Ircas Reviews 79

I am extremely disappointed with how my case was handled following an incident at Birmingham station.

I had purchased a different train ticket, and when I was approached by a revenue officer, I fully cooperated and explained everything clearly. The officer told me that I would receive a letter and would only need to pay the correct fare amount. At no point was I informed about the option to pay a penalty fare (£100, or £50 if paid on the day), nor was I given the opportunity to resolve the matter immediately.

Based on this, I trusted the information given to me.

However, I later received a prosecution penalty, as if I had failed to cooperate, which is completely inaccurate and unfair.

I submitted a formal appeal explaining the situation in detail, including that the officer’s body camera footage would clearly show the conversation and the incorrect information I was given. Despite this, my appeal was rejected without properly addressing these points.

I chose not to escalate further through legal action due to the cost and complexity, but the entire experience reflects very poor handling and a lack of accountability.

I always pay for my travel and would have paid the correct fare or penalty immediately if I had been properly informed. Instead, I feel I was misled, then penalised, and finally ignored when trying to resolve the issue fairly.

This process needs serious improvement. Passengers deserve clear information, fair treatment, and proper consideration when raising legitimate concerns.

Giving it a 1 star rating is far more than they deserve. Absolutely disgraceful service.

My experience with IRCAS has only reinforced what so many others say — the enforcement is aggressive, money-driven, and completely lacking in basic fairness.

In this situation, a minor was issued a penalty fare after travelling from Faircross to Western Road having accidentally left their Oyster/Zip card at home. The card is valid, paid for, and used regularly. This was a genuine mistake by a child — not fare evasion, not dishonesty, not deliberate avoidance of payment.

Instead of showing any common sense or discretion, IRCAS pursued the penalty relentlessly. There was no meaningful acknowledgment that the passenger was under 18, no reasonable consideration of mitigating evidence, and no flexibility whatsoever. It felt less about justice and more about collecting money.

The appeals process is equally frustrating. Communication feels automated and dismissive. It is incredibly difficult to speak to an actual person, and responses come across as rigid and pre-determined rather than genuinely reviewed. It gives the impression that the system is designed to reject appeals rather than assess them fairly.

For a child who simply forgot their card in a rush, the stress caused by this process has been completely disproportionate. A reasonable organisation would have requested proof of the valid Oyster/Zip card and settled the matter at the standard fare owed. Instead, the approach has been heavy-handed and unnecessarily punitive.

IRCAS needs to seriously review how it handles cases involving minors and genuine mistakes. Enforcement should not mean abandoning fairness, empathy, or basic customer service.

Would not recommend.

First time I bought a ticket to go to London and when a member of staff asked me about my ticket's QR, I didn't know it had been sent by email. I showed him the bank transaction but he told me that his office would deal with me instead of telling me that I could find the QR in my email. Now i am calling the number but its bussy all the time. And i will have to send the letter to imigidate as they fined me by about £200

Money hungry thieving b*stards who have no moral compass.
They absolutely enforce maximum punishment the same as people who evade fares despite providing medical evidence of cognitive decline. Even after a safeguarding follow up email on how they deal with vulnerable passengers, they chose to ignore it.

complete waste of time and utter nonsense. racist, rude, arrogant and expensive as hell

Absolutely rubbish, sooooo unfair
I board the West Midlands Railway everyday for work. On the 25 November I decided to buy a monthly pass that would hopefully be cheaper. I unconditionally boarded westmidlandsrailway instead of Avanti. The inspector saw that I had a monthly pass and it was only one stop from Coventry to Rugby. He decided to fine me "100£" and instead of "no valid ticket" he opted for "no ticket" at all, which eventually resulted in my appeal being rejected although I showed them the monthly ticket and it was a genuine mistake. He also lied to me buy saying that I should go onlineand pay the ticket amount that was 7.70£ only, he didn'teven tell me that he's issuing a 100£ penalty. They didn't care and decided to reject my appeal 3 times... they just want money out of our pockets soooo very unfair I'm fuming 😤 if I wanted to board the train without a ticket why would I buy a monthly one?...

got sent a letter to someone who does NOT live here about a fine for travelling on a train. Very dodgy company and disgusting behaviour

Keep getting correspondence from them regarding fines.

XR1113084.
The body the letter is address too does not live here.
This has happened numerous times till I’ve lost count and ignore them anyway. Improve your verification process/system because you won’t meet collection targets set by TFL. I’ve binned the letter but if I receive another I’ll be making a complaint to stop this from happening.

