Trains- Penalty Fare legality

McKneff

ChrisJBarnes91 wrote: »

After reading your replies, Ive gritted my teeth and begrudgingly paid it. obviously not as cut and dry as Id thought, although I still do think its an absolute swindle.

Still, thanks for your advice.

There now, dont you feel better now.
Its probably cost you more than £15 in time to post and read all the replies lol.

Wishing you well for Kenya, hope its great for you.

Annie

opinions4u

I know my rights

Four words that would make any complaint handler bend over backwards to find good cause to reject a complaint.

andygb

If you come here again, then buy a ticket, or pay the fine, but don't complain when you get caught. I buy a ticket why shouldn't you?

rev_henry

I think you're right about the excessive queue, I've read similar before, but you would have to actually queue for 5 mins (3 mins at off peak times) before deciding there wasn't enough time, rather than just looking at the queue.

If you're moving to Kenya what are they going to do about it exactly? Send debt collectors there for £15? I think not.

MTB83

I was travelling on first capital connect on a discounted gold card ticket without my goldcard. I was issued with a £20 penalty fare which i paid in cash there and then. The inspector then gave me a receipt to say there was £0 left to pay. What i want to know is why did they insist on taking my name and address and what will they do with it? Will they be writing to me even though i have already paid it and where are my details kept?

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

Never give them your real name or address. Why do they need to know it if you have paid up? You should have asked why they needed it.

newfoundglory

MTB83 wrote: »

I was travelling on first capital connect on a discounted gold card ticket without my goldcard. I was issued with a £20 penalty fare which i paid in cash there and then. The inspector then gave me a receipt to say there was £0 left to pay. What i want to know is why did they insist on taking my name and address and what will they do with it? Will they be writing to me even though i have already paid it and where are my details kept?

You don't have to give name/address if you paying immediately and in cash....

MTB83

The train inspector said that i had to give my details and I would need a record if I wanted to appeal. I'm not really sure what they do with my details? Is it just in case i want to appeal or will they contact me in the future about it?

I'm hoping as i paid straight away that was then end of it but now i'm worried where my details are being stored and why.

Stigy

newfoundglory wrote: »

You don't have to give name/address if you paying immediately and in cash....

They often don't take your details when a Penalty Fare is paid in full on the spot, however that's not to say they're not entitled to demand it. Anybody suspected of committing an offence on the railway is obliged to supply their correct name and address when asked by an authorised person (any rail staff or Police).

In my opinion a name & address should always be taken prior to to issuing a Penalty fare, for two reasons. Firstly, if somebody has been issued a Penalty Fare on several other occasions, they RPI may wish to report the offender as opposed to issuing them yet another Penalty Fare Notice. Secondly, and sort of tying in with what I just said, logging details will prevent the serial offenders who are a tad more intelligent than the average scroat (certain commuters for example) evading their fares by simply handing over £20 whenever they get caught, as it could quite easily be much cheaper than their season ticket cost, taking in to account how often they are caught.

At least there's a paper trail when details are taken. It's not always possible to take details if the RPI is busy with a queue etc, but in an ideal world, every PF should be tied up with some details.

To the OP, don't worry, nothing will happen with your details now you have paid the PF, but they'll be logged on the system so that if you start to aquire one or two more, they might well be influenced to report you for consideration of prosecution, as you're clearly not being deterred by the Penalty Fare system (The Penalty Fare system is meant as a detterant against fare evasion), indicating that your intention might well be to defraud the company of the rail fare.

If you wish to log an appeal, all you need is the notice number.

vax2002

You will have signed a contract agreeing to pay a civil penalty.