Chiltern notice of intended prosecution

[m41]

Hi All,

Hoping someone is able to help. I have received a letter about the above today as I did not buy a ticket between Marylebone and Bicester Village. This was my first time travelling on that train and I genuinely did not know you had to buy a ticket from there as I tapped in at Marylebone.

I have written the below apology would this be sufficient to send across to them I really want to avoid this going to court as I have never done this before.

Appreciate any help!

Dear Sir/Madam,

Further to the letter I have received dated 4th October 2024 for the initial report made on 23rd August 2024 and regarding the above reference I would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused that day.

It was my first time travelling that far and I was unaware that a further ticket would be needed to be purchased as I tapped in from Marylebone. I am willing to pay a fine as well as any administrative costs for this or the cost of the ticket lost on the day or all three of these options. I have not seeked any legal advice as of yet as I would really like this settled without any further legal action. I am a young person who rarely travels outside my town so was unaware that a further ticket would be needed. Having a criminal record for this would really harm my future aspirations and goals especially since I have never done this before.

Once again I am extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused. I am embarrassed by my actions and it certainly will not happen again as I know how to get there now as well as a ticket will need to be purchased. The truth is I genuinely did not know a further ticket would be needed. If someone would like to discuss this over the phone I do not mind as I tried to look for a number online but unable to find one. Since receiving the letter I have been extremely worried and as mentioned above I am willing to pay all the costs associated for the time and inconvenience caused to Chiltern.

Please let me know if you would like my contact number to call me on. I hope to hear from the team soon and once again please do accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience and troubles caused to Chiltern Railway.

 

[Gloster]

It would help if you could post the letter you received in this forum, together with any other paperwork you had previously received. Please obscure your name, address and any other identifying details, such as reference numbers.

 

[m41]

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Oct 2024 ==

T

It would help if you could post the letter you received in this forum, together with any other paperwork you had previously received. Please obscure your name, address and any other identifying details, such as reference numbers.

Thank you for your reply please see attached im just worried it will go to court for a stupid mistake I made

 

[12LDA28C]

Hi All,

Hoping someone is able to help. I have received a letter about the above today as I did not buy a ticket between Marylebone and Bicester Village. This was my first time travelling on that train and I genuinely did not know you had to buy a ticket from there as I tapped in at Marylebone.

I have written the below apology would this be sufficient to send across to them I really want to avoid this going to court as I have never done this before.

Appreciate any help!

Dear Sir/Madam,

Further to the letter I have received dated 4th October 2024 for the initial report made on 23rd August 2024 and regarding the above reference I would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused that day.

It was my first time travelling that far and I was unaware that a further ticket would be needed to be purchased as I tapped in from Marylebone. I am willing to pay a fine as well as any administrative costs for this or the cost of the ticket lost on the day or all three of these options. I have not seeked any legal advice as of yet as I would really like this settled without any further legal action. I am a young person who rarely travels outside my town so was unaware that a further ticket would be needed. Having a criminal record for this would really harm my future aspirations and goals especially since I have never done this before.

Once again I am extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused. I am embarrassed by my actions and it certainly will not happen again as I know how to get there now as well as a ticket will need to be purchased. The truth is I genuinely did not know a further ticket would be needed. If someone would like to discuss this over the phone I do not mind as I tried to look for a number online but unable to find one. Since receiving the letter I have been extremely worried and as mentioned above I am willing to pay all the costs associated for the time and inconvenience caused to Chiltern.

Please let me know if you would like my contact number to call me on. I hope to hear from the team soon and once again please do accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience and troubles caused to Chiltern Railway.

You say you 'tapped in' at Marylebone - was this with a contactless card or Oyster? Are you used to paying by this method for your train travel, as it seems unlikely Chiltern would believe that you genuinely thought you could simply 'tap in' for a journey that went well beyond the limits of the Travelcard area (although this method of payment is now accepted as far out as High Wycombe on the Chiltern route I believe).

 

[m41]

You say you 'tapped in' at Marylebone - was this with a contactless card or Oyster? Are you used to paying by this method for your train travel, as it seems unlikely Chiltern would believe that you genuinely thought you could simply 'tap in' for a journey that went well beyond the limits of the Travelcard area (although this method of payment is now accepted as far out as High Wycombe on the Chiltern route I believe).

It was contactless and yes I live in london and never been on trains outside tfl before

 

[furlong]

What was the purpose of the trip - was it related to shopping at Bicester Village or something unrelated?

