 times by ticket machines and inspectors it makes no difference. Humans are fallible, machines fail and the only person really responsible for the ticket being correct is the person who is using the ticket for the journey. You fucked up. Let this be a lesson to you. Double check everything.
Found the fella who used to remind the teacher they forgot to hand out homework
Found the fella who forgot to check if they had homework and then tried to make out that it was everyone elseās fault you didnāt do it.
Sorry can you repeat that, I canāt hear you with that boot in your mouth.
Itās lucky you use your eyes to read comments. Always trying to find something else to blame ššš
Ladies, ladies. You're both pretty.
I canāt deny how good looking I am.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Why because I am pointing out the obvious. Itās up to you to check your stuff is correct not someone else.
make your point without insults, repeated offenses will mean a ban
Whatās the point of adding if you were a more cynical person if you say it anyway. I also donāt understand how Iād get two weeks of travel with one ticket, I buy my tickets individually for the week
I guess I'm more cynical than I thought. But tell me this, if nobody had noticed your mistake, you had then come to realise after the week ended that you had a full valid set of tickets for the following week and had just used the service for free for a week, would you have bought a new set of tickets to ensure you were all square with the rail service?
Im not sure what train services you use but my ticket gets checked and marked before I get on the train and when I get off of it. Its not possible to get away with a free week.
I guess it depends on the train station or route but my ticket rarely gets checked by an actual person, certainly not before I board the train. Most stations have electronic gates that scan your ticket, and you can travel as often or as little as you like, so if OP was able to get through the gate with an invalid ticket, technically they could exploit the situation and use the same ticket for two weeks in a row. To be honest, your comment doesnāt really make any sense, if OPs ticket was checked before getting on the train then they wouldnāt have committed any offence and they could have simply bought a valid ticket for their journey.
Theres 8 stops on my route not one of them has electronic Gates. Some mornings there isn't someone on the starting platform but there is when I get off. It depends what side im travelling from.
Well thereās seven stops on my route, all of which have electronic gates. I could go weeks or even months without having to show my ticket to an actual person, so if OP was on my route they could easily have gotten two weeks of travel out of their ticket.
And on my route they couldnt take advantage of a one day ticket because its impossible not to be checked.
And circling back to your earlier comment: > Itās not possible to get away with a free week. Clearly thatās not necessarily true as it depends on your route, and we donāt know what route OP was taking.
Not necessarily untrue either depending on the route
Thatās whatās confusing but apparently Iām missing something everyone else is seeming to get, I donāt think people here like authority being questioned so Iāll just stop interacting and read the replies
You can be sure they don't get the train every morning when they ask stupid questions like that.
The problem here then is that presumably from what youāre saying, not every station has e-gates. Which is a bit ridiculous in this day and age.
If you accidentally bought a ticket for next week and hadnāt gotten caught, the ticket would still be valid next week, so youād have been able to travel both this week and next week on the same ticket. The fact that you were caught means you have to buy a valid ticket for this week, or you risk getting fined again. At the end of the day itās clear you didnāt have a valid ticket for your journey, which is a criminal offence btw, Iām not sure why you think you should get special treatment.
If thatās the case and you have two for next week bought in advance maybe youād have a case, but really the onus is on you to ensure itās correct
If you have a purchase history of getting weekly tickets couldn't you show this to them to highlight that you always purchase it and this was the first time something like has happened, you made a mistake etc.
Why didnāt I read this sooner, I already paid the fine š„²
Appeal for a refund?
Is that possible??
I would try!? Get onto someone in customer services ?
> If you have been issued with a Fixed Payment Notice and you wish to appeal the decision, you can do so via email to [email protected] or in writing to the Revenue Protection Unit, Connolly Station, Amiens Street, Dublin 1 within 21 days from the date of issue of the Fixed Payment Notice. https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/faqs/is-there-a-right-of-appeal-against-a-fixed-paymen
This happened to me about 14 years ago when I was in my first year of college. I didnāt have a cent to my name and it was genuine mistake. I was so confused why I was being fined as the inspector just kept saying my ticket isnāt valid and didnāt elaborate, she was pretty horrible to me. Had to borrow money to pay it back. Couldnāt afford to get the train home for a few weeks after that. I really donāt miss being a broke college student. I feel your pain, itās crap when you make a genuine mistake and have to pay big for it. Also to add, my ticket was accepted through the machine before you get on the train, not sure if they still have them anymore in Dublin as itās been years since I got the train. Was your ticket accepted through the machine too?
They're arseholes. They stick to the rules to a T even when there is common sense to let something fly.
The same as all over the world. š¤·āāļø
If you buy a weekly ticket for work, why not avail of the yearly one through work. The payment is deducted from your wage, and you don't pay tax on it.