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hi all. about a month ago i was travelling from eastbourne to london as i do for work every week and i got a fine.
i was silly,
the previous day i had decided to be all planned and went to buy my tickets, there was a big queue so i brought them at a machine. 22.90 return. foolishly i didnt even think that they would be for that day and not the next, when i needed them.
the next day i arrived at train station and realised i couldnt use those tickets. so i went to the same machine and brought new tickets with young persons deductions on them as i didnt want to spend another 22.90. anyway,
i got caught without a youngpersons card and tried my best to explain to the guy my reasoning. he really didnt seem to like me though and along with making me late for work issued me with 40 pound fine which now has a 20 admin charge added to it.
i didnt appeal i couldnt be bothered but now they saying they gonna have a summons for criminal procedings etc. thing is, howd they know i live where i do or im called what i gave them?
is there really anything that they could do to take this further?
if anyone knocked at my door i live with foreign students so they wouldnt get any sense out of them at all.
or, should i write to them saying i missed the other letters that were sent and explain my case, that at the time of issuing the fine i had already paid around 37 pounds for my journey.
i am not gonna pay another 57 which theyre asking for.
this is all after the week before, i needed to go to work during a weekday and didnt realise my return wouldnt be valid if i travelled before a certain time in the morning. no warning was on the machine or card itself so i ended up having to pay double then too.
I work on the railway and when you give your details in they verify it through some database. Not to sure on other railways but on ours but you could probably get away with waivering the admin but will eventually have to pay the fine as you never had a railcard. It accounts to ticket fraud. The admin only comes in after the payment is late and you have had reminders.
And yes they will take you to court. Best thing is to contact rail company and state you never recieved some letters and say you are willing to pay the original fine.
yeh i was thinking that but it a rush for work i forgot.
teh database your referring to i believe is just a post code checker to verify the postcode and the address match. i couldve given any postcode that i know matched to any address. and any name. they cant lawfully verify my name and address against anything. can they?
Not to sure on the railway you were using but if someone gave in a foney name etc they would know . Dont really know how that part of it works, but i dont think you can get away with it that easy.
Names and addresses are verified by the Revenue Protection Agency against the electoral register. Providing false details to a Revenue Protection Officer or Transport Police is an offence in itself so not recommended. It makes no difference which company you travel with. They are quite at liberty to do so, since you are suspected of commiting an offence under Railway Bylaws.
As to the initial posting, I'm afraid that if they decide that they have sufficient evidence to suggest that you deliberately attempted to travel fraudulently (as you admitted in your inital posting), they can and very often do prosecute. The fact that you have tickets purchased the day before may be used in mitigation, but there is nothing to say that you did not purchase them and travel the day before.
There was a posting on here about two months ago from someone who was prosecuted for purchasing a ticket using someone elses Oyster Card. Maybe that might help give some insight into the process.
P.S. You say that you're not going to pay another £57. If it gets to court, you will pay a lot more, because given the circumstances that you have described, pleading not guilty would not be a good option. The Oyster Card case I just mentioned was fined £100 for evading a £1 fare!
MBNA - Agreed to refund £970 in full without conditions. Cheque received Sat 5th Aug.
Lloyds - Settled for an undisclosed sum.
I speak with 8 years experience as a train conductor and 3 years as a transport police officer.
From what I can make out you have been charged a penalty fare, which is £20 or twice the full single fare to the next station stop, whichever is greater. If this is the case you will have been given a penalty fare notice and told to send payment to the address on the notice within 14 days or, if you are not satisfied that it was correctly issued, appeal to IPFAS (Independant Penalty Fares Appeals Service) within that time.
If you fail to do this then you will be summonsed to court for the offence of fare evasion
Fare evasion = "Travel or attempt to travel without having purchased a ticket with the intention of avoiding paying your fare"
By declining the opportunity of appealing the penalty fare they would have no trouble in proving this to a magistrate and you are likely to end up with a fine of about £150 plus costs.
My strong advice to you is to pay what they want now. It will be much cheaper.
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Contents of my posts are purely my own personal opinions, some formed by personal experience and some from research. If in doubt seek qualified legal advice.
can anyone help me. I get a monthly oyster card at the price of 100 pounds a month every single month. I went to bromley one day which is out of my zone but i was in a hurry to catch the train, and the station office was closed. There is no possible way of intentionally dodging the fare because there are manned barriers at the other end and they have always made it easy to buy an extension should we need to do so at any time. I had no intention of dodging the fare. I had the fare ready and wanted to pay at the other end. I was told my those moronic idiots from southern railways that i was liable for a fine. I refused and told them that they should simply call the police because i thought they were unreasonable. They told me I could not speak to a transport police officer for three or four hours. I said I would wait. Then an off duty police officer came past that they obviously knew, due to the fact that the police station is next to the station and he was very intimidating. I told him this is unacceptable. I ask for a transport police offier and you intimidate me, a young woman alone, with an off duty copper on his way home. I was incredulous. Throughout this, I was polite. I was the only reasonable intelligent person there. I stood my ground. I stood there for an hour or so. Eventually the friend I was visiting arrived and convinced me to take the fine, which i was so reluctant to do but she convinced me. I appealed my fine but they rejected my appeal. I was told in the letter to pay my fine by the 2oth. I wanted to appeal further and began investigating. On the 21st I received a letter from a revenue company demanding £17 plus 20 administration. I am now murderous! What can I do?
rail fines
charge added to it.
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