 

[m41]

What was the purpose of the trip - was it related to shopping at Bicester Village or something unrelated?

Shopping again never been there so wanted to see

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Oct 2024 ==

I just don’t want it to go to court or worse for something so silly of course now I know that I have to buy the ticket between then

 

[Hadders]

I'd make a few amendments:

If it's the first time you've done this then say you made a mistake as you thought you could use contactless to travel from Marylebone to Bicester Village
Ask if it is possible to settle this out of court (you don't have a right to an out of court settlement but Chiltern will usually offer ine if you co-operate with them)
Say you are prepared to pay the outstanding fare and their adminintrative costs in dealing with the case (don't call it a fine, as technically a fine can only be imposed by a court upon conviction. So if you want to keepo this out of court you don't want to pay a fine!)
Cut out the bit about the impact of a criminal record - Chiltern don't care about that
Don't offer to speak to them on the phone. With this sort of thing everything is done in writing.


Pop up another draft with these amendments and we'll be happy to look over it again for you.

 

[m41]

I'd make a few amendments:

If it's the first time you've done this then say you made a mistake as you thought you could use contactless to travel from Marylebone to Bicester Village
Ask if it is possible to settle this out of court (you don't have a right to an out of court settlement but Chiltern will usually offer ine if you co-operate with them)
Say you are prepared to pay the outstanding fare and their adminintrative costs in dealing with the case (don't call it a fine, as technically a fine can only be imposed by a court upon conviction. So if you want to keepo this out of court you don't want to pay a fine!)
Cut out the bit about the impact of a criminal record - Chiltern don't care about that
Don't offer to speak to them on the phone. With this sort of thing everything is done in writing.


Pop up another draft with these amendments and we'll be happy to look over it again for you.

Thank you for your reply. I know it’s such a stupid thing to do and I should know better

Dear Sir/Madam,

Further to the letter I have received dated 4th October 2024 for the initial report made on 23rd August 2024 and regarding the above reference I would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused that day.

It was my first time travelling that far as well as on the this train and I was unaware that a further ticket would be needed to be purchased as I used contactless from Marylebone and did not know I would need an additional ticket to get to Bicester Village. I would really like this to be settled out of court and I am prepared to pay the outstanding fare and administrative costs due to this incident.

Once again I am extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused it certainly will not happen again as I know how to get there now as well as a ticket will need to be purchased. The truth is I genuinely did not know a further ticket would be needed. Since receiving the letter I have been extremely worried and as mentioned above I am willing to pay all the costs associated for the time and inconvenience caused to Chiltern.

I hope to hear from the team soon and once again please do accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience and troubles caused to Chiltern Railway.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Oct 2024 ==

I have also contacted a solicitor as per the letter do you think it’s best to speak with them or just send of the email tomorrow morning?

 

[CyrusWuff]

You say you 'tapped in' at Marylebone - was this with a contactless card or Oyster? Are you used to paying by this method for your train travel, as it seems unlikely Chiltern would believe that you genuinely thought you could simply 'tap in' for a journey that went well beyond the limits of the Travelcard area (although this method of payment is now accepted as far out as High Wycombe on the Chiltern route I believe).

Chiltern also have automated "Oyster cards are valid as far as <station>", "Contactless is valid as far as High Wycombe" and "The next station is the last station to which Oyster/Contactless are valid" announcements on trains, which is possibly why they've opted to go down the prosecution route instead of issuing a Penalty Fare.

It'd be interesting to know how many people try to use Oyster and Contactless outside the relevant areas. Sadly Chiltern aren't subject to the Freedom of Information Act...yet. Though even if they were, they'd likely refuse a request for that information.

 

[m41]

Chiltern also have automated "Oyster cards are valid as far as <station>", "Contactless is valid as far as High Wycombe" and "The next station is the last station to which Oyster/Contactless are valid" announcements on trains, which is possibly why they've opted to go down the prosecution route instead of issuing a Penalty Fare.

It'd be interesting to know how many people try to use Oyster and Contactless outside the relevant areas. Sadly Chiltern aren't subject to the Freedom of Information Act...yet. Though even if they were, they'd likely refuse a request for that information.

Thanks for this interesting to know when you say prosecute does this mean going to court and paying the fees or is this jail time also? Sorry if anything sounds stupid just never been in a situation like this and it’s very worrying

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you for your reply. I know it’s such a stupid thing to do and I should know better

Dear Sir/Madam,

Further to the letter I have received dated 4th October 2024 for the initial report made on 23rd August 2024 and regarding the above reference I would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused that day.

