I lost my rail card last Thursday, traveled yesterday using a ticket I had booked in advance in March, with a young persons rail card discount. Naively didn't realise that I would be committing an offence travelling since I do genuinely have a rail card and was in possession of a physical copy it when I purchased the tickets. Silly me, wont be something I will be doing again I am appealing it, as I thought I may as well have a go. A £52 penalty fare over £1.70 just seems ridiculous - who would deliberately try and defraud the system out of £1.70?! Would anyone mind giving me some feedback on my appeal letter, I have never written anything like this before. Please and thank you! Dear Sir/Madam Reference: SR ###### I am writing in reference to the penalty fare I received on the 15/04/2014, at London Victoria train station for the sum of £51.60. Having travelled on the 15:49 service from Brighton to London Victoria. I was issued with the aforementioned penalty fare upon completion of my journey from Brighton to London Victoria by a ticket inspector whilst passing through the barriers. Although I did have a ticket for the journey mentioned, I was unable to produce my Young Persons railcard which had allowed me to get a 1/3 discount off of the ticket which I had booked in advance; paying £3.30 instead of the full fare of £5. I was unable to produce my railcard as on 10/04/2014 I lost my purse – all my personal cards, rail card included. This was then reported to the police on 11/04/2014; reference number ########. This coincided with a very stressful time for me, the end of my University term, meaning that I had to balance the demands of University hand deadlines with the replacement of all my banking/identity/university cards which were lost in my purse. Unfortunately, I overlooked the fact that the train ticket which had been booked in advance on 23/03/2014 had to be used alongside a physical copy of my railcard. As this was my first experience of losing my railcard I, perhaps naively, did not realise that it would be an offence to travel without my rail card on my persons as I had purchased the rail card in January this year and had been in possession of it in March when I purchased the advanced ticket. As a University student I have regular financial struggles and already face a high bill having lost my purse, having to replace my driving license, identity cards and University cards. Currently, my penalty fare has been paid at the station by my boyfriend, Mr ##### #####, as I was unable to do so. I now realise that I made a mistake in going ahead and using the ticket booked in advance, but at the time I was unaware. I fully understand that there is a need for the penalty fare system to punish and deter those who defraud the system; but this is not me. I have already ordered a replacement rail card ready to book my return journey back to Brighton when university commences again in May. I have included as evidence copies of: the penalty fare notice; receipt for the payment of the penalty; police reference number card; screen shot of my rail card account; screen shot showing I have reported my rail card lost and ordered another; and finally, the receipt for the tickets I purchased on the 23/03 along with my boyfriend’s ticket, as my ticket was retained by the ticket inspector. I ask that you take the information into consideration and reconsider the penalty fare. Yours sincerely,

hi all. this is the first time I have been here and would like some advice. yesterday morning I decided to take my two little granddaughters for a short train ride to go visit the park. the girls are both 2yrs old and were very excited to be going on a train. all went well until we arrived at our stop and tried to disembark. I lifted the first child onto the platform and went to lift the second child from the train when the doors closed, trapping me in between them. I was pushing the doors and trying to open them, but this was almost impossible. the other passengers were shouting at the guard to open the doors. eventually the doors opened and I was able to lift my granddaughter from the train. as I am registered disabled with chronic spine disease and arteritis this has left me in a great deal of pain. my little granddaughters were left very distressed about this incident and I would appreciate any advice from you all. thankyou.

