ADVICE PLEASE! Railways Bylaw Section 18

[graham wards]

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.

[graham wards]

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...

[dx100uk]

if this is your real name i would advise asking for a change of username

 

dx

[MrGates]

byelaw 18 is a strict liabilty matter and the TOC is not obliged to issue a PFN and can proceed to court where necessary, also worth noting that not all stations are penalty fare stations. They also again are not obliged to settle out of court either.

[Stigy]

As has been said, FCC are not obliged to issue a PFN for these matters and can proceed straight to court if they wish. I suggest writing to them if time permits, and explaining the situation, and offer to pay all reasonable admin costs in order to remain out of court. State that it was the first time this has happened (assuming it was of course!) and that it'll never happen again. They don't have to accept, but at least you can say you tried!

[Old-CodJA]

Sound advice from MrGates and Stigy.

 

Whilst Penalty Fares may be issued on some TOCs, it is not a prerequisite of commencing the prosecution process. A penalty fare is only revelant if a printed notice was issued to a traveller at the time of any incident.