Stampa

PS4848-PS4656 - Antitrust: delayed trains, commitments to make quicker refunds. Fine of one million Euros against Trenitalia for the sanctions imposed on travellers without a ticket


PRESS RELEASE


PRESS RELEASE


Antitrust: delayed trains, commitments to make quicker refunds.
Fine of one million Euros against Trenitalia for the sanctions imposed on travellers without a ticket

In the proceedings initiated by the Antitrust Authority pursuant to feedback from various consumer associations and several private citizens, Trenitalia has formally bound itself to reduce the time frames for providing indemnities to passengers to no later than March 2015. The Competition and Market Guarantor Authority (Agcm), moreover, has inflicted an administrative sanction of one million Euros on Trenitalia itself, due to an “unfair commercial practice” on the procedures applied to “travel irregularities” in the event of a traveller lacking a ticket.

The requests of refund due to delays can be submitted within three days from date of arrival at destination, as opposed to the currently applicable 20 days; the right to an indemnity shall be triggered off in the event of a delay exceeding 30 minutes on the scheduled time, instead of the one hour threshold currently in force; in addition to a bonus (other than in money) amounting to 25% of the ticket price for medium- and long-distance national services, as a discount applying to subsequent trips. With regard to the main stations of the great railway “junctions”, such as those of Rome, Milan, Bologna, Florence and Turin, a further margin of three minutes over the delay ascertained by the infrastructure’s manager is envisaged.

Based on the commitments made by Trenitalia to the Antitrust, the right to a refund shall be extended to the tickets relating to two or more routes, inclusive of a regional service and a national one for medium- and long-distance. From the coming date of 1 March, the so-called “global mixed ticket” shall be introduced, to be offered by the carrier through its own sale systems in lieu of the multiple-route one, so as to ensure to the passenger both the refund bonus on the whole amount paid and the continuation of the trip in the event of a delay caused by missing the connection.

Within 90 days from date of publication of the decision to be bound by such commitments, Trenitalia shall realize an information campaign with a view to informing passengers of the rights they are entitled to: through the Company’s Internet site, by sending e-mails to clients, by posting on railway stations and aboard the trains. In the event of a delay entitling one to indemnity, the obligation of a sound alert to the travellers shall also be triggered off.

At the end of another process, the Authority, chaired by Giovanni Pitruzzella, has inflicted the sanction of one million Euros on Trenitalia in respect of the system of ascertainment and repression of “travel irregularities” in the medium- and long-distance transport of passengers on a national scale. Many of these specific irregularities are included within the category of “lack of a ticket”. Yet the procedure, rigidly applied by the controllers, is deemed to be “afflictive” by the Antitrust, since it imposes on the transgressor – besides payment of the price owed for the trip underway – even a “surcharge” (from 50 to 200 Euros) and an additional sum by way of “oblation”. That fact, as one can read in the final remarks, occurs “even when the passengers are incapacitated – by force majeure or even by a disruption attributable to Trenitalia itself – from regularizing their own position, and that in spite of empty seats on the train”. In the opinion of the Antitrust, therefore, “the current method of checking the tickets is not only aimed at repressing abuses, but is also functional to the rigidity of the tariff system” in conflict with the Consumer Code.


Rome, 17 November 2014