Are train travellers without the right ticket treated fairly?

[Hellfire]

This on the BBC website this morning. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31149024

Too long to quote the whole thing but here are he first few paragraphs

The Department for Transport has announced a consultation to make it easier for rail passengers to appeal against fines for having the wrong ticket or misplacing a travel pass. Chris Stokel-Walker asks, why do people avoid fares, accidentally or deliberately, and should shirkers feel guilty?

When 22-year-old Katie Alicia Duke arrived at Prittlewell train station for the 07:44 to London Liverpool Street in early January, she was confronted with a familiar issue. The ticket office was closed until 09:00 due to staff illness, and the station's ticket machine was out of order.

On the train, Duke tried to explain all this to the ticket inspector, showing him pictures she had taken at the station as proof. "He didn't believe I had taken the pictures that morning," she explains.

Another ticket inspector corroborated the fact that the office was closed, and let Duke travel without a penalty. But if his colleague hadn't been on the same carriage, Duke believes the original inspector would have fined her.

There seem to be a number of errors/misunderstandings in this piece, notably the constant reference to the power of TOCs to "fine" people. My understanding was that only courts could do that.

 

[Searle]

I'm sure they could have come up with a better article than someone who didn't even get a penalty fare, but I do agree so some extent with the article. The grey area in Northern territory about buying a ticket on board isn't the greatest of situations, and it would be nice to have it sorted out.

 

[najaB]

This on the BBC website this morning. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31149024

Too long to quote the whole thing but here are he first few paragraphs



There seem to be a number of errors/misunderstandings in this piece, notably the constant reference to the power of TOCs to "fine" people. My understanding was that only courts could do that.

Seems to be a continuation of the discussion started in this thread.