Please help me. Unfair train fine !!!

shaun_from_Africa

The penalty is a civil debt but failing to provide correct details is a criminal offence

As already stated by both myself and Optimist.

"The above civil matter becomes a criminal matter if you fail to supply the correct address to a "authorised person"
&
Who would arrest them? and for what? Giving false details is an offence, but failing to speak English isn't."

theres no smoke without fire

So without any evidence, you would automatically assume that someone is guilty.
It seems that your knowledge of the law is seriously lacking, as your comments about ticket inspectors being able to access the police database, DVLA records, and other protected information clearly shows

ryantcb

FYI The Railways (Penalty Fares) Regulations 1994 was amended in 2005.

shaun_from_Africa

FYI The Railways (Penalty Fares) Regulations 1994 was amended in 2005.

Correct.
It was amended, not cancelled.
The actual legislation was the "The Railways (Penalty Fares) (Amendment) Regulations 2005"
And the only reason for the amendment was to change the amount payable for penalty fares that was originally stated in the 1994 act. (up from £10 to £20)

It made no changes to when or where penalty tickets could be issued, nor did it make any changes to the failure of paying penalty charges being a civil offence.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/1095/made

MothballsWallet

I'd never heard of the train company mentioned by the OP before reading this thread. (I don't have encyclopaedic knowledge of train operating companies, however.)

Optimist

MothballsWallet wrote: »

I'd never heard of the train company mentioned by the OP before reading this thread. (I don't have encyclopaedic knowledge of train operating companies, however.)

One of the many new ones under the mess that is our rail system.

MothballsWallet

Perhaps Mr Blair could start his own rail firm - call it "Rip Off & Spin Rail"?

We used to have Central Trains round here - they lost the franchise, now it's London Midland.

squeaky

Yep. Google here

We're still waiting to hear back from the OP if they have found anything in the way of evidence that can show that the OP's gf cannot have been on the train.

That would clear things up pretty quickly.

If not, the debate here so far is going to leave them with plenty to think about.

Should they just take it to a solicitor?

ryantcb

again the travelling without a ticket is only an offence of the conditions of carriage, If the person is unable to provide a name and address then that is a criminal offence and the person could be detained by the inspector or british transport police. Not being able to speak english does not exclude you from the law. A BTP officer will be asked to attend if no details are given.

popadom

ryantcb wrote: »

When revenue issue a penalty the have to confirm the identity of the person in question. They do this via databases. The person would of had to give without hesitation their full name date of birth and full address with post code(not easy to make up on the spot). This would then be checked and verified. So assuming these standard check were made then the person in question is either
a)you
b)your girlfriend
c)a close family member
the chances of it being a complete stranger are 4% at best.
The final possibility is that the whole thing is bogus, when you call to question the letter do you find the number yourself or use the one atop of the letter? It is probably more likely that its a scam and just pishing for every 1000 letters they send out 1% pay without hesitation.

Good luck

Actually i got fined once as my sister had "borrowed" my purse and hadnt returned it so i couldnt pay. tHEY just wrote my name, adress and postcode, no computer. Gave me a slip and i was off.

DCFC79

noakesc wrote: »

Thanks for all the help everyone.

Just to remake a point in my original post, my girlfriend was not on the train and therefore they cannot in any possible way, prove that she was.

which is why i suggested for the TO to provide proof eg they got her address from the person who gave your gf's details so surely they could match teh handwriting