In Trouble for Using A Ticket Displaying "DISC"

[tony6499]

Everyone is jumping to conclusions here without knowing the entire story, it is obvious the OP was charged a penalty fare of a single Brighton to London x 2 but what if the ticket was a Southern only ticket seeing as it was bought from the Southern website ?

Until the OP posts exactly what ticket they held everyone is just guessing.

 

[jon0844]

No, he'd call BTP that would likely side with the RPI and cause a whole load of extra grief. Imagine if you then opted to film BTP...

It wouldn't matter if you were legally able to film or take photos or not. Now covert recording on the other hand... yes I can see that happening.

I did think of having a tape recorder or quickly starting the voice recorder on my BlackBerry if I saw my friendly RPI but never did.

 

[jon0844]

Everyone is jumping to conclusions here without knowing the entire story, it is obvious the OP was charged a penalty fare of a single Brighton to London x 2 but what if the ticket was a Southern only ticket seeing as it was bought from the Southern website ?

Until the OP posts exactly what ticket they held everyone is just guessing.

The DISC code wouldn't make any difference to the restriction line which would have said Southern Only as normal.

 

[tony6499]

The DISC code wouldn't make any difference to the restriction line which would have said Southern Only as normal.

But all we have been told is there was a DISC code no other information about the ticket whatsoever

 

[bb21]

Everyone is jumping to conclusions here without knowing the entire story, it is obvious the OP was charged a penalty fare of a single Brighton to London x 2 but what if the ticket was a Southern only ticket seeing as it was bought from the Southern website ?

Until the OP posts exactly what ticket they held everyone is just guessing.

I agree that we are probably all jumping the guns a little.

In order to keep it on-topic this is locked until more information is received from the OP.

Anyone wishing to discuss RPI behaviours please start a separate thread.

@OP. If you wish to provide additional information for the thread to be reopened, please get in touch. Thanks.

 

[bb21]

I have reopened this thread as I have received confirmation from the OP that the ticket was not endorsed "Southern Only" therefore is valid on FCC services.

 

[sheff1]

I am surprised anyone thought otherwise. After all, if a Southern Only ticket was being used on FCC, the RPIs were surely not going to be concentrating on the DISC code.

As DISC is a reasonably common annotation, it beggars belief that a 'manager' responsible for checking tickets has apparently no idea what it means.

 

[jon0844]

To be fair, maybe not THAT common on FCC as I am not sure it does any ticket promotions via its own website?

Still no excuse for the way the RPI ignored an explanation and didn't want to check, but perhaps a reason to explain why there was the misunderstanding?

Some RPIs simply need to eat humble pie and admit when they're wrong. Everyone can and will make mistakes, but I rarely have a problem with someone making a mistake - it's how that person (or a company) deals with things after that matters.

Like a RPI that gave out a PF to someone in first class on a train that, when he reached me, I was able to point out was declassified. Not only did I get an apology, but the RPI quickly went back to cancel the PF he'd just issued and apologised to him too.

I can well imagine some FCC RPIs would have been worried about being seen to have made a mistake and would make things worse by insisting on giving me a PF too and insisting I was wrong to save face.

 

[Deerfold]

To be fair, maybe not THAT common on FCC as I am not sure it does any ticket promotions via its own website?

I'd expect them to see quite a few on EC & connections. They quite often print out the percentage discount too - does the OP's ticket do that - and is it something like 33% that might look like a bit like a railcard discount?

 

[island]

The route EC & CONNECTNS ticket I'm using today has Disc 02% next to the price, but no status code DISC to the left of the start date.

 

[causton]

I'd expect them to see quite a few on EC & connections. They quite often print out the percentage discount too - does the OP's ticket do that - and is it something like 33% that might look like a bit like a railcard discount?

I booked a ticket from London Midland which has a 25% discount. It had no DISC markings... I believe the last East Coast discounted ticket I booked (that I've picked up, I have one to pick up!) doesn't say DISC either...!

 

[185]

Occasionally, I used to see DISC applied to travel agent discounted tickets (sold to NRE call centre staff) they were stapled inside a grey ATOC folder wallet. I remember one occasion of abuse of these where the user of the ticket could not provide proof she was the person named in the wallet, and when the police were called, it turned out the ticket was sold to her by an NRE employee.

Another user of DISC were Euro Staff (FIP) card holders, who travel at either 50% (most) or 75% off (French Belgian & Irish staff). I once found a person using one of these tickets who was not the (FIP entitled) person who bought it - the giveaway being his west midlands accent

Nowadays I am aware that DISC appears in many places other than those listed above.

