Travelled on an advanced single a month in advance by mistake

Scuzzlewit · 14 Jul 2026

Hi all, messed up a little here.

I brought my boyfriend a ticket with his 16-25 railcard to come and visit me in Milton Keynes for the 11th-14th of August when I meant to buy the tickets for the 14th-17th of July. Neither of us noticed this mistake and so he travelled all the way from Fratton (FTN) to Milton Keynes Central (MKC) on the 14th of July. The tickets were checked at FTN, on the South Western railway train (SWR), Waterloo (WAT) including the underground station at both WAT and Euston (EUS) and EUS station itself. No ticket inspector noticed the date until MKC, where we were issued with a Penalty Fare. We re-bought the ticket for the return journey on the 17th from the ticket counter immediately after.

Obviously we offered to just pay for another ticket but were denied, so I would like to get some advice on a few things:
1) Whether we should consider appealing this (and if so what to say to the appeals service)
2) My boyfriend is an immigrant, will we need to speak to an immigration lawyer regarding this and potential visa's? (basically will this go on his criminal record)
3) Can he re-use these tickets in August to come up again.

attached are images of the tickets (ticket numbers blurred out) and the penalty fare notice. We accidentally included an irrelevant ticket that has no relevance to this journey (different trip)

RailUK Forums

Bletchleyite · 14 Jul 2026

It is not legal for us to give immigration advice here, but we certainly can confirm that a Penalty Fare is not a criminal matter and does not appear on any kind of criminal record provided it is either successfully appealed or paid. It is a higher fare charged for not having purchased a correct ticket before boarding where this was possible.

I will let others comment on whether the Penalty Fare is correctly issued and thus whether it could be appealed on that basis.

With regard to using the tickets on their booked date that is an interesting question. The return ones are certainly unused. The outward ones arguably are, at least as far as Euston from which the PF was issued?

Mcr Warrior · 14 Jul 2026

Is £24.20 the correct fare for an early afternoon journey from London Euston to Milton Keynes Central? That's the price of an Off Peak Day Single. Why's it not a £19.20 Super Off Peak Day Single, which I think is valid departing between 1030 and 1559?

saismee · 14 Jul 2026

Bletchleyite said:
It is not legal for us to give immigration advice here, but we certainly can confirm that a Penalty Fare is not a criminal matter and does not appear on any kind of criminal record provided it is either successfully appealed or paid. It is a higher fare charged for not having purchased a correct ticket before boarding where this was possible.

If paid it cannot be escalated to a prosecution, but you will still keep your right to appeal. If appealed successfully then you will be refunded the amount paid.

During an appeal, the payment clock is stopped until the appeal is considered, so you will have extra time to pay the reduced amount while appealing.

It is absolutely safest to pay now and deal with appealing after as it would be impossible to receive a criminal record.

Bletchleyite · 14 Jul 2026

saismee said:
If paid it cannot be escalated to a prosecution, but you will still keep your right to appeal. If appealed successfully then you will be refunded the amount paid.

During an appeal, the payment clock is stopped until the appeal is considered, so you will have extra time to pay the reduced amount while appealing.

It is absolutely safest to pay now and deal with appealing after as it would be impossible to receive a criminal record.

They can in theory refund it and then pursue one I believe. But that's very rare.

If they have gone the PF route it is very unlikely indeed it would switch routes, though.

saismee · 14 Jul 2026

Bletchleyite said:
They can in theory refund it and then pursue one I believe. But that's very rare.

That would be exceptional, unfair, and sounds like a violation of some kind of law.

Bletchleyite said:
If they have gone the PF route it is very unlikely indeed it would switch routes, though.

I agree as it's unnecessary headache for the TOC.

Snow1964 · 14 Jul 2026

Scuzzlewit said:
3) Can he re-use these tickets in August to come up again.

If bought a new ticket for return journey, then the advances for the return leg in August are still valid as not yet used.

It's more a grey area with the outward advances, they cannot be deemed used as the only date they are valid for hasn't yet happened. And if you pay fare requested with penalty (which is £50 penalty plus fare, if paid within 21 days which appears to be before 05/08/26) then that closes the matter.

I would think tickets are going to be valid on the date shown, because not re-using them, as they haven't been validly used yet, so strictly will be one and only time they get used, even if you took them with you on first trip.

Scuzzlewit · 14 Jul 2026

Hi all, thanks for the advice and the kknowledge that this won't be a criminal proceeding. We will pay the penalty fare in full tonight and then appeal it based on the incorrect pricing. We'll also just travel on the actual tickets when they're supposed to be used later in August.

WesternLancer · 14 Jul 2026

Snow1964 said:
If bought a new ticket for return journey, then the advances for the return leg in August are still valid as not yet used.

It's more a grey area with the outward advances, they cannot be deemed used as the only date they are valid for hasn't yet happened. And if you pay fare requested with penalty (which is £50 penalty plus fare, if paid within 21 days which appears to be before 05/08/26) then that closes the matter.

