Stephanie, one of the many “commuters” on the Tours-Paris route, is a loyal subscriber to SNCF. For 16 years, she has been paying several hundred euros every month to go to work in the capital. On February 19th, she traveled for the first time without any identification, “I was checked in the morning on the way there, without any issues, and in the evening on the way back the controller asked me for an ID, which I didn’t have because I had forgotten my wallet at home,” she recounts.
Stephanie then showed a photo of her passport on her phone, which was rejected by the controller, as per SNCF regulations that only accept physical identification documents. The controller then fined her 120 euros. Stephanie refused to pay: “I thought it was abusive! To pay 120 euros in fines when I pay a subscription of over 500 euros per month and he [the controller] had all my information on his tablet!” As a result, the fine was increased to 170 euros.
A few days later, Stephanie received an unpleasant surprise when she opened her email: “I received an email from SNCF stating that since I was unable to present an ID, they were temporarily suspending my subscription for several months.” The suspension was effective as of March 1st, causing concern for the commuter. Finally, on Tuesday, February 27th, her subscription was “miraculously” reactivated. “I believe that the actions taken led SNCF to realize the absurdity of the situation.” The association of subscribers on the Tours-Paris route had alerted SNCF to this issue and the company had been contacted by France Bleu Touraine. SNCF justified its actions by stating that “as part of its anti-fraud policy, only physical identification documents were accepted during a check.”
“This situation has angered Amboise Deputy Daniel Labaronne, “I urge the CEO to explain to me why some controllers, not all of them of course, behave in a not very civil manner towards SNCF customers who have expensive subscriptions and have never had payment issues. And I believe that from a commercial perspective, SNCF would do well to respect customers who, through their taxes, finance SNCF’s colossal debt.”
The Renaissance representative has also written to the Minister of Transport, Patrice Vergriete, to alert him to the increase in TGV Max subscription prices and the end of guaranteed train flexibility for commuters. He is asking for dialogue to be restored between SNCF and user associations.