Charlotte is a star!
I was sent a letter saying i was on a train when i wasn’t - and somebody had fraudulently used me details.

Charlotte helped me resolve this issue

No way to speak to an actual person who works at the company everything is automated, absolutely corrupt company and i hope it burns to the ground.

The website isn't as user friendly as it could be, the code I was given to enter on the website doesn't register therefore I cannot pay online. I tried to pay on the automated phone line which also wouldn't allow me to pay as the reference number wasn't working. The call was for 1 min and cost me in excess of £1.00. I've sent them an email to query the issue. Hopefully get a response soon as I want to resolve this issue asap.

Absolutely terrible experience and staff are u helpful and not understanding. Just want to take your money!

Absolutely awful company!!!!! My son received a fine for "having a ticket" he boarded the train and then due to signal issues his qr code wouldn't load. He showed them his banking app to prove his payment and email confirmation. No this is still not good enough!! Appealed 3 times and all were rejected. He now has to pay the fine "plus" the rail fare he had already been charged for. Communication is disgraceful. You can call a number which will charge you 13ppm!! It makes me so angry that this company gets away with this. How they charge people for having a ticket is disgusting!!! To top it off he was late for his GCSE exam too!

The workers are all miserable low lifes how are u going to charge a 16 year old £88 because they didn’t show you their rail card ON TIME, she had a valid ticket and a rail card but the stupid lady was impatient and fined her… she’s even a boarding student who was going back to school 🤦🏾‍♀️

IRCAS has been sending me letters addressed to a person that has never lived at my address. How is this company able to trade with these practices? I'm surprised anyone can give any address. Doesn't this company carry out any verification checks, ask for proof of address and ID?. I have contacted the company, awaiting for a response.

Absolutely disgusting! I received a fine beginning of feb because c2c decided to block my card which I was not made aware of at all! When I arrived at the station, the TFL manager fenchurch street station was vile, embarrassed me was raising his voice and also was looking into my handbag for an ID after I told him I don’t have any on me. I tried dealing with the situation professionally by suggesting to pay for my ticket with him there. Nothing but sarcastic comments from him and rudeness. IRCAS will have nothing to do with it and still expect me to pay. For something out of my control.

Total Mickey Mouse Company with Mickey Mouse charges they basically help people commit fraud using fake names when they get caught with no ticket on the train and then prosecute innocent members of the public. I don’t know how you guys can get sleep at night to be honest with you. A huge scandal. Absolutely ridiculous. They have charged me for train that I’ve never been on in an area of London that I’ve never been in when I wasn’t even in London. I have evidence - where is your evidence?

My son received a 'reminder' letter for non-payment of a fine for a journey he'd apparently made in Birmingham in November '24. Repeated emails were ignored, the only explanation we could think of being that someone (we had a person in mind) had given my son's name (spelt incorrectly on the letter) maliciously. We had no response to requests for proof ie bodycam footage, until 2 further letters were received, one in my son's name again, and one in name of the suspected fare evader, both sent to our address. We had received no initial letter about the alleged offence until the 'reminder' demand for immediate payment of £104, but since they had not received payment or appealed, the letter said we had missed the appeal window. We have now just received another letter, again addressed to my son, exactly the same wording but stating a different (now December) date for the alleged offence. Very suspicious, and threatens debt recovery proceedings, so not sure how to respond. Don't see how they can enforce without proof of the ID of the person who committed the fare evasion - if, indeed, anyone did - and to not engage other than via automated responses and continued letters is unhelpful, unethical and downright unacceptable. Bullying tactics, by a company hiding behind a facade of respectability and a pseudo-official front designed to scare people into paying up regardless of the circumstances. They need to have ticket inspector wearing bodycams - for everyone's protection. Will not be paying. What a scam.

1.Ircas sent my son with disabilities a letter with another name on his address asking for unpaid fares. Did they check this persons ID? Obviously not! I sent an enquiry they didnt respond . Then they sent another demand letter . Their demand letters come so close together. They dont even allow 21days. Im begining to think as you cannot get hold of them you just have to wait for court letter. We cannot appeal because this person is unknown .My son cannot travel so its heart breaking theyr doing this at christmas . Cannot even ring them They just want money doesnt matter how they get it with made up names.

I can just agree with everyone else before on this feedback thread.
- Impossible to reach out to them, zero reply on email or phone.
- They increased my fine without any notice. I mean, ZERO notice. Incredibly unfair.

- Not IRCAS but the ticket control at Stansted airport station: untrained, unprofessional, slow and rude.

I wish this company could be sued and banned from existence.