It was my first time travelling that far and I was unaware that a further ticket would be needed to be purchased as I used contactless from Marylebone. I would really like this to be settled out of court and I am prepared to pay the outstanding fare and administrative costs in dealing with the case.

Once again I am extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused. I am embarrassed by my actions and it certainly will not happen again as I know how to get there now as well as a ticket will need to be purchased. The truth is I genuinely did not know a further ticket would be needed. Since receiving the letter I have been extremely worried and as mentioned above I am willing to pay all the costs associated for the time and inconvenience caused to Chiltern.

I hope to hear from the team soon

Even if prosecuted you would not go to prison, but it would be a fine and criminal record if found guilty.

But before paying for a solicitor I would send your e mail response and see if that resolves it without prosecution. If it doesn’t you could then engage a solicitor at that stage if you wanted.

But make the changes to your e mail hadders suggests to improve it and help obtain the desired outcome.

Your objective is to obtain what’s called a settlement out of court. And the vast majority of cases on here people achieve that with the advice given here rather than needing a solicitor to achieve that.

 

[furlong]

Shopping again never been there so wanted to see

So then I would also suggest contacting Bicester Village about the matter and attempting to make it their problem to try to sort this out as well as yours.
Did you spend a lot of money there? Even if not, they must see a lot of cases like this and the railway company sending needlessly threatening letters to the Village's customers is hardly good for their reputation! Don't be afraid to go to the press over the issue if you don't get the result you require. A similar problem at Stansted Airport has been generating a lot of press coverage. I doubt Bicester Village will want to get landed with similar negative press coverage discouraging shoppers. It is surely entirely within the power of Chiltern and Bicester Village to reach an agreement that resolves this. Surely they want people like you to return and spend money there again, don't they?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Oct 2024 ==

There are also some technicalities - were you stopped at your destination station or on the train, and if on the train, between which two station stops? (May need to work out the name of the next station from the time.)

 

[m41]

Even if prosecuted you would not go to prison, but it would be a fine and criminal record if found guilty.

But before paying for a solicitor I would send your e mail response and see if that resolves it without prosecution. If it doesn’t you could then engage a solicitor at that stage if you wanted.

But make the changes to your e mail hadders suggests to improve it and help obtain the desired outcome.

Your objective is to obtain what’s called a settlement out of court. And the vast majority of cases on here people achieve that with the advice given here rather than needing a solicitor to achieve that.

I have made the changes Hadders have suggested if it is ok to send off?
Dear Sir/Madam,

Further to the letter I have received dated 4th October 2024 for the initial report made on 23rd August 2024 and regarding the above reference I would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused that day.

It was my first time travelling that far as well as on the this train and I was unaware that a further ticket would be needed to be purchased as I used contactless from Marylebone and did not know I would need an additional ticket to get to Bicester Village. I would really like this to be settled out of court and I am prepared to pay the outstanding fare and administrative costs due to this incident.

Once again I am extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused it certainly will not happen again as I know how to get there now as well as a ticket will need to be purchased. The truth is I genuinely did not know a further ticket would be needed. Since receiving the letter I have been extremely worried and as mentioned above I am willing to pay all the costs associated for the time and inconvenience caused to Chiltern.

I hope to hear from the team soon and once again please do accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience and troubles caused to Chiltern Railway.

 

[m41]

So then I would also suggest contacting Bicester Village about the matter and attempting to make it their problem to try to sort this out as well as yours.
Did you spend a lot of money there? Even if not, they must see a lot of cases like this and the railway company sending needlessly threatening letters to the Village's customers is hardly good for their reputation! Don't be afraid to go to the press over the issue if you don't get the result you require. A similar problem at Stansted Airport has been generating a lot of press coverage. I doubt Bicester Village will want to get landed with similar negative press coverage discouraging shoppers. It is surely entirely within the power of Chiltern and Bicester Village to reach an agreement that resolves this. Surely they want people like you to return and spend money there again, don't they?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Oct 2024 ==

There are also some technicalities - were you stopped at your destination station or on the train, and if on the train, between which two station stops? (May need to work out the name of the next station from the time.)

