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How should TOCs deal with 16 year olds?

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BluePenguin

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So who would pay the court costs for the seven year old then...?
Who even allows their 7 year old to travel alone anyway? I would never send my child (if I had any) on a journey by themselves. Anyone who does clearly knows nothing about safeguarding.

The country is not what it used to be and is definitely not as safe anymore. What on earth would happen if there was a terrorist attack or the bus/train/tram crashed? Who is going to call the child's parents? Not them that is for sure. What if they died or were kidnapped?

If anyone forces a child to go to court then I am sure social services would be involved straight away.
 

MikeWh

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Who even allows their 7 year old to travel alone anyway? I would never send my child (if I had any) on a journey by themselves. Anyone who does clearly knows nothing about safeguarding.
Maybe 7 was a little low, though I'm sure I travelled by train alone at that age nearly 50 years ago. However, 11 year olds do often go to school alone, and sometimes that does involve train travel.
 

Dom395

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Who even allows their 7 year old to travel alone anyway? I would never send my child (if I had any) on a journey by themselves. Anyone who does clearly knows nothing about safeguarding.

When I was 10 I used to travel every Saturday morning on the train by myself. I used to walk from my house to the station, get the train a few stops and walk to my destination (and vice versa in the afternoon).
 

shredder1

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In 1959 at the grand old age of 8, I`d often take a train from my local Middleton Junction station to Newton Heath to bunk the loco sheds and no one batted an eyelid.
 

al78

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What was reasonable 60 years ago is not necessarily reasonable today. The world has changed.

Having said that I would like to see evidence in the form of facts and data that the UK is a more dangerous place today. I can't help thinking that risk is often overstated.
 

najaB

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Having said that I would like to see evidence in the form of facts and data that the UK is a more dangerous place today. I can't help thinking that risk is often overstated.
It is more dangerous, but not for the reasons that make the headlines of The Mail, et. al. The main increase in danger is due to roads being busier and a greater percentage of the population living in built up areas (with the risks that they contain).
 

shredder1

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What was reasonable 60 years ago is not necessarily reasonable today. The world has changed.

Having said that I would like to see evidence in the form of facts and data that the UK is a more dangerous place today. I can't help thinking that risk is often overstated.


Yes it is, its certainly not the same world I was born into, what a great shame how things have changed. In many respects we were the lucky generation born after the last war and spent our teen years in the 60`s with the rise in good music and still plenty of steam locos around.
 
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Did I read somewhere that the risk of being a victim of violent crime was constantly falling, but the perception that one is at risk of violent crime is rising?
 

Bletchleyite

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Is it even reasonable though for a TOC to ask for an inflated out of court settlement from a child aged 16? Surely it would only be reasonable for them to request the difference in fare. Is it even reasonable for them to expect a child to write back. Surely a warning letting explaining the importance of travelling on the correct ticket would be most effective.

This would assume I consider it reasonable to ask for an inflated out of court settlement from anyone. I would much rather see a higher[1] statutory Penalty Fare, intended to be used for cases of evasion as well as error, with a statutory appeals process and the repeal of the Byelaws and RoRA parts allowing prosecution for anything other than the likes of deliberate falsification of tickets.

I am totally in favour of fare evaders paying for their actions by way of an inflated fee, but it has to have proper checks and balances and a proper appeals process controlled by someone other than the TOC.

With that in place, yes, it would apply to a 16 year old, and indeed to a younger child via their parents, though if they were travelling accompanied by an adult I would see that adult as liable.

My view would be that it should be £80, reduced to £40 for prompt payment, increased to £120 for late payment. An appeal should stop the clock as it does for parking. In all cases, the appropriate walk-up fare that would have been sold had it been purchased before boarding should be charged in addition. (This latter item would stop TOCs using Anytime tickets as effective penalties). It should apply to all trains nationally except where there is no opportunity to pay, i.e. a means of purchasing or collecting the desired ticket (not a partial one) using the desired method of payment as accepted by the railway.
 
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jon0844

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Did I read somewhere that the risk of being a victim of violent crime was constantly falling, but the perception that one is at risk of violent crime is rising?

An independent crime survey recently suggested there were almost 11,000 unreported crimes in Hertfordshire alone. It seems these days a lot of people don't report things like anti social behaviour and prefer to just post on social media, wrongly believing that this somehow helps deal with the problem through greater awareness.

People do need to report all crimes as in some parts of Herts there has been a significant increase in anti social behaviour, threats against people to steal property - like bikes from children, and so on. If you don't report it, the crime figures will of course go down. It doesn't help when a lot of people think it a waste of time reporting crimes as the police won't come out. That's maybe true, but the police will use the stats to try and argue for more resources.

I am sure this applies nationally. Meanwhile, the big increases in crime are more likely financial/online crime where criminals are able to take money from people from another country, making it a lot less risky than mugging you on the street (and potentially much more profitable).
 

Fare-Cop

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MG11 - your posts make no sense:

  • No matter what their age a person is criminally responsible.
  • 7 year olds are not responsible for their actions - their parents are.

Absolutely correct Farleigh,

That's why there is a specifically defined age of criminal responsibility. A child of 7 is not criminally responsible. In England & Wales the age of criminal responsibility is 10 years.
 
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