First capital connect ticket fine

NJG_2

Hi guys,

I got a £20 penalty today from First Capital Connect traveling from Hornsey to Potters Bar. The overground station is small and I do not recall any staff being in there and myself and a friend swiped our oyster cards on the machines that are very visible as you go in.

We then got to Potters Bar and our oyster cards would not work, we queried this with the staff of member on duty and were both issued with immediate £20 penalties, despite my friend being told the previous time he was at that station to use an oyster card. Neither of us take the overground train often and it is poorly advertised where is outside of the zone you can use an oyster card for. We could have probably gone back a stop to Hadley Wood which is apparently in the oyster card zone, swiped our cards and bought a single stop extension but we were frankly shellshocked at being treated as law-breakers...

I will send in my appeal and write to Boris and TFL but in the meantime does anyone have any thoughts, suggestions or experiences to share?

dzug1

Well I doubt if your appeal will succeed, but good luck with it anyway.

'I didn't know I needed a ticket' is what it boils down to and that's exceedingly weak grounds.

And to add insult to injury, your Oyster card will have been surcharged for not swiping out....

Keith

At the FCC station I travel from there is a big poster in front of the gate showing where you can use Oyster to.

Altarf

If it was me I would go back to Hornsey and see if (and where) there are any signs showing where you can use Oyster. If there is not a poster next to the Oyster reader then I would certainly complain to FCC, and send them a copy of the Oyster journey history to show that you had 'tapped in' at Hornsey.

Given that Oyster is only valid on part of the line, I would consider that FCC have a duty to make it explicitly clear to all their customers where and when Oyster cards can be used. How hard would it be for the driver to make an announcement to the passengers on the train before the doors close, such as "Oyster is not valid on this train", or "Oyster is only valid to Hadley Wood".

property.advert

TFL are very good at issuing refunds. I get them a lot as I forget or simply use a routing which does not have a barrier to cross or go through. I've never had a penalty though but I would find out whether staff are on a commission or whether their records are in any way linked to the number of tickets they give out, such as parking people are. I would not be surprised to hear that they are on incentives and have acted on that basis, rather than using common sense.