Should I send the email and then contact Bicester or after?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Oct 2024 ==

So then I would also suggest contacting Bicester Village about the matter and attempting to make it their problem to try to sort this out as well as yours.
Did you spend a lot of money there? Even if not, they must see a lot of cases like this and the railway company sending needlessly threatening letters to the Village's customers is hardly good for their reputation! Don't be afraid to go to the press over the issue if you don't get the result you require. A similar problem at Stansted Airport has been generating a lot of press coverage. I doubt Bicester Village will want to get landed with similar negative press coverage discouraging shoppers. It is surely entirely within the power of Chiltern and Bicester Village to reach an agreement that resolves this. Surely they want people like you to return and spend money there again, don't they?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Oct 2024 ==

There are also some technicalities - were you stopped at your destination station or on the train, and if on the train, between which two station stops? (May need to work out the name of the next station from the time.)

I was stopped on the train at the Bicester stop so the last stop. The inspector just took a picture of my details and told me to take a picture of a form which I did

 

[Hadders]

I have made the changes Hadders have suggested if it is ok to send off?
Dear Sir/Madam,

Further to the letter I have received dated 4th October 2024 for the initial report made on 23rd August 2024 and regarding the above reference I would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused that day.

It was my first time travelling that far as well as on the this train and I was unaware that a further ticket would be needed to be purchased as I used contactless from Marylebone and did not know I would need an additional ticket to get to Bicester Village. I would really like this to be settled out of court and I am prepared to pay the outstanding fare and administrative costs due to this incident.

Once again I am extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused it certainly will not happen again as I know how to get there now as well as a ticket will need to be purchased. The truth is I genuinely did not know a further ticket would be needed. Since receiving the letter I have been extremely worried and as mentioned above I am willing to pay all the costs associated for the time and inconvenience caused to Chiltern.

I hope to hear from the team soon and once again please do accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience and troubles caused to Chiltern Railway.

This is much better. Just one minor amendment, I'd say 'I wondered if it would be possible for this to be settled...' rather than 'I would really like'.

There's no need to involve a solicitor at this stage, should your reply not get a favourable response from CHiltern then that's when I'd consider engaging a solicitor.

Do let us know how you get on.

 

[m41]

This is much better. Just one minor amendment, I'd say 'I wondered if it would be possible for this to be settled...' rather than 'I would really like'.

There's no need to involve a solicitor at this stage, should your reply not get a favourable response from CHiltern then that's when I'd consider engaging a solicitor.

Do let us know how you get on.

Thank you Hadders and everyone else I am glad I signed up to the forum now. I have sent the email to them now and will give you guys an update as soon as I receive one

 

[WesternLancer]

Should I send the email and then contact Bicester or after?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Oct 2024 ==


I was stopped on the train at the Bicester stop so the last stop. The inspector just took a picture of my details and told me to take a picture of a form which I did

Good luck with the next stage of this and head back if you need more advice as things progress.

 

[m41]

Good luck with the next stage of this and head back if you need more advice as things progress.

Thank you! I have sent the email so any response I will get back to you guys

 

[Haywain]

Should I ... then contact Bicester or after?

I would advise against wasting your time doing that.

 

[m41]

I would advise against wasting your time doing that.

Thanks Haywain, once I receive a response from them hopefully you guys can give me advise on what steps to take after

 

[WesternLancer]

Should I ... then contact Bicester or after?

I would focus on dealing with Chiltern Railways and the prosecution threat as your priority (as you are doing) to get that resolved and the threat removed and the matter closed with them.

If you then think it's worth contacting Bicester Village shopping operator after that to alert them to this problem you can then do that at your leisure. Sadly I suspect Chiltern Trains won't care very much about what they think (so I take a different view than @furlong on that) and I doubt Bicester Village would intervene in an individual ticketing error / threat of prosecution on behalf of a visitor / customer. But there can be no harm in asking them if you want to. But sort out the stuff direct with Chiltern Trains first.

As a general rule you should assume contactless payment is not available on train journeys that go outside the Transport for London area. Things are being rolled out to extend that to destinations in other parts of the south east beyond that - but its in fits and starts and to the passenger no obvious logic to to where the boundaries are - so in future it's something to be very careful of and to always check before you get on a train, as I'm sure you now realise. Yours is not the first case on here where people have had the same problem as you (not even the 1st case involving Chiltern)

Also - if you have already made initial contact with a solicitor, you can always at this stage (when they get back to you) simply ask them for an estimate of their cost for dealing with this if your own efforts are unsuccessful - just so you know what they may charge. There are a handful of firms that get mentioned on this forum from time to time who specialise in railway ticket matters - who you can be pointed towards if it comes to that.

But personally I think you will have a strong chance of sorting this out yourself with out the need for a solicitor if you follow advice here. That might be different if you have a history of persistent and deliberate fare evasion but I don't get the sense of that from your posts.

