Cancelling an MVV U-Bahn fine

Hi,

I couldn't believe my bad luck yesterday night. Got fined by a MVV controller even though i had a valid monthly ticket.

The problem is this: I'm a student at TUM, and hence i travel with the ausbildung tariff 2. Every semester along with the immatriculation, they give a piece of paper that says that the "reduced price offer for students is extended for this semester through this". Unfortunately, instead of sticking this paper behind my monthly ticket, i had it in my wallet and the old one was in the id card. When the control lady came, she said i have no extension even though i had a valid ticket. I told her (in my broken german) that i had a new one, and in the tension (its my first time in two years that i'm dealing with a controller) i couldnt locate that stupid thing in my wallet.

She just wrote me a fine slip and said "go to poccistrase". I found this bit of paper after she left among the bills in my wallet.

Can i go and get my fine cancelled since i had a valid ticket and found the university paper (though i found it late)?

I'm leaving germany in 14 days i dont want to pay this stupid 40 euro fine. It's a huge amount for a student account...

any ideas people?

go to poccistrasse like she said, and explain to them what happened... and hope they're in a good mood. You don't have proof you weren't sharing the student card with a friend, so will have to rely on their kindness...

Well, the monthly ticket has my control number on it. So there is no way i can share it with another friend. In ausbildung tickets, the number on your id card and the ticket has to match...

Someone got caught in the next seat to me in the S-Bahn earlier this week. He played dumb so the inspector spent about 10 minutes explaining to him what he had to do, i.e. exactly what Jooly said. Take all your bits of paper to Poccistrasse and tell them what happened. It's up to them whether they believe you or not, but it sounds like you have a sound case.

If they believe you, they will reduce the fine to EUR 5- for administration charges. I've heard of very few cases where people have got away absolutely totally scot-free. *ponders* where does that phrase scot-free come from? anyway..

cos the Scottish are nenowned for being tight fisted w***ers an never pay for anything, hence Scot-free.

either that or it is a reference to Scotty from Star-Trek

If they choose not to believe you or demand admin fees, well, no big deal if you're leaving in two weeks anyway.

Unless, of course, you ever want to come back...

will be back in jan end to stay for another 3 years...

Just go to Poccistr. - it should be ok. I got checked once and I showed them my Streifenkarte unfortunately I "forgot" to stamp the stripes needed for this trip.
I went to Poccistr and they checked for my name in their computer, since I wasn't in the computer they I had to pay only 15 Euros (not sure but I think the fine was only 30€ at the time).

Go to Poccistraße with your legit card and your old, exipred one if you have it. They seem to charge fines as follows:

* €5 if you didn't have your card on you but can prove you had a legit one. Showing you had older legit ones lends credibility to this claim
* €10-20 if you don't have the supporting evidence but aren't in their computeres
* €40 if you've been nailed before.

I had to pay €5 (to DB for an S-Bahn ticket) a couple weeks ago because my annual card was expired. You don't think about them and don't notice if MVV forgets to send it. I'm still pissed off because the card wasn't sent to me on time last year, either. However, the ticket inspector who noticed my card was expired just told me about it without writing me a ticket and let me go to Pokey-straße for a new card.

You'll never talk your way out of a missing ticket with the inspectors, and broken German or English-only is something they deal with every working hour. They've seen and heard it all.

went there today morning...
told the guy there that i forgot to stick the extension paper from the univ in my id card... and that was it..

he charged 5 euros... and said he has to do that to cover administrative charges...
the whole thing took just under a minute...

Thanks for your input people..

Cool, lucky escape!!

I got caught without my ticket the other day and a friend that was with me told me that the place I should go to to refute this is in Hauptbahnhof, he did not mention Poccistrasse..

Is there a place at HBF to do it or do you have to go to the KVR?

Tom17,

It is at Poccistr. but not the KVR, the other side of the street (signs all over the U-Bahn exits to MVV). It is simple to find, but when you enter turn to the far left of the building and go up the stairs one floor and there are a line of rooms with red/green lights outside of them. When it is green, enter! I don't know if there is also one in the Hbf.. I went for a friend of mine who lost his ticket, and they reduced it to 20 euro for him with no proof.

Underground, trams, city and regional buses

MVG-Kundencenter (customer service centre)
Poccisraße 1/I
D-80336 München
Germany

U-Bahn-Station Poccistraße

Opening hours:
Monday, Tuesday: 8 am – 3 pm
Wednesday: 8 am – 12 noon
Thursday: 8 am – 6 pm
Friday: 8 am - 1.30 pm

and for S-Bahn fines:

Excess fares on the urban rail

DB KundenZentrum MVV
Bereich Fahrpreisnacherhebung
Hauptbahnhof München (Central Station Munich)
S-Bahn Zwischengeschoss (mezzanine floor),
50 m left from the Servicepoint S-Bahn

Opening hours:
Monday - Friday: 9 am – 6 pm

Strange. I was on the S-Bahn once when the bloke opposite me got caught without a ticket and he was definitely told to go to Poccistrasse.

Dunno. Just pulled it from the MVV site...who knows. Probably be one of those runaround the city deals...'No you must go there'. 'Nope we can't help you go there'. 'Nope sorry...we don't deal with that here, go there.' Arrghhh!

If you're caught without your ticket on the S-Bahn, you normally need to go to the Hauptbahnhof. I think it depends on who catches you. If it's DB guards, then definitely HBf; if it's MVV people, it may be Poccistr. There should be something on the ticket you got.

woof.

