Fine for having your feet up!

wealdroam

Lawpf2001 wrote: »

Meh I thought it was simple enough.

Oh dear...

What does this would wouldnt deter mean?

Lawpf2001

wealdroam wrote: »

Oh dear...

What does this would wouldnt deter mean?

If people were to just receive a telling off, they wouldn't take on board what was said and most likely re-offend. Whilst a fine would certainly make someone take notice of their actions.

Stigy

The_Crunchy_Nutter wrote: »

The whole point of the fine is as a deterrent - I bet none of these people fined and/or taken to court will do it again.
Where I live there is a fine of £500 for letting dogs crap on the pavement - much more than it costs to clean the pavement I'm sure - but no-one moans about that...

The warning of a £500 fine would be if charged with, and found guilty of a park/local Government Byelaw, in Court. The amount tends to be the maximum amount one will be fined if found guilty, and tend to actually be a fraction of this. It's the same as Trespass on the Railway, the maximun fine to be imposed by a Magistrates' Court is £1,000, although in reality, unless the offender is extremely wealthy, they'll more than likely not be fined more than about £300.

A friend of mine has recently received a letter from Merseyside Rail about a trip he made 2 months ago. The letter is demanding he pay a fine of £50 or he could be taken to court. This was all due to the fact he was caught with his feet up on one of the seats.

Obviously its a bit discurtious putting feet up on a seat but I feel this is a tad disproportionate to the offence. As he is a student he does not wish to pay a £50 but neither does he want to be prosecuted.

Do you think there is anything he could do? Especially considering the length of time between offence and the notice of the fine. Or will he just need to suck it up and pay the fine.

This feet on seat issue isn't a £50 fine, as it hasn't been imposed by a court. It's classed as an 'administrative penalty', and is intended to keep the matter out of court. There is also no Penalty Notice for Disorder (PND) that covers this offence, and British Transport Police would have to add it to the list of PND'able offences (Not likely). If taken to court, your friend will receive a criminal conviction for a Byelaw offence, and be fined according to his/her means. Byelaw offences are not recordable, and as such wont appear on the Police National Computer.

There doesn't have to be signage in place, although Merseyrail do have this as a courtesy to passengers. You only need notices in place for smoking offences, is because the byelaws stipulate this, as they do with certain other offences. The ball is very much in Merseyrail's court (no pun intended!), although financially they only significantly benefit if they don't go to court with you, as all of this "penalty" goes to them.