The story ends well for Hugues.
This young man with a Max Jeune subscription had booked a ticket this Monday March 4 on a TGV on the Paris-Lyon line, in second class, as provided for in the price conditions of his subscription.
But once on board, a father asked him to exchange his place, in first class, to be able to sit next to his son.
Hugues politely accepted, but the captain did not see the situation in the same way when checking the tickets.
He fined Hugues no less than 270 euros for “no ticket”, after some unsuccessful negotiations, reports BFMTV.
Ah, @SNCFVoyageurs and its controllers who have the gift of making you hate the train :)
I exchanged my place (which I paid for, in 2nd) with a gentleman's place (which he paid for, in 1st) because he wanted to be next to his son who was in 2nd.
pic.twitter.com/xD48aZopVg
— Hugues 👨🏼💻 (@huguesdelamure) March 4, 2024
Dialogue impossible, despite the explanation of the other passenger
The exchange quickly turned into a dialogue of the deaf and the tone even rose, says Hugues, who refused to pay the amount demanded.
“They threatened to cancel my subscription and call the cops,” says the young engineer on the social network X (formerly Twitter) following his misadventure.
“The gentleman with whom I exchanged places came to support me and plead our good faith.
Something which was totally ignored by the controllers,” he lamented.
“No one was wronged in the story, all the seats were paid for but because of two cowboys who believe they are in the Wild West, the SNCF is being hated even more,” he continued.
Arriving at his destination, he lodged a complaint and contacted the transport mediator to manage the situation, specifies BFMTV.
As of Tuesday morning, SNCF contacted the user to understand what had happened.
At midday, it was the director of the TGV Sud-Est line, Benjamin Huteau, himself, who spoke with Hugues, before indicating on his X account that the report drawn up would be canceled: “With all my apologies for this unpleasant situation to the 2 travelers concerned,” he underlined.
We renew our regrets and apologies to Hugues for this situation.
We have contacted him and his fine will be canceled.
— SNCF Voyageurs (@SNCFVoyageurs) March 6, 2024
The SNCF account subsequently also confirmed that the fine would be canceled and that Hugues would not have to pay anything: “We renew our regrets and apologies to Hugues for this situation experienced.
We have contacted him and his fine will be canceled.
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