Edit - I just looked at the Bicester Village website - this page in particular

Train | Getting Here | Bicester Village

Travelling to Bicester Village by train? Click here to search for tickets and find the best route from your home town. You'll be here in no time.

www.thebicestercollection.com

Whilst it doesn't seem to make it clear contactless is not valid - which would be helpful if it did, it does say:

From London​

Travel to the Village direct from London Marylebone from just 47 minutes. Book your tickets HERE >

Visit our dedicated kiosk at Marylebone train station where our hosts will be delighted to assist you. The kiosk is open from 8am to 4pm, 7 days per week.

So no doubt they would simply tell you that they had people to help at Marylebone and they would 'ensure you got the right ticket' had you asked..... I see the website also has links to special offer train fares from London too.

 

[m41]

I would focus on dealing with Chiltern Railways and the prosecution threat as your priority (as you are doing) to get that resolved and the threat removed and the matter closed with them.

If you then think it's worth contacting Bicester Village shopping operator after that to alert them to this problem you can then do that at your leisure. Sadly I suspect Chiltern Trains won't care very much about what they think (so I take a different view than @furlong on that) and I doubt Bicester Village would intervene in an individual ticketing error / threat of prosecution on behalf of a visitor / customer. But there can be no harm in asking them if you want to. But sort out the stuff direct with Chiltern Trains first.

As a general rule you should assume contactless payment is not available on train journeys that go outside the Transport for London area. Things are being rolled out to extend that to destinations in other parts of the south east beyond that - but its in fits and starts and to the passenger no obvious logic to to where the boundaries are - so in future it's something to be very careful of and to always check before you get on a train, as I'm sure you now realise. Yours is not the first case on here where people have had the same problem as you (not even the 1st case involving Chiltern)

Also - if you have already made initial contact with a solicitor, you can always at this stage (when they get back to you) simply ask them for an estimate of their cost for dealing with this if your own efforts are unsuccessful - just so you know what they may charge. There are a handful of firms that get mentioned on this forum from time to time who specialise in railway ticket matters - who you can be pointed towards if it comes to that.

But personally I think you will have a strong chance of sorting this out yourself with out the need for a solicitor if you follow advice here. That might be different if you have a history of persistent and deliberate fare evasion but I don't get the sense of that from your posts.

Edit - I just looked at the Bicester Village website - this page in particular

Train | Getting Here | Bicester Village

Travelling to Bicester Village by train? Click here to search for tickets and find the best route from your home town. You'll be here in no time.

www.thebicestercollection.com

Whilst it doesn't seem to make it clear contactless is not valid - which would be helpful it does say:

From London​

Travel to the Village direct from London Marylebone from just 47 minutes. Book your tickets HERE >

Visit our dedicated kiosk at Marylebone train station where our hosts will be delighted to assist you. The kiosk is open from 8am to 4pm, 7 days per week.

Thank you for this honestly the reassurance helps a lot. You are right to say I have never been in this situation before clearly as I don’t travel out of london at all this is the first time and probably the only time I will travel now. I’m hoping they get back to me soon as I saw previous posts saying they can take long and others get responses in a couple of days

 

[12LDA28C]

So then I would also suggest contacting Bicester Village about the matter and attempting to make it their problem to try to sort this out as well as yours.
Did you spend a lot of money there? Even if not, they must see a lot of cases like this and the railway company sending needlessly threatening letters to the Village's customers is hardly good for their reputation! Don't be afraid to go to the press over the issue if you don't get the result you require. A similar problem at Stansted Airport has been generating a lot of press coverage. I doubt Bicester Village will want to get landed with similar negative press coverage discouraging shoppers. It is surely entirely within the power of Chiltern and Bicester Village to reach an agreement that resolves this. Surely they want people like you to return and spend money there again, don't they?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Oct 2024 ==

There are also some technicalities - were you stopped at your destination station or on the train, and if on the train, between which two station stops? (May need to work out the name of the next station from the time.)

I'm not sure this is great advice. This has nothing to do with Bicester Village and they should not be prepared to defend someone who has been caught travelling without a valid ticket. Would you expect Chiltern to defend someone caught shoplifting at Bicester Village because they had caught a train to get there?

 

[m41]

I would focus on dealing with Chiltern Railways and the prosecution threat as your priority (as you are doing) to get that resolved and the threat removed and the matter closed with them.

