Thanks SRPO - that's probably the supposed justification for the penalty fare, though neither Southern Trains nor the "independent" appeal panel have tried to make this defence - they just ignore the issue entirely. I think the spirit of the rules is clear - passengers who are not trying to avoid paying should not be penalised for the complexity of the system. I've never lived anywhere where you can walk into a station, buy a cheap day return, and then get on a train to your destination that turns out to be run by another company entirely. What's particularly irritating is that the ticket machine only had a "London Terminals" option - had there been a 'Victoria' option, I would have bought the correct ticket, because FCC don't run trains there. I might mention this in my letter to Passenger Focus. It didn't occur to me to lie about being told I could use the ticket, because it never occurred to me that I couldn't. It's a bit late now, even if I wanted to lie to them.

I was travelling from Brighton to Victoria last month when unfortunately my psychic powers and my encyclopaedic knowledge of the UK's rail operators failed me, and I ended up buying a ticket that was apparently only valid on 'FCC' and not 'Southern Trains'. No warnings, other than things in tiny letters which were little more than cryptic clues.. In my neck of the woods, we don't have rival operators running trains on identical routes that don't accept each other's tickets - that's weird. Buses yes, trains no. I was issued with a penalty fare, did a bit of web research, and found some information on the DfT website. I've underlined the key sections. 4.29 When a penalty fare cannot be charged. The instructions must make clear to authorised collectors when they can charge a penalty fare and when they can't. In particular, the instructions must remind authorised collectors of situations where passengers are not liable to a penalty fare under the Penalty Fares Rules, for example in circumstances where the National Rail Conditions of Carriage allow the passenger to pay an excess fare. The instructions must cover the following instances. [….] · Ticket restrictions. Many types of ticket cannot be used at certain times of day, on certain days of the week or on certain trains. These ticket restrictions can be complicated, and even familiar tickets such as cheap day returns can have different restrictions on different routes. If a passenger travels on a train on which their ticket is not valid, it is more likely that the restrictions were not properly explained to them than that they are deliberately trying to avoid paying the right fare. We believe that it is up to the train operators to make sure that each passenger understands the restrictions which apply to the ticket which they are sold. Under rule 7, a passenger may not be charged a penalty fare if he or she has a ticket for the journey which they are making that is not valid on that train only because of a ticket restriction. In these cases, the passenger only needs to pay the excess fare, in line with the National Rail Conditions of Carriage. · Ticket routing. A passenger who has a ticket for the journey they are making, but who is using a route on which their ticket is not valid, may not be charged a penalty fare. The National Rail Conditions of Carriage allow the passenger to pay an excess fare to travel on a different route from that shown on their ticket. From: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/legislation/pf/penaltyfarespolicya?page=6 'Got you!', I thought. Southern Trains are running an illegal penalty fare system, so an appeal should be straightforward. But no. I got a letter back from the independent appeals body which made all kinds of claims about how information was available at the station (it wasn't), but made no reference at all to the key point - that the scheme ignores DfT rules and is therefore illegal. I've spoken to Passenger Focus who say that I need to complain to the train company unsuccessful (as well) before they can get involved. In the meantime, I'm receiving menacing letters demanding that I pay the penalty fare. I'm minded to pay it for now and then carry on complaining. It's not the money, it's the principle of the thing - we already have a rail network that charges ever higher fares, takes ever higher subsidies from the taxpayer, for ever higher private profit. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on this? It hasn't escaped my attention that the body who conduct appeals are owned by.... Southern Trains, but I'm open to possibility that I've misunderstood something somewhere. For the avoidance of doubt, I have never dodged a fare in my life and had absolutely no intention of doing so this time.