Irish Rail Fare Fines.....Any advice

TTomy

Hi all, i need a bit of advice or input from anyone that has been in a similar circumstance. I'm sorry about the length but it was a long drawn out situation that i am really pissed off about
I recently got a summons for none payment of a fine for not paying my dart fare.
On my way to college i went into the dart station which has 1 TVM and one ticket office. When i got there at about 8.20pm there was nobody in the ticket office so i got into the queue for the TVM, there was about 5 people in the queue. The person at the top of the queue was putting money into the machine and it was just coming back out at her. She turned to the rest of the queue and said i think the machine is faulty. The train was arriving in 1min and the next one wasnt for 10mins. I made the decision to walk through the open gate and pay at the other end. When i arrived in Connolly i got in the queue that allows people to pay that dont have facilities at there departure station. Now i dont usually get the dart and i didnt think there would be a problem. When i got to the top of the queue i was informed that i couldnt and it was a 50 euro fine. At this i got very irriated, i was absolutely shocked to be honest. I tried to explain the circumstances but the guy didn't want to know. The annoying thing about this is that it would of took him all of 20 seconds to take my money and give me a ticket. I didnt have any ID on me and he then informed me that i would have to be detained until the police came to verify my address. At this i lost it (which i regret), i couldn't believe the ridiculous situation i'd been landed in. I asked for the manager hoping to get a bit of responible input into the situation but he was just as ignorant. I finally had to ring my dad to verify my address which is an absolutely stupid and embarressing situation for a 26 year old to be in. I've rang the appeals office and got put through to the same guy i had been arguing with in the station. I absolutely refuse to pay this and am going to go to court to have my say. This is ridiculous situation and its another case of a normal citizen get walked all over by big organisations. My girlfriend does this all the time and never has problems, its blatant discrimination. I just dont know what to expect in court, has anyone got any idea what i should expect. Thanks to anyone that can give me advice. sorry again about the length.

oscarBravo

Hi there - this is the Help Desk, for questions about using the site. You might be better off asking your question on the Commuting & Transport forum.