South West Trains Penalty

Freddie_Snowbits

kevin123 wrote: »

ok thanks.

Does anyone think if I did persue it and it went to court that I would end up paying more the standard fine of £20 as I was not offered it? Would I end up paying my own solicitor fees and covering thier legal costs too as technically I am in the wrong?

You could try, but when I did jury service and two numpties did not turn up, following day local beak had them in there and the Judge fined them both £1,000

he then explained that as this was the High Court, if they appealed, it was to the House of Lords.

Seems your appeal may escalate the fine! Better next time to put 20pence in the slot and be done with it!

sue12345_2

hi
i received a letter from prosecution department (South west train) end of may, and the incident was back in january.
they requested personal/ sensitive details (NI number etc).
I rang the number on the letter, and the phone went dead. I then rang SW train customer service and was given a completely different number. I was also told this is an external company that SW train use. She also told me that i don't necessarily get to speak to someone as the option on this number is to 'call back'
It makes me wonder if this is a legitimate department, why did they give a fake number and not talk to people?
I got some legal advice and apparently bylaw states that I have to give name and address/ proof of identity (this guy who cautioned me got my bank card details). I am not sure on what ground/ reason I have to give them my NI number.
I also spoke to British Transport police, and was told this is a civil matter, and shouldn't have to give them these details.
I read some information about penalty fare victims, and am starting to think if the whole thing is a scam?

Tozer

Bowling_4_Gold wrote: »

Ok. Fair enough. My answer to your question is no. You boarded a train and knew the consequences if you didn't have a valid ticket. Its a risk you took and it turned out bad on this occasion.

Still not really "advice" is it?

Tozer

Fundamental thing to my mind is whether this is a fine (being a criminal prosecution) or a damages claim (civil).

Bowling_4_Gold

Tozer wrote: »

Still not really "advice" is it?

Yes...?!?! The thing I said implied I recommend the OP does not continue his appeal due to what he has done.

From a definition of "advice"

proposal for an appropriate course of action

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=define:advice&meta=&aq=f&oq=

I think my comment was 'advice', unless you beg to differ...

Tozer

Bowling_4_Gold wrote: »

Yes...?!?! The thing I said implied I recommend the OP does not continue his appeal due to what he has done.

From a definition of "advice"


http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=define:advice&meta=&aq=f&oq=

I think my comment was 'advice', unless you beg to differ...

Seriously bowled over by the level of thinking before posting it and the level of detail behind your "advice". Very impressed....

kevin123

Hi,

I am still in the same sort of situation. They have reduced the fine to £200 and gave me 21 days to pay it. I just gave them a call to say I cannot pay it in 21 days and they have given me another 4 weeks to pay it. They still won't put the fee I need to pay them in writing... they just want me to send them £200 and then I will have to wait for a reciept to arrive in the post. It's interesting about the 6 month thing becuase the offence was committed in January so the 6 months is nearly up.

I still think if I went to court I would'nt have to pay such a large fine as the standard fine is £20 and I did not get offered this. I really don't want to risk getting a criminal record over it though!

Thanks for your advice.

Kevin

muffintop

Note that the six months thing applies only to "summary only" offences and not "either way" ones - i.e. ones that can be tried in the crown court as well as the magistrates. I think this type of offence is summary only. The relevant date will be the day in July which falls after the date it occurred in January, if you get my meaning. I find it bizarre that they won't put anything in writing. On that basis alone, I would not pay and wait and see what happens.

Note well, however, that, although they have to lay the complaint at the magistrates court within the 6 months, the court does not have to issue the summons in that period - the summons could be later if there's a backlog between the laying and the issuing.

kevin123

Thanks.

The date has well gone 6 months now. I just called them to say I cannot afford the cost and I will not be able to pay foranother month which is fine.

So the date has gone well past 6 months now. If I tell them that I'm not paying thier fine will it still go to court?

I am more than happy to pay the standard 20 pounds fine but I am not willing to pay the 200 pound fine that they want me to pay. Thier justification is that this is to cover thier admin costs as I did not have the means to pay the fine on the day (I did... I had 2 bank cards which the inspector said he could not take, so I persume he wanted to keep the money!).

So what do you think? I really do not want to get a criminal record as I dont ever want it to effect me getting a job or going abroard.

Many thanks.

RadoJo

When you say you could not pay the £20 fine with a credit or debit card do you mean that the facility was not available? Did the person on the gate ask you to pay in cash?

To be strictly accurate, the penalty fares I have seen have always stated £20 or twice the total cost of the journey - what would the normal total cost of this journey to Waterloo be?