Incomplete Penalty Fare Notice Issued

[Railc1]

I travelled by train from St Albans City to London St Pancras.

I didnt leave much time to purchase my ticket and decided I would purchase my travel card at St Pancras. This was my genuine intent as i would need a ticket to use the tube and return.

I was issued with a Penalty Fare Notice on the train which I paid there and then in full. I was asked to sign the notice where he had marked an 'X'

On later reading of my copy penalty notice I saw that it states my name and address are required under the Railways (Penalty Fares) Regulations 1994 and that that name/address section on the notice had been left blank. I hadn’t been asked for my name or address by the collector and not asked to complete that section of the notice form by him.

In any case, the penalty fare notice was signed by the authorised collector at the bottom, myself, and the full fee paid via debit card.

I am really worried that I was supposed to fill the section (2) address bit out, and I have broken the law/regs by not doing so. Under the address some further sections are missing including....

'How verified'
'Reference'
A tick box 'A' and box 'N'

Was I supposed to fill out the name and address section on the notice? Will I be pursued by Thameslink and prosecuted under the regs?

 

[Puffing Devil]

You've paid the penalty fare and have a receipt. That's it, matter closed.

It looks like your name and address have not been collected and won't appear on any list. It would also make it very hard to Thameslink to prosecute you if they don't know where you live.

 

[Romilly]

Regulation 12 of the 1994 Regulations says:

Requirement for a person to give his name and address
12.—(1) A person charged a penalty fare pursuant to regulation 4 shall give his name and address to the authorised collector when so required.

(2) Any person who fails to give his name and address in accordance with paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale.

Regulation 12(1) only requires the giving of name and address "when so required". If not required, i.e. asked, to do so then non-supply of name and address is not a breach of paragraph (1) of regulation 12 and, accordingly, no offence under paragraph (2) of the regulation is committed.

 

[Railc1]

Thank you both.

I was thrown slightly by the wording on the notice...

"It is a requirement under the Railways (Penalty Fares) Regulations 1994 (Section 1&2) to provide your name and address".

But as you note, the regulations include "when so required" also. So it looks like I wasn't required in the instance which is re-assuring. But lesson learnt in any case.

 

[Hadders]

No further action will be taken against the OP in respect of this matter.

The OP should purchase their ticket before travel in future, it’s illegal not to do so (ok there are some exceptions but we’re talking about a journey from St Albans where it is highly unlikely that ticket facilities would not be available, not some shack in Northern rail land).

 

[furlong]

Thank you both.
"It is a requirement under the Railways (Penalty Fares) Regulations 1994 (Section 1&2) to provide your name and address".

So that statement appears to be incorrect, but since it is also being disregarded, my guess is that it would not invalidate the notice.