Please Advise - £20 fine on SW Trains

[Chancerz]

Hello,

I am seeking some advice and would appreciate any comments.

Last Friday my girlfriend and I were travelling on SW trains. She had a weekly pass for zones 123 and met me at Clapham Junction on a train from Streatham Hill. We were both going to Feltham and were running late. She had also lost her job that day and was pretty distressed. When she got to Clapham she forgot to get a ticket extention from zone 3 to zone 6, I told her that it should not be a problem as i saw somebody on train the night before purchasing a similar extension with no hassle.

There was no ticket instructor on our journey and when we arrived at Feltham I told her not to worry as we would explain the situation to the ticket instructor there. It was around 19.00 and it was very busy, she could have tried her chances and walked through by flashing her ticket as the instructors mainly look out for the date. However she chose to be honest and stopped to explain the situation to the young ticket instuctor.

He sarcastically read out the poster on the wall and said that he had to issue her a £20 fine.

To my knowledge it was at the ticket instuctors discretion as to whether she is charged or not. She clearly purchases weekly tickets and she forgot to purchase a £3.00 extension that day.

I tried to intervene to no avail which is when she started crying.

When we left, the ticket instructor was very sarcastic waving and saying "have a good weekend" clearly knowing that he had upset my girlfriend.

A similar thing happened to me a few weeks back and when i showed the instructor my weekly tickets he let me purchase another weekly as that is what i wanted to buy. No fine, no hassle

Is there any grounds for an appeal? Please advise all opinions are appreciated.

[mc661]

Hi

I will try and help you win your appeal. The Appeal costs you nothing as every appeal the Railway Company has to pay £8.00.

I will need to see the PF notice itself to see if its been completed correctly, if it hasn't then you could win by default.
There are also rules that must be followed fully in each case, if even one has not been complied with then again you could win by default.

I would also suggest sending in a complaint to SWT regarding the attitude of the Inspector.

I can draft both these letters for you if you want.

Please PM me.