having read some of the other posts on this forum, it seems first capital connect don't have much rhyme or reason in the way they go about this kind of thing! I certain;y wouldn't have objected to paying the penalty fare- had I been given the opportunity to. Oh well, best get on to them directly to see if they're prepared to just extort the maximum amount of money out of me with the minimum amount of grief i suppose...

Hello. I hope you can give me some sound advice. In July I was on a First Capital Connect train without a valid ticket. I had remembered to top up my Oyster Card immediately prior to travel, but due to a complete slip of the mind i forgot to touch in... You know how it is with these machines that go 'beep'- I'd just done one and completely forgot to do the other. Anyhow, My ticket was inspected by a F.C.C. revenue protection officer, who told me the ticket had not been validated- I apologised for my error. he asked if I had intended to evade the fare- I explained that I had not, and this was a genuine oversight as I'd primed the Oyster Card for travel. he then asked if I had the means to pay the fare- I explained i hadn't any cashm because I'd just put it all on the Oyster Card! he was very sweet about the whole thing- took a 'witness statement' under caution, said I probably wouldn't hear anything as this kind of oversight was very common, then gave his verbal consent for me to continue to my intended destination. I heard nothing more about this issue until a couple of days ago, when I recieved a whole pile of paperwork from First Capital Connect informing me that I was to go to court in mid December, charged under Bylaw 18- faliure to produce a valid ticket for inspection. I am aware that these bylaws are pursued under strict liability and that I have already admitted guilt by acknowledging failure to touch in my Oyster Card at the start of the journey. However, what concerns me about this (and the issue I would like some advice on) concerns the fact that I have never recieved a penalty fares notification from the company, which would give me the opportunity to settle the matter out of court. I was not given a penalty fares notice by the inspector, and to the best of my knowledge haven't recieved one at my home address. The paperwork issued with the court proceedings and evidence doesn't contain anything stating 'penalty fares notice' either- simply a bundle of paperwork, and a copy of something headed 'witness statement'. Have the company missed an important part of the proceedure? Are they obliged to issue me with an obvious penalty fares notice, or can they just go straight to court proceedings in this way? Any thoughts on how to proceed would be very welcomed. thank you. G.