First Capital Connect - Daylight robbery

Just to make a rotten day even worse. As if it wasn't bad enough that First Capital Connect cost me half a days income by not running a train service from Mill Hill this morning, they are now robbing me of £20 for travelling on their trains. My crime? I left a weekly season ticket at home. Their excuse for this robbery? It was the third time I'd done it in a 12 month period.

The mere fact that I'd produced a copy of the ticket on each occasion didn't matter. I'd also complied with the terms of an act of Parliament by offering to purchase a ticket (mostly to save this hassle and aggravation).

I've attached a copy of a letter from the "Independent Penalty Fares Appeals Service" so you can have a read. How Independent is this appeals service?  If you look at the bottom you will see that is says "London and South Eastern Railways Limited t/a IPFAS". Who operates Blackfriars Station?

I'd not noticed this before. I'd naively thought that the IPFAS was an INDEPENDANT panel with the best interests of the passenger at heart. As you can see, it is a branch of one of these dreaded TOC's - Train Operating Companys. It is just a mask for a Limited Company seeking to maximise it's profits.

If anyone out there knows how to overturn this scandalous example of Daylight robbery, please EMAIL ME BY CLICKING HERE.

Just for the avoidance of doubt, lets clear up a few issues :-

Did FCC lose any money by me forgetting my ticket? No
Did I produce a copy for the "IPFAS"? Yes
Could someone else have borrowed it that day? No, it has a photocard and my photocard no printed on the ticket. I'd just left it at home
Why had I forgotten it twice in the last 12 months previously? Well actually I've had a rather stressfull time. My wife's mum died of lung cancer and I've really not been myself, but hey who cares about that.

My gripes?
1. The IFPAS isn't an independent appeals panel. It is a subsidiary of a rail company
2. It offends natural justice to fine people who have bought a ticket and are forgetful
3. First Capital Connect have all my details on their computer. They could have checked that I'd bought a ticket. They didn't
4. There is no higher authority to appeal to. This whole system is outside of the courts & English law.
5. This undermines the Railways act, which is an act of Parliament that says all you have to do is offer to pay the fare, unless there is a deliberate attempt to defraud the railway

No wonder Moir Lockhear,MD of FCC got a payrise in the middle of a recession