I thought I'd follow up with the result of my re-appeal. In summary the first appeal was rejected and the second appeal was accepted, and now I only owe £5 (the single fare from my start to where I was fined). I'm happy with this and will pay it. Thanks for the letter Tobby76, that's quite a useful template to use should anything similar happen in future. I haven't actually seen the conductor I interacted with since I was issued with the penalty fare, so I'm curious as to what he actually does when not annoying people. Anyway, thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated.

If I may ask, how often do you see court cases regarding penalty fares, and how often does the defendent win? Is it a common occurrence to be summoned to court by any train company regardless of penalty size, or is it random, guaranteed, or unknown?

Ah, apologies, I probably misread your fourth paragraph.

Hm, fair point. I've sent off a letter asking for a re-evaluation of the appeal anyway. If it gets to within a few days of the deadline I'll just pay anyway - as you say, it's only £20. This will probably mean they'll ignore my letter but I have 14 days from the 7th of September to pay, so I have some waiting time. Thanks, I appreciate the information. What train company was involved in the proceedings you mention?

Well I have appealed, and it was rejected. The rejection was based on the fact that I didn't purchase a valid ticket before travelling or while changing trains, which is blatantly incorrect. I went up to the Reading Excess Fares office, started the routine of getting the ticket and was asked to move away by the collector and issued the penalty. This is why I'm responding with another letter highlighting this fact. I'll update when I receive a response.

Hi everyone, thanks for reading. Approximately two weeks ago I was issued with a penalty ticket for travelling from Martin's Heron to Maidenhead as part of my regular off-peak commute. On this day I couldn't get a ticket at MH despite there being a ticket machine on both sides (both queued) and the station having an open office (again, queued). I had about 4-5 minutes to wait and the train arrived before I got a chance to get my usual £8 return. So, I boarded the train and figured I'd just do what I normally do in this reasonably uncommon situation and buy the return at the Reading Excess Fares office. They've never issued a penalty in this case and are very efficient. Except for this time. Long story short, £20.00 penalty fare for travelling from MH to Reading without a ticket. I didn't pay anything at the time, and sent a letter of appeal to IAS describing: -My inability to purchase a ticket -No-one on the train to purchase the ticket from -My total intention to buy a ticket, as opposed to intention to evade -Fairly bad discretion on the part of the South West Trains collector The appeal was rejected. I'm very much up for fighting this on principle, however I'd like to get your collected opinions. Do I have a case against the penalty fare here? Should I just shut up and pay the penalty? I'm in the process of getting a legal opinion from my parents' lawyers, for reference. Any and all advice appreciated, thanks.