 

[LuluG]

no % symbol on my ticket - just DISC.

 

[richw]

Another user of DISC were Euro Staff (FIP) card holders, who travel at either 50% (most) or 75% off (French Belgian & Irish staff). I once found a person using one of these tickets who was not the (FIP entitled) person who bought it - the giveaway being his west midlands accent
.

Could a West Midland derivative not possibly relocate to France, Belgium or Ireland and work in a career that gets them FIP entitlement?

 

[185]

Could a West Midland derivative not possibly relocate to France, Belgium or Ireland and work in a career that gets them FIP entitlement?

Potentially. But this guy had a bank-staff ID hanging around his neck. TGV don't go to Tipton

 

[Ferret]

Potentially. But this guy had a bank-staff ID hanging around his neck. TGV don't go to Tipton

What a brilliant piece of work that was!

 

[richw]

Potentially. But this guy had a bank-staff ID hanging around his neck. TGV don't go to Tipton

What a smart guy!!! Very bright move :roll:

 

[Delta558]

If I remember correctly, the manual discount authority button in the Avantix machine results in the display of 'DISC' on the ticket when issued (e.g. for a person who remains in their wheelchair for the duration of their journey but holds no railcard).

 

[barrykas]

If I remember correctly, the manual discount authority button in the Avantix machine results in the display of 'DISC' on the ticket when issued (e.g. for a person who remains in their wheelchair for the duration of their journey but holds no railcard).

Any ticket issued using such a "generic" discount code will print DISC (CHDIS for a Child).

 

[LuluG]

Latest update - Due to getting a manager at Southern Railways involved on my behalf, FCC have now finally admitted that they 'were unaware' of Southern's discounted tickets. They were still refusing to listen to me until that point. They have now decided they will refund my penalty fare of £50.40, and send me £30 in travel vouchers as compensation. But that I may have to wait for up to 28 days for my refund??

 

[island]

I think that's a reasonable outcome.

 

[Ferret]

I think that's a reasonable outcome.

Agreed. And what I expected too.

 

[LexyBoy]

I think that's a reasonable outcome.

Assurances that revenue staff will be made aware of the meaning of DISC would be welcome. But yes, a reasonable outcome for the OP.

 

[NotDeadYet]

When, as in this case, an operator becomes aware that it has wrongly charged a penalty after classifying valid tickets as invalid, is it under any obligation to seek out any other customers affected and reimburse them?

And if any customer was successfully prosecuted based on its own expert testimony, which it now knows was mistaken, is it under any duty to try and put matters right?

 

[island]

My understanding is that in the first case it is not (and this could be difficult in any case if the PF was paid on the spot as customers' details may not have been recorded), and in the second case also probably no obligation on the TOC.

 

[Goatboy]

But even when I was using the famous FGW loophole last year, travelling from Reading to St Ives on a Didcot to Swindon ticket, the guards and RPIs were fine.

How did you manage that without one heck of a double-back rendering it invalid?!

 

[yorkie]

How did you manage that without one heck of a double-back rendering it invalid?!

You may find our Guide helpful.

Whilst all tickets offered by booking engines for journeys should be valid for the journeys selected, there might be rare occasions when software issues lead to a ticket being offered that is not technically “valid” for the journey in question. However, in such circumstances, if a ticket purchased through an authorised site is accompanied by a valid itinerary (which shows both the journey being made and the fare quoted for that itinerary matching the ticket held) then the purchaser should be able to use the ticket for that journey.

 

[Southwest]

I really do wish we could stop this compensation culture; it's not about the money here.

I wouldn't accept the grovelliest letter from FCC unless it was accompanied with a cheque for at least £50.40. So whilst it's not ALL about the money, it is about the money as well.

 

[maniacmartin]

I wouldn't accept the grovelliest letter from FCC unless it was accompanied with a cheque for at least £50.40. So whilst it's not ALL about the money, it is about the money as well.

£50.40 wouldn't be compensation though - that would is just a refund of the penalty they erroneously charged. Compensation would be money or vouchers above and beyond that.

 

[LuluG]

FCC have sort of apologised. Ish. They say they were not aware of the discounted tickets that Southern were selling on their website.
They have promised me a refund of £50.40, and £30 in train vouchers as compensation. They told my local paper that they were going to be refunding me twice over plus the vouchers.
Nothing has arrived as yet though.