I would think tickets are going to be valid on the date shown, because not re-using them, as they haven't been validly used yet, so strictly will be one and only time they get used, even if you took them with you on first trip.

Good point - OP and friend can keep the tickets and plan another visit to use them on the day of validity I would think.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Jul 2026 ==

Scuzzlewit said:
Hi all, thanks for the advice and the kknowledge that this won't be a criminal proceeding. We will pay the penalty fare in full tonight and then appeal it based on the incorrect pricing. We'll also just travel on the actual tickets when they're supposed to be used later in August.

Remember if paying the Penalty Fare promptly there should be a £50 reduction in the price to pay
If there was then grounds to appeal and an appeal was submitted in time and it was successful then anything paid now would be refunded.
I think there are 21 days to do this.
Keep proof of payment of the Penalty Fare etc

Swedenorer · 14 Jul 2026

It's a finely balanced decision because had they sold you a new ticket for the outward journey an off peak single is £68.20 whereas the reduced PF is £74.20. So arguably the net cost to you is about £6 and you've had the journey too! Plus an advance to use later!

I'd pay the discounted PF then decide what to do next.

Bletchleyite · 14 Jul 2026

Yeah, it's a bit odd in that the PF has not been issued for the complete journey but just that from Euston. Thus the first section has in effect not been paid for at all.

Starmill · 14 Jul 2026

There's nothing wrong with paying and lodging an appeal, you're totally entitled to do this if you would like to. You may not have any technical grounds for appeal to go on other than a "compelling reasons" one. Just saying you had a ticket for a different day isn't going to be relevant to the appeal by itself, but could be a part of a 'compelling reason'. The appeal would have poor chances of success, but there's no downside. You haven't been accused of committing a crime from what has been mentioned here, and this is very unlikely to change. Just make sure you check the dates carefully before getting onto a train for the future.

AlterEgo · 14 Jul 2026

Bletchleyite said:
Yeah, it's a bit odd in that the PF has not been issued for the complete journey but just that from Euston. Thus the first section has in effect not been paid for at all.

The Penalty Fare can only be made out in this way, it relates only to the actual train you were caught on (or having just alighted from).

Starmill · 14 Jul 2026

Bletchleyite said:
Yeah, it's a bit odd in that the PF has not been issued for the complete journey but just that from Euston. Thus the first section has in effect not been paid for at all.

It would appear that this is accurate to me. The OP may not have noticed any Penalty Fare signage at London Euston, and that may have played its part in what happened here. Signs should be "readily visible" and on my last visit in Euston they certainly weren't anything of the sort, otherwise perhaps than for London Overground services.

However, they could well have changed as this was some months ago, and in any case I have no idea what was or wasn't visible the day the OP was there. Either way a signage related appeal is still not likely to be successful.

Coleridge · 14 Jul 2026

I wouldn't bother going through the inevitable hassle of an appeal against the penalty fare, even if grounds can be found. Just pay it (at the reduced rate), treat it as a lesson learnt and move on. There will be no prosecution or criminal record.

Mcr Warrior · 14 Jul 2026

Mcr Warrior said:
Is £24.20 the correct fare for an early afternoon journey from London Euston to Milton Keynes Central? That's the price of an Off Peak Day Single. Why's it not a £19.20 Super Off Peak Day Single, which I think is valid departing between 1030 and 1559?

Anything hang on this point as regards the PF being correct?

Egg Centric · 14 Jul 2026

Mcr Warrior said:
Anything hang on this point as regards the PF being correct?

If you're correct about the fares (I will take your word for it) then very much so, it's a straightfoward breach of the regulations.

mmh · 14 Jul 2026

Bletchleyite said:
Yeah, it's a bit odd in that the PF has not been issued for the complete journey but just that from Euston. Thus the first section has in effect not been paid for at all.

I don't think that's odd, it's just the railway's fault for pushing people to split ticketing. The invalid ticket when they checked was London U1 to Milton Keynes, what tickets someone had before that should be irrelevant. That they were checked and incorrectly allowed is also the railway's fault.

I personally would appeal the penalty fare based on the incorrect fare charged and have no qualms over using the outward tickets on the correct date.

Watershed · 14 Jul 2026

An appeal should succeed on the basis of the fare charged being incorrect, as @Mcr Warrior identified.

Haywain · 14 Jul 2026

mmh said:
I don't think that's odd, it's just the railway's fault for pushing people to split ticketing.

It's absolutely nothing to do with split ticketing. The regulations specify that a Penalty Fare Notice can only be issued for the specific train that the recipient has used.

AlterEgo · 14 Jul 2026

Coleridge said:
I wouldn't bother going through the inevitable hassle of an appeal against the penalty fare, even if grounds can be found. Just pay it (at the reduced rate), treat it as a lesson learnt and move on. There will be no prosecution or criminal record.

The only way to secure indemnity from prosecution is to appeal it.

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