Rail: Penalties - these are your rights!

• If a passenger is not carrying a ticket or is carrying an invalid ticket, this may result in a fine during the inspection. This can also happen if a specific additional document must be carried for the valid ticket and cannot be presented (such as a Vorteilscard, a photo ID or a student ID).
• An objection can be submitted to the company concerned within one month. The company must respond to the claim at least once before it can take further action (e.g. involving a debt collection agency).
• If the fine is not paid on time, the company must send at least one reminder before further action can be taken against the passenger.
• If a passenger can prove that a valid ticket is available (e.g. a personalized ticket such as an annual pass that was simply forgotten at home), then the amount of the fine must be reduced - to a maximum of 10 percent of the claim.

In any case, the apf always recommends contacting the company in question as soon as possible - preferably in writing.

⇒ A case from practice:

A rail passenger approached the apf with a request for mediation in her case. She had bought a ticket from a ticket machine for the journey from Vienna to Lower Austria. When booking the ticket at the machine, she mistakenly selected the Vorteilscard discount (which in this case only amounted to a difference of less than 1 euro) - without having a Vorteilscard. As a result, she was charged an additional fare when she was checked on the train.

Due to the low price difference, the person concerned contacted the rail company and asked for a concession, but this was refused.

The penalty payment ultimately increased to around 150 euros due to additional reminder fees.

The apf was ultimately able to reach a compromise as part of an arbitration procedure: Although the penalty payment including reminder fees had to be paid, the rail customer was issued a 100 euro voucher in return.

The decisive factor for the concession in this case was the fact that the rail passenger had never been fined by the rail company concerned and the very small difference to a normal price ticket, which made an error in the purchase credible.

Affected?
Simply submit an arbitration request online at www.passagier.at!

→ And don't forget: apf's service is always - regardless of the outcome of the proceedings - FREE [&] FREE OF CHARGE!