£156 Southwest Trains fine for non-valid ticket seems extortionate!? Please help!!

jesb20

I am desperate for some advice.

Last month, when travelling to a training course for work I mistakenly used my Oyster card out of the Oyster card zones. It was a stupid mistake, I just wasn’t thinking, but it WAS clearly a mistake, as my employer was reimbursing me for the journey and so I would have had no reason to evade the fare.

When my Oyster Card didn’t work, I sought assistance and when told that it wasn’t valid, I apologised and offered to pay the fare or even the £20 fine for not holding a valid ticket (as it is stated on the Southwest trains website). The guard was very rude, ignored my offer and took my details, all the while treating me like a criminal.

A few weeks later I received a letter encouraging me to argue my case by letter unless I wanted to get fined. I duly wrote a letter, basically apologising for what was clearly an honest mistake and stating that because there were Oyster readers I thought my card was valid. The letter sent to me said responding would 'incur administrative fees', but did not state how much these would be.

Last week I received a warning in lieu of prosecution, fining me £156 if I do not want to be taken to court. This is broken down as £70 operational costs, £80 administration costs and the £6.60 for the price of my journey. The administration costs I suspect are so high because I tried to appeal, but the prosecution department were purposefully vague about what this fee consisted of.

I have spoken to customer services, who agreed the fine sounded far too high, and the prosecution department who were having none of it and said if I was unhappy with the fine it would go to court. They said it was not a case of not holding a valid ticket, but a case of fare evasion. The only reason I’ve had the chance to pay the fine is because I’ve shown previous good character (i.e. never not paid a fare).

The idea of going to court and getting a criminal record obviously terrifies me and I feel bullied into paying a extortionate fine to avoid this. I imagine the case wouldn’t win in court and I’d be fined even more and get a record... Please help if you have any advice. Sorry for the essay....

Jeff_Bridges_hair

DO NOT LET IT GO TO COURT.

What you can do is go over to the dedicated fares and ticketing forum here

And outline your problem without any emotion or whether the guard may or may not have been rude. Stick to the FACTS only of the case and maybe they can help you.

Note - they are not there to get you out of your misdemeanour but to give you advice on what has happened and they can only do that if you stick to the facts

Livingthedream

jesb20 wrote: »

Last week I received a warning in lieu of prosecution, fining me £156 if I do not want to be taken to court. This is broken down as £70 operational costs, £80 administration costs and the £6.60 for the price of my journey. The administration costs I suspect are so high because I tried to appeal, but the prosecution department were purposefully vague about what this fee consisted of.

Very shocked at that response, because normally one has to plea very hard to get an out of court settlement and that the sum involved is surprisingly low, especially seeing that they mentioned 'prosecution of fare evasion' which means they had a strong case against you.

OP I'm not trying to wind you up but do a search of the forum Jeff mentioned and the CAG forum and you'll see what I mean.

rdwarr

Yes, it's unusual to get an upfront offer of an out of court settlement. Note that this is not a fine - only a court can issue that.

jesb20

Thank you all for the advice.

I have taken a look at the forums mentioned by Jeff Bridges hair and Livingthedream, and it's actually made me realise I got off pretty lightly with a warning :S

I think my only real option is to pay the costs (not fine, I now understand!). I still think it's a lot of money for something that seems small, but at least now I'm a little less bitter about paying it!

Thanks again, I really appreciate your help.