Failed Revenue Inspection

[Ascendo]

Hi everyone

On 24 March I tapped onto a London bus, and got off after 9 stops (~15 minutes), ran to catch the tram but failed to tap the reader on the platform in my rush. As I was well under the 1 hour hopper fare limit, I wasn't too bothered as I figured no one's being deprived of anything as the single fare would easily cover both trips.

A revenue inspector showed up, scanned my phone (I paid via contactless on phone) and I thought all was good. Today I have discovered that I was charged a £7.00 "Failed Revenue Inspection" fee on my TFL account (the amount also got deducted from payment card account).

So my questions:

1) I've read that in many cases a 'maximum fare' would be charged, but thought this was £5.25 for buses+trams. So how did it amount to £7.00?
2) Is there likely to be further action taken over this?
3) Is there any chance of a refund of the £7.00?

I've made hundreds of trips using the same payment method, this is the only failed revenue inspection check and never had any other non payment issues or run-ins with TFL.

Thanks

 

[island]

There is no failed inspection fee on buses, if your card isn't touched in you get a penalty fare or worse.

I'm not sure where you got £5.25 from.

You would need to have touched in for the tram even though there was no separate fare. You can call TfL and see if they'll refund the £7.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Hi everyone

On 24 March I tapped onto a London bus, and got off after 9 stops (~15 minutes), ran to catch the tram but failed to tap the reader on the platform in my rush. As I was well under the 1 hour hopper fare limit, I wasn't too bothered as I figured no one's being deprived of anything as the single fare would easily cover both trips.

A revenue inspector showed up, scanned my phone (I paid via contactless on phone) and I thought all was good. Today I have discovered that I was charged a £7.00 "Failed Revenue Inspection" fee on my TFL account (the amount also got deducted from payment card account).

So my questions:

1) I've read that in many cases a 'maximum fare' would be charged, but thought this was £5.25 for buses+trams. So how did it amount to £7.00?
2) Is there likely to be further action taken over this?
3) Is there any chance of a refund of the £7.00?

I've made hundreds of trips using the same payment method, this is the only failed revenue inspection check and never had any other non payment issues or run-ins with TFL.

Thanks

I think I'd suggest concentrating on your point (2). While it would be nice to get some or all of your £7 back, ultimately it's not a vast amount of money - less than the cost of a couple of pint of beer. Best to concentrate on something which could make a real impact on you and your finances.

 

[Ascendo]

I think I'd suggest concentrating on your point (2). While it would be nice to get some or all of your £7 back, ultimately it's not a vast amount of money - less than the cost of a couple of pint of beer. Best to concentrate on something which could make a real impact on you and your finances.

Fully agreed, I don't really care about the £7.00. But what is there to do? Just wait and see what happens? I was hoping to draw on other people's experiences in this scenario.

 

[island]

Fully agreed, I don't really care about the £7.00. But what is there to do? Just wait and see what happens? I was hoping to draw on other people's experiences in this scenario.

There is virtually no chance you will be prosecuted.

 

[alholmes]

Fully agreed, I don't really care about the £7.00. But what is there to do? Just wait and see what happens? I was hoping to draw on other people's experiences in this scenario.

Effectively the £7.00 charge deals with the matter and the case is closed. Unless this has happened on multiple occasions, or the inspector starts taking your details for further investigation, there’s nothing to worry about. But remember, although hopper fares apply to bus and tram, you must tap in each time.

 

[zero]

1) I've read that in many cases a 'maximum fare' would be charged, but thought this was £5.25 for buses+trams. So how did it amount to £7.00?

£5.25 is the cost of unlimited buses and trams in a day, but even if you had already reached this cap before travelling on a tram, you would have failed a revenue inspection if you hadn't touched in on a tram stop reader in the past 60 (62?) minutes.

In any case, the 'maximum fare' for a single tram journey is still £1.75.

It appears that £7 is just the price of failing a revenue inspection on a tram, which is interesting to know.

 

[lb001]

£7 is the new price of an off peak maximum fare on london underground. with buses, when an inspector gets on a bus, they get a download of the taps onto their rid (revenue inspection device), so can see who has tapped in.

with rail modes, a rid can only see if a cpc (contactless payment card) is ‘ready for travel’, or blocked, i.e. declined by issuer, etc.

i’m guessing that trams avail the rail mode vs. the bus mode, so charges a maximum fare for no touch in, versus an pf/mg11 as it would be on a bus as the inspector can see definitively whether it has been touched or not.

although, yes, you had touched in on the bus, so wouldn’t have paid more if op had touched in on the tram, you must still validate when changing buses, or whatever modes, in order to have a valid ticket. if it had been an oyster, that would have been a pf or mg11, so count yourself lucky and consider it a lesson learned.

edit: also, yep, no further action. unless you fail subsequent further revenue inspections, when your card will be blocked following these, and if you travel with a blocked card (meaning you couldn’t possibly have tapped in) then it would incur further action.