The 21-year-old Olga B. (name changed by the editor) fled to Austria with her husband in autumn before the war in their home country. Since then, the Ukrainian, who is suffering from a genetic defect, has been trying to integrate here and is being supported by the Steyr parish, says parish councilor Sylvia Heiserer: “But on Tuesday she came back to Steyr completely frightened, crying miserably because she fears that she will now might be deported because of this unfounded sentence.”
What happened?
Olga had taken the train to Linz with a friend and a child to meet two Ukrainian women. With these, we took the train back to Steyr in the evening. They bought a group ticket for the outward journey and five single tickets for adults plus a children’s ticket for the return journey. Then in Haidershofen there was a rude awakening: “According to the stories of other passengers, a very unfriendly train attendant suddenly explained to them during the check that their tickets were invalid. He issued them an additional fare payment of 135 euros. When they asked why in English and the Ukrainians received no information in broken German. There is no reason on the ticket either. They still have the tickets, but they should still pay the fine.”
Despite repeated inquiries to the ÖBB by telephone and email, the OÖN did not receive an answer to the question as to the reason for the additional fare payment.
Author
Gerald Winterleitner
Local editor Steyr
Gerald Winterleitner
