Just a quick update (posting during work hours) - letter received this morning from South West Trains, £80 fine was issued. So to those who are worried about fare evasion - two things: 1. Do not worry about court action at first. I know it is case by case, but it appears fines are the first penalty. At least for South West Trains anyway. 2. Please buy a ticket from the conductor on the train asap if not before, like others have said. I am not the right person to give this advice, but I made this mistake not because I had intentions to evade, but because I was not aware of the rules.

Hi CAG; I've been holding out on posting here since the incident as I have been checking other topics, but now I would like to ask for advice. I traveled on South West Trains on March 20th from Poole to Holton Heath (HH is unmanned and no barrier). I got to Poole train station and boarded without a ticket. I had previously purchased tickets a number of times on the actual SW train and have never been warned for doing so. Of course I have used ticket machines on platforms before, but that today was not one of those occasions. The train was quiet, so I sat down and took out my