Hi everyone, So I am a user of the bus usually, one evening I decided to get the train due to being rushed. I boarded the train with my fare in my hand ready and waiting, no conductor came. when I got off at my spot BTP and a national rail inspector were waiting for tickets. I explained no conductor had asked however they stated i should have known to purcahse at a ticket machine.( as explained I dont frequently use the trains I had no idea I was committing an offence by not buying before boarding) I showed them my weekly bus ticket i buy in advance and explained i dont use the trains. Then then proceed to take my name and address to contact me with futher information for me to explain why I hadent purachsed the ticket. HERES WERE IT ALL WENT WRONG. I panicked after a long stressful day at work I got myself confused and thought I would be issued with a massive on the spot fine i wouldnt be able to pay, Im a third year law student also. Therefore, i very very stupidly lied and gave complete false information, I got home and couldnt sotp thinking about what I had done in a state of panic and confusion. and therefore wanting to do the right thing I walked all the way back to the train station to confess. I explained I did it in the spare of the moment, I had the origional train fare and was more than willling tio pay that however when they mentioned a fine I panicked as I knew I could never afford to pay that! They now have my correct details and i will be waiting for a letter, i need some advice on what to expect, will i get a fine? if so how much? and will it go against me that i firstly provided false details? could this turn criminal? However critical to mention, not only am i third year student in law my aim was to join the police and currently serve as a special constable, this could ruin my whole life plan. I am a honest person and was just confused and panicked. this is a nightmare!!! please please help!!

I bought a train ticket off the Southern Website with my 16-25 Travelcard, for £6.55. Today when I arrived at the barriers at Victoria, the inspector asked to see my Travelcard and I produced my photocard. He asked where the rest of it was and I didn't know what he was talking about - I'm fairly certain that when I bought my travelcard that was all I got. He issued me a £30 fine and asked me to pay £15 on the spot, but as I had no cash on me he said I could pay it all at once in 21 days. Now he said that if I can prove that I wasn't given the other half of the travelcard then I'll be able to appeal. I'm 99% sure that I was never given the other card but I'm not going home for a few days so I won't be able to check for sure until then. So assuming that I do actually have this card somewhere, would I have any grounds for appeal? I mean at the end of the day; I bought a ticket and whilst I may not have had the whole travelcard with me, surely the photocard proves that I have one. I feel like the fine's pretty unfair, I've done nothing wrong. I'm sure it might say in the small print somewhere that one card's not valid without the other, but he was well aware that I own a travelcard, seems like he's just splitting hairs. I've been using that travelcard for a few months now and usually no one checks it or if they do they've had no problems with it. Cheers for any advice.

Hi My boyfriend and I got caught trying to catch a short fare. I have received my fine and paid it (last Friday 12/7/13) but his has yet to come through. We both know we were in the wrong and are willing to pay the fine, but we have a problem that we are going away soon for over a month. As FGW only give you 10 days to pay the fine before they take you to court, does anyone know of any measures he can take before we leave in case it arrives while we're away? He doesn't want to go through the whole prosecution process just because we weren't here to pay the fine. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

A couple of weeks ago i was travelling from Crewe to Stockport and due to a change in my circumstances i hadn't bought a return ticket. I had to rush home as a close family member had been taken to hospital and i wasn't thinking straight. I ran for the train and just got on. When i arrived at Stockport, my head wasn't in the right place and i had said i had traveled from Wilmslow instead of Crewe. Eventually i told the truth when i had calmed down a bit. I went to pay at the exit and my card wasn't accepted in the machine. I also offered to go under supervision to the cash point to get the required money but this was rejected. They took my details and said they would be in contact. I received the letter last week and i sent it back explaining what had happened. I was just wondering what i would be liable to pay and if i would need to go to court. Also i am due to fly to America to do my second year of University study there in August and i would like this to be solved by then. Does anyone have any idea how long these cases take to finish?

Hello there, new poster. I shall get straight to the point, my son received a railways fine on April 10th 2013 of £18.40 inclusive of VAT. letter was addressed to me. I paid the fine on 14th May well in time before any action should be taken, and have the receipt to prove this. Yesterday I received a letter from Warham collections team asking for the outstanding balance of £58.44 how can they ask for such amount of money when the fine was paid in due time. "YOU NOW HAVE SEVEN DAYS TO PAY IN FULL" Well I laughed at first, then I thought maybe because I have paid the fine in full, well before the alloted time "I can sue for stress" can I? They categorically state I have failed to pay this fine, when it's utter tripe of course. I have photocopied the payment receipt, and will send it to the debt recovery agents tomorrow. I am looking forwards to getting some kind of compensation of them, one thing I wondered, shall I let these silly beggars keep on running up a bill for me, just so I can be a bit of a smart Alec

