penalty fare

[jskaisi]

hi

Got caught for not having a valid ticket the other day, lied a bit but inspector gave me a fine which was a penalty fare notice that I already paid. could anyone confirm to me that nothing else will come from this e.g. an intention to prosecute or something similar? p.s. he took down my name and address and dob

thanks in advance

 

[Elecman]

If you have paid the Penalty Fare then nothing else should happen unless you have come to the train companies attention before for ticket irregularity. When they could decide to cancel the PF and go for prosecution

 

[jskaisi]

how would they cancel it? because if they did and sent a letter i’d likely not receive it to respond in time as i’m not at that address a lot of the time
thanks

 

[Haywain]

hi

Got caught for not having a valid ticket the other day, lied a bit but inspector gave me a fine which was a penalty fare notice that I already paid. could anyone confirm to me that nothing else will come from this e.g. an intention to prosecute or something similar? p.s. he took down my name and address and dob

thanks in advance

Nothing more will come of it. Pay the correct fare in future.

 

[WesternLancer]

how would they cancel it? because if they did and sent a letter i’d likely not receive it to respond in time as i’m not at that address a lot of the time
thanks

They could potentially cancel it but we rarely see cases on this forum of that happening - so my hunch is it is unlikely. Get someone else to check your post to be sure, if you are not there often.

But the reason he took your details will at least in part be because if you get stopped with wrong ticket again they may opt not to use the Penalty Fare option, but to refer for prosecution consideration next time (on basis you have 'not learned a lesson') so take care to always have a valid ticket in future.

 

[jskaisi]

They could potentially cancel it but we rarely see cases on this forum of that happening - so my hunch is it is unlikely. Get someone else to check your post to be sure, if you are not there often.

But the reason he took your details will at least in part be because if you get stopped with wrong ticket again they may opt not to use the Penalty Fare option, but to refer for prosecution consideration next time (on basis you have 'not learned a lesson') so take care to always have a valid ticket in future.

has such a cancellation ever happened in your knowledge ?
but yes i’ve definetely learnt my lesson now but thanks again for the help

 

[Hadders]

If you have paid the Penalty Fare then that is the end of the matter.

In theory the train company could refund the Penalty Fare and prosecute you but in practice this isn't going to happen. I don't think I have ever known this to happen.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

how would they cancel it? because if they did and sent a letter i’d likely not receive it to respond in time as i’m not at that address a lot of the time
thanks

As others have said, it's unlikely to come to this, but in another field of UK law that I am familiar with (although please note that I am not a lawyer) the legislation specifically relies on legal documents being sent, rather than on them being received in the person's hands. This puts an awful lot of trust in the Royal Mail doing their job properly, but is there deliberately to stop people denying that they received the document and benefitting from that denial.

As I say, I am no lawyer, but I would expect there to be statute or case law to the same effect for cancelling penalty fares and starting a prosecution instead: after all, if it's been sent to the address you gave then presumably you expected to be contactable there.

 

[jskaisi]

thanks for the advice, guess i was just lucky the inspector issued a penalty fare and not prosecution report ?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

thanks for the advice, guess i was just lucky the inspector issued a penalty fare and not prosecution report ?

Indeed. Key thing now is to ensure that you always have a valid ticket when travelling in future, so that you don't come to the railway's attention again, as, if you don't, you might not be so 'lucky' next time.