"point taken , but she is not a fare dodger and is only in this predicament because one of two first class stamps came dislodged from her timely appeal ( incidentally she over stamped it because RM claim was for 9 pence ) the fact remains that the court statement from the 'prosecutions officer' is fundamentally inaccurate, surely that discredits the submission ???? or are you suggesting that it does not matter what they enter on their witness statement ? "

"Hi , interesting that it does not specify either just says 18 Looking at the witness statement it appears flawed... it is dated 23rd July ( journey made 25th May) signed by prosecutions officer , it is factually incorrect as it states ....At the time of making this report ( ie 23rd July) the fare which was actually due at the time of travel has NOT been paid and I therefore contend that the intention of Mrs M was to travel on the railway without having previously paid the fare and with intent to avoid payment thereof .. This is not true notwithstanding her having owned an annual season ticket , she bought a ticket when she presented herself to the barrier with out a ticket and the next day she presented her season ticket and was given a refund for the ticket she voluntarily paid for the day before ??? Thanks for this help by the way its much appreciated "

"South Eastern Just received summons yesterday No previous Bylaw 18 Railways Bylaw 2005 thanks for tip on the heading"

My daughter has an annual season ticket , one day she left her ticket at home in error On arriving at destination she reported at the barrier that she had either lost her ticket or left at home She was asked to pay for a ticket and a penalty fare , she declined the penalty fare the next day she presented herself at the station with her season ticket and the station refunded the fare that she paid the previous day She was then sent a letter regarding penalty fare which she was invited to appeal , she sent all the required documentation first class. Her appeal was returned back to her denying that they had received it on time ( which they would have) the reason they gave for the delay is that the one first class post stamps was not sufficient ,one ( of the 2 applied which was OTT in any event ) had fallen off in transit and they returned her appeal to her opened ( evidencing receipt) claiming that it had not been received on time. If it was not received on time it was only due to the fact that there was a procedural delay between the appeals people and Royal Mail whilst they argued who was going to pay for the missing second stamp. She argued that was unfair , they rejected out of hand and now she has a magistrates summons . It concerns us that it is not in the appeals peoples ( funded by railways ) best interests to receive appeals on time as they would much prefer to collect the penalty and that if they can find an excuse to frustrate the appeal they will. Will the magistrates court listen to this sympathetically or not ?