Hi guys, Wondering if you could offer some advice please? I received a letter today stating that I evaded a £2.50 fare last October and need to pay an £80 fine within 14 days. I'm 100% sure that this was not me - it said I traveled from Liverpool South Way to Hough Green - I don't think I've ever been to Liverpool South Way in my life. It doesn't say any times or specifics, just says it has evidence. What evidence would this be? I have never ever been stopped by a ticket inspector in my life, and I very rarely get the train. What seems strange is it was sent to my Mum's address (which I haven't lived at for over 2 years) and it even had her post code down wrong on the letter. I have checked and I was in work on that day 9-5:30 (I work nowhere near Liverpool.) Hough Green is one of my local train stations though. How would they even get my details? What can I do here? Many thanks for any advice you could offer.

The other day when I bought a ticket, the conductor on board the train told me I was travelling in the wrong direction. I told him that I wasn't as I'd looked online and it suggested this route as it was the quickest on the way there. When he input the data on the machine he confirmed that I was correct. I asked if the ticket could be an any permitted route ticket as I would be travelling back the other way. He told me that while 'any permitted' meant I could travel in either direction, once I had started travelling I would be restricted to that route, meaning I would have to come back in the same direction. Is this correct? I suspect he might be wrong as the National Rail site says I only have to purchase one ticket to travel up one way and back the other. I've travelled different ways there and back many times in the past and this has never been an issue before. I also bought a ticket which I thought would be incredibly complicated to purchase in the past due to the fact that I was travelling to four different stations, three of which were on separate routes, and National Rail Enquiries told me I could just buy an any route permitted ticket to one of the stations I was travelling to and it would be fine.

Hello first post. Just after a bit of advice for a friend (genuinely). I wont give specifics as this is a live case, and this is not a sympathy thread, far from it. Before I go through the chain of events, this person is a career professional who had religiously paid for rail season tickets prior to this day which ultimately consisted of a number of poor / stupid decisions regarding fare evasion. The person is also someone who is typically extremely honest and has never been in trouble in their lives. They know their actions were ridiculous and are prepared for the consequences whatever they may be. 1) Friend was stopped at station D in Summer 2012, after saying they got on at station C which turned out to have been a spike day for TOC. (first stupid). Reason was not good enough but funds were an issue on that day and they decided to take a risk. 2) Stupidly (second stupid) panic set in when told it was impossible to have come from that station, so friend then gave name of another station, station B (still not the correct one) but a station one further back in journey. 3) More panic (third stupid) set in and friend then lied about name / address before at the last minute gave correct name/address to officer. This was due to overwhelming horror that this could mean they lose their job. 4) Realising what a monumental twit they had been, friend wrote a letter to TOC explaining the whole situation when a letter arrived from TOC asking for version of events. The letter from TOC did not have the correct the name but the address was correct. The letter documented the entire truth and remorse for what was/is a grossly embarrassing situation on that day. Also attached copies of all rail documents for the last few months showing them to be a regularly paying customer and apologising for actions very sincerely. 5) TOC sent out a court summons and have refused to budge from prosecution stance. Friend is worried to bits because their only misdemeanour may seriously cost them their job, and career they have worked for years to achieve. Whilst they know they are guilty and have no desire to pursue otherwise, the prospect of a criminal record is worrying them to the extreme and its hard to sit back and watch. Aside from not knowing what they should do about TOC stating that wrong name was given, despite friend confessing their real name to officer and at the end of the conversation. I guess its my friends word against TOC? In cases such as these, are conditional discharges ever brought to penalise the guilty party but not to the full extent of the law? Not trying to get away from the fact that what this friend did was illegal and wrong, but I'm hoping their career and life wont suffer from here on in, directly as a result of one morning.

