Quote:
Originally Posted by andyl222
As you can read from my previous thread I had the misfortune of being fined 50 euro by Irish Rail. I contested the fine and emailed ( registered post would have been better but time restrictions were an issue) John Byrne. The following is my email and then his response.
His response was as follows.
Good Morning Mr *****
I’ve read you r email in regard to you boarding the service at Coolmine on the 20th March, Firstly advertisements onboard rolling stock and at stations in tandem with onboard inspections and entry and exit checks have been ongoing for a number of years at Coolmine station. It is never acceptable to board an Iarnrod Eireann service without a valid ticket when a ticket selling facility is made available as was the case in Coolmine that morning. The ticket selling facility was available at the other side of the platform which only takes a matter of minutes to traverse.
|
If one saw an advertisement onboard a train not to travel without a ticket, how would you get off to get one?
Is there always a method of crossing the tracks to the ticket office when the level crossing is closed, lift/ramped access at Coolmine? If there was no access for persons with impaired mobility, how could you have bought a ticket, if your mibility was impaired? Irish Rail's definition of people with impaired mobility is broader you might think.
Quote:
|
I stress again that you mention it was common practice to pay at the other end of a journey ,this was only afforded to passengers that travelled from a station without a ticket selling facility or a station was unmanned or had malfunctioning equipment .
|
I have been directed onto trains without a ticket at Arklow every week during the summer of 1997 and on at least one occasion last year 2006, by a staff member of Irish rail working in the signal cabin. This station was not unamanned, yet a staff member afforded me the opportunity to pay on the train.
Quote:
|
In regard to the comments made regarding my officers in Connolly the booth has had a large poster in red reading No Ticket, No Travel, No excuse attached to it for some time. Other posters and passenger information has been made available to passengers for some time prior to the introduction of the exit validation gates in our main stations in the city centre. So I don’t accept the assumption that you could reasonable buy a ticket at the booth. In closing the fine stands and is required to be paid within the 21 day period or it will be sent for prosecution.
|
How does "No Ticket, No Travel, No excuse" apply to passengers getting on at stations where you can't buy a ticket?
How does Irish rail putting up posters which are regularly incorrect in so many respects along with incorrect information affect their truthfullness in this case?
Also if you got on at an unstaffed station, it would be perfectly reasonable to assume the ticket area was for buying a ticket to get out at Connolly.
In the end though, Andy, you need to find out if this is a strict liability law or if Irish rail need to show "mens rea" If you go to Court and spend less than 50 euros on legal advice you'll lose. if you spend enough, you'ld probably be aquitted but I dunno if you'ld call that winning.
Lastly, are the spelling and grammer mistakes a pasting error on this board or John Byrnes?