SWT - penalty letter/prosecution

jmenzies

I travel from my station to Waterloo every day, I have done for the last 6 years and I have had a season ticket for the last 6 years.
A month or so ago, I left home as usual, boarded the train at my local station as usual (barriers were open) and proceeded to Waterloo. At Waterloo, I went through an open barrier as I often do in the mornings and was asked to show my ticket.
I couldn't find my season ticket, but was certain I had it on me. The revenue officer took me onto a platform and asked me for my details, I said the ticket it in my bag somewhere but he wasn't interested in giving me time to look and frankly he was being loud and rude and it was embarrassing and I just wanted to go, so when he said, if you have a ticket then there is no issue, just give me your details and you can be on your way.
I got to work about 15 minutes after getting stopped, found my season ticket in my bag, sent a photo of it (with a backing sheet showing the date and time) to SWT to prove I was in possession of a valid ticket and made a complaint that the revenue officer was rude and didn't give me sufficient time to produce my ticket.
I received a letter saying I had to pay just under £100 or I would be prosecuted. Frankly I am outraged that they could possibly have grounds to prosecute someone who had paid the correct fare, who had sent evidence of this and who was in possession of a valid ticket.
I called them up to say I had a valid season ticket and they said not producing it is sufficient for a prosecution and that they "have to treat all customers the same" - whatever that means.
Any advice on whether I should 1) pay the fine then appeal, 2) not pay the fine and defend any attempt to prosecute or 3) don't have a leg to stand on so should just pay the outrageous fine and walk away.

wealdroam

jmenzies wrote: »

I travel from my station to Waterloo every day, I have done for the last 6 years and I have had a season ticket for the last 6 years.
A month or so ago, I left home as usual, boarded the train at my local station as usual (barriers were open) and proceeded to Waterloo. At Waterloo, I went through an open barrier as I often do in the mornings and was asked to show my ticket.
I couldn't find my season ticket, but was certain I had it on me. The revenue officer took me onto a platform and asked me for my details, I said the ticket it in my bag somewhere but he wasn't interested in giving me time to look and frankly he was being loud and rude and it was embarrassing and I just wanted to go, so when he said, if you have a ticket then there is no issue, just give me your details and you can be on your way.
I got to work about 15 minutes after getting stopped, found my season ticket in my bag, sent a photo of it (with a backing sheet showing the date and time) to SWT to prove I was in possession of a valid ticket and made a complaint that the revenue officer was rude and didn't give me sufficient time to produce my ticket.
I received a letter saying I had to pay just under £100 or I would be prosecuted. Frankly I am outraged that they could possibly have grounds to prosecute someone who had paid the correct fare, who had sent evidence of this and who was in possession of a valid ticket.
I called them up to say I had a valid season ticket and they said not producing it is sufficient for a prosecution and that they "have to treat all customers the same" - whatever that means.
Any advice on whether I should 1) pay the fine then appeal, 2) not pay the fine and defend any attempt to prosecute or 3) don't have a leg to stand on so should just pay the outrageous fine and walk away.

Probably best to re-post on this forum:

RailUK Forums - Disputes & Prosecutions

Edited to add:
Oh... I see you have already done that:

Fine/Prosecution Letter SWT

Laz123

Try this organisation. They helped me reclaim £20 years ago from Tramlink. They used to be called Rail Passengers' Council:

http://www.transportfocus.org.uk/

Kernel_Sanders

jmenzies wrote: »

Any advice on whether I ..... 3) don't have a leg to stand on so should just pay the outrageous fine and walk away.

How could you walk away if you don't have a leg to stand on?

wealdroam

Having asked for help here, I rather hoped that jmenzies would report back here.

Anyway, here is his latest post on that other forum:

Just an update for everyone. I sent a letter to SWT notifying them I intend not to settle and that I felt I would be able to successfully defend any attempt to prosecute and set out the reasons discussed earlier in the thread. I received a response yesterday confirming the matter was now closed.

Doesn't really add much in the way of helping others in the future other than confirming the sentiment that they don't tend to prosecute unless it's watertight.

Thanks for all your input.