I was wondering if anyone here could shed some light on what action i can expect against myself regarding a rail fare evasion, perhaps from their own experience or knowledge within the area. I recently travelled on a single fare trip within the South West of England and misinformed the ticket conductor deliberately that my trip was shorter than the actual trip. Therefore redcuing the fare by £4.70. However, they soon clocked on to what i had done. I admitted everything and was given a caution, advised i had commited fraud, read my rights and interviewed in the station, my details were taken and i was advised i would receive a letter and have a certain time to respond in or it would be taken to court. This is the first time something like this has happened to me and it was a stupid mistake on my part. As mentioned at the start can anyone advise on what penalties/fines/actions i can expect against me.

My 16 year old daughter was stopped at M/CR Victoria in July and questioned at length by a northern rail staff member regarding her ticket. She was told that her ticket was incorrect, issued with a replacement and told that she would receive a letter regarding the matter. Today a letter has arrived addressed not to my daughter but to Parent/Guardian asking for an explanation and threatening prosecution etc. I have a few queries regarding this and would appreciate any advice. The basis of the dispute is that she had a childs ticket. She purchased this in good faith as she believed, wrongly as much small print reading and internet research has since revealed, that her GMPTE IGO pass entitled her to child fare until 31/8/2012. True for metro and bus as it turns out but not for train. Not being on a direct train route she does not often travel by train and had no idea this was the case. When she bought her ticket at the station ticket booth she did not ask for a child ticket but had her pass in her hand and simply asked for a return, she did state this to the staff member when he questioned her. If Northern Rail felt it appropriate to question her at length without contacting me as a parent, why do they now see fit to write to Parent/guardian in connection with this matter and not directly to my daughter ? Can a 16 year old be summoned issued with fines/court costs etc for this and where do they think a full time student will get the funds to pay this ? What sort of criminal record are they alluding to and would this follow her after her 18th birthday ? Neither myself nor my daughter have spare money to make an offer for admin charges at the rate mentioned in other northern rail threads. The whole tone of their letter gets my back up as it looks like an attempt to play on my emotions as a protective parent to get large amounts of money to prevent my daughter getting a "criminal record ". Unfortunately it makes me want to tell them to do their worst and we'll see them in court, but is that really a good idea ?

I would really appreciate some guidance / advice with regard a situation I am in. I was travelling on a Carnet ticket issued by my company and the inpsector suspected that the date had been amended. When I wrote the date on the ticket you couldn't see the date so I did rewrite over the date with a different Biro to make it clearer which in hindsight made it look worse! (I had previously used the old style Carnets which were never a problem as they were paper not the shiney tickets that are now issued - anyway I beleive this is irrelevant). The date I travelled was the 26th and the 6 looked like it could have been changed from a 5. However on the 25th I was out of the country and can prove this, is there any benefit in trying to prove this as part of my defence. When interviewed I answered all the RPI questions but did not mention I was just back in the country so couldn't have previously used the ticket (I was in shock and worried about them contacting my company). Will the Rail company notify my company that I am suspected of this offence as the ticket would have been purchased by them? Also I have now received a letter from the prosecutions department saying that they are reviewing my case with a view to prosecution and I do not know how to respond. Also it does not state what they are thinking of charging me with. I genuinley had never used that ticket before but I don't know how to prove this. However I do recognise that the date written on the ticket was not clear and stated this in the interview. I would be really grateful for some advice as this is really stressing me out and I am struggling to sleep at night! I am woirried how this incident could affect my job! Any comments much appreciated!

In august after receiving my a level results a took the train from st helens to liverpool without paying when i got off the train i hen went to buy a ticket but didnt have enough so I bought one from a closer stop. On friday i recieved a letter from the debt recovery and prosecutions unit asking for all my details. It says that the maximum fine is £1000, how could I possibly afford that much though? I'm a jobless student. Could anyone offer any advice? Has anyone been in this situation before?