Well the ticket Tom got has 'Die Bahn' on the top so gonna take a gamble and try HBF. There are no details as to how to dispute the fine except to write to somewhere in Baden-Baden

Just a note. When I went in to argue a ticket once at Hauptbahnhof, the guy told me flat out that they'll always let you off lightly on the first ticket of the year. That said, he asked me if it was my first ticket, so he apparently doesn't have a record there in front of him. So I guess you could just always say it's your first ticket. He knocked mine down to 15 EUR. My husband got one another time, and they only made him pay 10 EUR.

See the reason that has been checked in the ticket. If it didnt say anything about forgetting or misplacing the ticket.. then you cannot dispute the fine. A friend of mine just had this experiance. He forgot his 3-day ticket and was caught on the S-bahn. Since they didnt tick the forgot/ misplaced option, the lady at the HBF said that he cannot contest fine even though he took the 3-day ticket with him when he went to dispute the fine.

'Buzz

Got picked up the other day at a big bust in Poccistrasse. There were loads of the bahn people in and out of uniform, and you had to show your ticket to get past. If you turn back and go down the escalator instead, a guy in plain clothes grabs you! (i saw that happen to someone else).
My problem was I had a greencard and it was before 9am (like by 5 minutes). I probably could have gone and argued my case, but I couldn't be bothered enough.

The thing is with checking at Poccistrasse is that they pick up a lot of people who might be quite ignorant of the system (i.e. people going to the KVR, which is usually more foreigners than locals anyway). I know ignorance is not an excuse, but it is also a bit harsh of them to target people who are generally worse off anyway. I imagine Poccistrasse is hit much more often than Lehel or Odeonsplatz for instance.

Hmmm...there is no space on this ticket for having forgotten an S-Bahn ticket. There is BahnCard vergessen oder DB-Familienkarte vergessen. Well you don't need either of those to ride the S-Bahn. There is only one other box which has a blank line beside it...but it is not checked anyway (none of the boxes are checked).

We will see what happens.

Had to work on a sunday today up in Unterfohring. As it was not a usual work day i didn't take my backpack with all my things in it (including my isarcard!). Obviously as this was the only day i didn't have my card it is obviously the day i was ticket-controlled on the tube! The guy wrote me a love letter for 40E and said i had to pay even though i have the ticket at home...is this true?

I have one of those small 47E 3 zone thingies and could prove i paid for it with a bank statement as i paid with my card, will this make me exempt or am I buggered and 40E poorer?

Anyone know?

Thanks.

Topics merged by admin

It's been discussed at length before. Blah and furthermore blah. I'm sure you'll get some answers in there, specifically about what you can do about the fine.

my dear deckyweck, those are threads about people with NO tickets right?

i have a monthly ticket which i left at home...

Nope. There is info about people WITH tickets in the thread as well. Just have a look through.

Go to pay the fine and take all your documentation with you and argue the point.

groovy

gonna be fun in my non-german..

A simple thanks will suffice next time.

I'm pretty sure you don't have to pay the full fine if you had a ticket at home. There used to be a token fine for this 'crime'. Get a colleague to call them for you, if your German isn't up to it. It may be enough to fax them a copy of your ticket or bank statement. Good luck!

In short: If your ticket is one of the non-transferable kinds then you go down to Poccistrasse, show it to them and pay a token fee of (I think) €5. If it is a transferable one, cough up the €40.

really? even though i can prove i paid for it?

(thanks keydeck! Sorry, it's just ur friendly helpful posts always seem to have an undercurrent of venom...)

When I first got here I got fined when I actually had my weekly ticket with me! Turns out I needed some other piece of paperwork to go WITH the weekly ticket. This other paperwork was in fact a free item, but the fine still stuck. Nice.

I know someone who tried the "I'm just a stupid tourist and couldn't understand the ticket machine and bought the incorrect ticket" line and got the fine reduced to €5. Even tho she presented her passport with her visa in it.

Well, if you had one of those tickets with your picture on it, you would be in the clear and just have to show it to them. Unfortunately, since you just have a standard ticket, it doesn't work that way. You can go in and explain your situation, and they'll drop the fine at least down to €15 or so. That said, I don't know anyone who's argued it with a bank statement, so you can always try. My guess is that they'll just reduce it to a really low amount. Good luck!

I had the exact same experience and had to go down to Hauptbahnhof. The guy behind the counter was helpful and he did believe me, but said there was nothing he could do, since Isarcard is transferable. Just to explain his point, he said "Someone else could have used that ticket at the same time".

However, he asked me if this was the first time I got caught, and since it was, he reduced the fine to 20 Euros. (I do not know if he still used his initiative after the "There is nothing I can do" line, or if the reduction for the first time offence is standard practice).

My mate was caught without a ticket... He was thrown in the back of an army people carrier, where they had a bunch of other people that didnt have tickets. They were driven out into the woods near Gruenwald, taken out of the truck, lined up and shot.
One of them did have an expired ticket tho. He was lucky, and got 4 weeks in the cooler, where he had time to think and throw his baseball against the wall... And lived to tell the tale..

reduction for first offense is standard

oh yes sweet memories

Back in the day, a lad staying out at Thalkirchen camp site WAS shot, IN THE BACK, for trying to do a runner when not having a ticket. Which is why the city council banned the Schwatze Sherriffs from the U--Bahn.