YOUR CONSUMER QUERIES:A READER called Shaun made a return train trip from Dublin to Cork last week and paid €46.98 for his ticket.
He had booked a return from Cork to Dublin which was due to depart at 4.30pm but, as he got all he needed to get done in Cork by 1pm, he decided to get an earlier train back.
“In order to move from the 4.30pm train to the 2.30pm train, Irish Rail charged me an additional €10,” he writes.
“I read the terms and conditions and it has something to do with paying full fares and discount tickets, but essentially it is a made up charge that has no administrative cost to the company.”
He says he would understand if he was moving to a later almost sold out train or if there were limited tickets available but the train was only half full.
“Considering GoBus now travels to Cork in under three hours and costs €20 return, I think fees such as this €10 admin fee appear even more crazy that they might a couple of years ago.”