Hello. I've read quite a few threads on here and elsewhere regarding these letters, but I was just wondering about our specific circumstances. My 15 year old daughter went camping one evening in August, and ended up further away from home than she expected (a long walk). She didn't take any money, consequently when she and her friends got the train home (one stop from Goostrey to Holmes Chapel), they were caught by the ticket inspector and their details taken. Now, a couple of months later, she has received a fare evasion letter threatening prosecution, which has worried us both immensely. She has never been in any sort of trouble before and is in the middle of GCSEs so we don't want this hanging over our heads. I am fairly sure that, if she writes to them on the back of the form explaining the circumstances and that she is extremely sorry, and also that we will pay the fare plus costs, she will not be taken to court. However, I'm hoping that someone on this forum could reassure us about this!

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 ?

Transport Officials Suspended Over West Coast Rail 'Fiasco' Read more :- http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/03/transport-officials-suspe_n_1935100.html

I really hope someone can help, I am really anxious about this. I took a rail journey which I have taken many times before on the same Oyster card. This time however the ticket barriers were open. I tried to scan my card anyway but it didnt beep/accept. There is also another point where you can scan but this area was cordoned off for painting work. If there was another place to scan I was unaware of it, Perhaps I should have had a good look around but I didn't. They did send me a letter where I had a chance to reply within 14 days. I wrote a whole page explaining the circumstances but unfortuantly I have only just realised I forgot to send it back to them. They have now sent me a court summons for the fare, valued at £4.40 + £100 in court costs. I am unemployed so the money is a big deal to me. More importantly I am a long term sufferer of Social anxiety. Attending a court is unthinkable, I really don't know what to do. I thought there was a penalty fine of £20 for failing to pay. Even though I believe I am in the right I would happily pay this given the chance in order to avoid court. Please help. Bob

My daughter was supposed to be on the 8.17 train from Preston to Birmingham, for a connection at Wolverhampton to Oxford, she was supposed to be at her Employers office before midday to start her job as an event steward for the Olympics, but due to signal failure st Carnforth (bet its copper theft again!) the whole of the NW main line service is in chaos, she had to go to Manchester airport train station then Manchester Piccadilly to catch a train to London (where I hope she will be picked up) Can she claim any compensation? They have been told they can use any mainline service to get to their destination but this is going to make her hours late for her first day! Never mind the stress to her (and more my stress!!!!) OK moan of the day done now I know she will be ok but my daughter getting her first job in London is rather stressful for me

Hi, we have received a letter from Northern Rail asking for an explanation for the following reason - my son turned 16 in March and travelled by train in May from Roby to Liverpool and had purchased a childs savaway by mistake (he had not used the train for about 6 months and just asked for a savaway at Roby and unwittingly accepted an under 16 ticket. At Liverpool upon showing his ticket the guard asked his age and my son told him the truth. The guard seemed to accept this and was going to issue him with an adults savaway but then decided to keep his ticket and take his name and address. The journey itself would have cost £2.10 as an adult and the childs savaway cost £2.40 so he had actually paid more than the journey would have cost. My son is in the middle of his GCSE's and is now panicking because of the wording in the letter - "non-payment of rail fare" "serious incident" failure to give satisfactory explanation will result in legal proceedings" "fines" "criminal record" etc. Should I phone them up and try and explain this or write back as they have asked, should we apologise profusely and accept a fine or is there any value in arguing the case? I don't want this to drag on any further as it is already affecting his studies. Thanks

Hi, Daughter bought a return rail ticket from huddersfield to york. On the return journey the following day, she put her ticket through the machine to access the platform, the ticket machine ate her ticket. She caught the train and an inspector asked her for her ticket. She expalined what had happened ,she didnt have any more money ,as she had already paid for her return ticket. He kept her at the back of the train and had her removed in Leeds. She has now recived a letter saying that unless she pays £83. she will go to court. She has never been in any sort of trouble and is scared to death. Should we pay the fine for her or do you think we should fight it. Thanks