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Eddie · 05-01-2012, 22:07

Just for interest, I had a look at the terms and conditions for the Young Person's / student card in the UK, which says:

"6.You must carry your Railcard with you on your journey and when asked by rail staff, you must show a valid ticket and valid Railcard. If you fail to do so, you will be required to pay the full price Standard Single fare for your journey as if no ticket was purchased before starting the journey and in some cases a Penalty Fare. This does not apply if there was no ticket office at the station at which you began your journey or if the ticket office was closed and there was no ticket machine from which you could buy a discounted ticket."

So it would seem that they encourage you to have the right ticket by telling you that if you don't then you'll have to pay the full fare which seems reasonable. Of course, you could decide to get off at the next station to reduce the amount paid. It seems unreasonable to me that the return ticket was confiscated because your son might have had the student card at his destination, which he could use on the way back. At the very least I think they should reduce the amount of the fine by the value of the confiscated return leg - which you wouldn't have paid for if it was just a single ticket. Fining a student €100 seems very heavy-handed, but from their point of view, they are trying to encourage compliance and gain revenue from the purchase of the student cards. Your son could plead innocence given that you bought the ticket, but then, as Mark says, you were warned.

Colm's advice seems pretty fair.

05-01-2012, 22:07	#10
Eddie Really Regular Poster Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 258	Just for interest, I had a look at the terms and conditions for the Young Person's / student card in the UK, which says: "6.You must carry your Railcard with you on your journey and when asked by rail staff, you must show a valid ticket and valid Railcard. If you fail to do so, you will be required to pay the full price Standard Single fare for your journey as if no ticket was purchased before starting the journey and in some cases a Penalty Fare. This does not apply if there was no ticket office at the station at which you began your journey or if the ticket office was closed and there was no ticket machine from which you could buy a discounted ticket." So it would seem that they encourage you to have the right ticket by telling you that if you don't then you'll have to pay the full fare which seems reasonable. Of course, you could decide to get off at the next station to reduce the amount paid. It seems unreasonable to me that the return ticket was confiscated because your son might have had the student card at his destination, which he could use on the way back. At the very least I think they should reduce the amount of the fine by the value of the confiscated return leg - which you wouldn't have paid for if it was just a single ticket. Fining a student €100 seems very heavy-handed, but from their point of view, they are trying to encourage compliance and gain revenue from the purchase of the student cards. Your son could plead innocence given that you bought the ticket, but then, as Mark says, you were warned. Colm's advice seems pretty fair.