If you then think it's worth contacting Bicester Village shopping operator after that to alert them to this problem you can then do that at your leisure. Sadly I suspect Chiltern Trains won't care very much about what they think (so I take a different view than @furlong on that) and I doubt Bicester Village would intervene in an individual ticketing error / threat of prosecution on behalf of a visitor / customer. But there can be no harm in asking them if you want to. But sort out the stuff direct with Chiltern Trains first.

As a general rule you should assume contactless payment is not available on train journeys that go outside the Transport for London area. Things are being rolled out to extend that to destinations in other parts of the south east beyond that - but its in fits and starts and to the passenger no obvious logic to to where the boundaries are - so in future it's something to be very careful of and to always check before you get on a train, as I'm sure you now realise. Yours is not the first case on here where people have had the same problem as you (not even the 1st case involving Chiltern)

Also - if you have already made initial contact with a solicitor, you can always at this stage (when they get back to you) simply ask them for an estimate of their cost for dealing with this if your own efforts are unsuccessful - just so you know what they may charge. There are a handful of firms that get mentioned on this forum from time to time who specialise in railway ticket matters - who you can be pointed towards if it comes to that.

But personally I think you will have a strong chance of sorting this out yourself with out the need for a solicitor if you follow advice here. That might be different if you have a history of persistent and deliberate fare evasion but I don't get the sense of that from your posts.

Edit - I just looked at the Bicester Village website - this page in particular

Train | Getting Here | Bicester Village

Travelling to Bicester Village by train? Click here to search for tickets and find the best route from your home town. You'll be here in no time.

www.thebicestercollection.com

Whilst it doesn't seem to make it clear contactless is not valid - which would be helpful if it did, it does say:

From London​

Travel to the Village direct from London Marylebone from just 47 minutes. Book your tickets HERE >

Visit our dedicated kiosk at Marylebone train station where our hosts will be delighted to assist you. The kiosk is open from 8am to 4pm, 7 days per week.

So no doubt they would simply tell you that they had people to help at Marylebone and they would 'ensure you got the right ticket' had you asked..... I see the website also has links to special offer train fares from London too.

sorry didn’t see your below notes I did ask someone at Marylebone what train to board but they did not tell me I needed a separate ticket at the time

 

[12LDA28C]

sorry didn’t see your below notes I did ask someone at Marylebone what train to board but they did not tell me I needed a separate ticket at the time

But I assume you didn't tell that member of staff that you were going to use a contactless card to 'tap in'? It's not their job to try to guess what kind of ticket you're using and if you had asked them if contactless was a valid way to pay for your journey to Bicester Village they would certainly have told you that you needed a separate ticket.

 

[m41]

But I assume you didn't tell that member of staff that you were going to use a contactless card to 'tap in'? It's not their job to try to guess what kind of ticket you're using and if you had asked them if contactless was a valid way to pay for your journey to Bicester Village they would certainly have told you that you needed a separate ticket.

Yes it is my fault I should have been smarter and planned in advance when travelling! Mistake I will never make again this whole experience has totally put me of travelling even more

 

[BazingaTribe]

The best way to look at it is like getting a speeding or parking ticket. You did something the wrong way, you will pay a penalty but you will know not to do it again. The council reduced the speed limit in my parents' village because despite being mostly situated along a B-road it was, after all, a populated area, and you could say that someone who had travelled that road a lot before the change may well simply get caught out going 35 when they expected the limit to be 40, only finding out it was now 30 after the changeover. The important thing is taking it as a lesson learned -- because it was an expensive mistake -- and not doing it again.

Mistakes can cost you a bit of money but in the long run it won't be the sort of thing that wrecks your life completely.

 

[m41]

The best way to look at it is like getting a speeding or parking ticket. You did something the wrong way, you will pay a penalty but you will know not to do it again. The council reduced the speed limit in my parents' village because despite being mostly situated along a B-road it was, after all, a populated area, and you could say that someone who had travelled that road a lot before the change may well simply get caught out going 35 when they expected the limit to be 40, only finding out it was now 30 after the changeover. The important thing is taking it as a lesson learned -- because it was an expensive mistake -- and not doing it again.

Mistakes can cost you a bit of money but in the long run it won't be the sort of thing that wrecks your life completely.

I don’t mind paying the fees I know I made the mistake it’s just the waiting and court part which is worrying, but your right in that I will never do this again!

 

[Haywain]

I know I made the mistake it’s just the waiting and court part which is worrying,

You'll have to live with the waiting, but you have an excellent chance of avoiding court proceedings.