Meridian richard
Member
After having a long conversation with a friend today, I am looking for some advise with a prosecution letter which he has received from Northern Rail.
My friend was travelling from Barnsley to Sheffield in November 2014 on a ticket with a South Yorkshire 16-18 pass. My friend purchased a single ticket to Sheffield from Barnsley at the ticket office in the station. He recalls having to do this since Revenue Protection Officers were on the station and only allowing passengers through the doors onto the platform who had the correct tickets/passes. He showed his ticket and pass to the Revenue Protection before joining the fast Leeds - Sheffield service.
Tickets and passes were also checked again once on board the service after leaving Meadowhall. When asked to do so my friend showed his ticket and pass to the conductor on the train.
The issue occurred however once my friend arrived at Sheffield Station. My friend left his ticket on the train table believing that he would not require it as he had completed his journey. When we tried to leave the Sheffield he was greeted by more revenue protection officers asking to see tickets. My friend was not able to produce this as he had left it on the train so was pulled to one side. His name address and a statement were taken where he informed them that he had must have had a ticket as there was a barrier in force at Barnsley.
After Christmas, my friend received a penalty notice through the post requiring £80 to be paid in order to settle the dispute however he decided foolishly to ignore this. Yesterday, another letter came in the post from Northern following a prosecution which gave dates where he would be required to attend a court in Doncaster.
Is there anything that my friend could do to prove to the courts that he was travelling with a ticket? He has debit card statement showing the purchase of the ticket however this isn't sufficient enough to be used as clear evidence as there is no time on the slip.
Could my friend contact Northern Rail and ask for relevant CCTV surrounding the days events? This could show my friend:
A). Purchasing the ticket
B). Showing it to the revenue protection inspector at Barnsley.
C). Showing it to the train guard - this could also prove that it was a valid ticket as it was shown the guard after leaving Meadowhall and the train terminated at Sheffield
D) Leaving the ticket on the train
Any advise would be kindly appreciated. Apologies for being rather vague on the prosecutions and penalty notice letters, my friend has only told me of these and I have not actually seen the letters.
Cheers,
Richard
My friend was travelling from Barnsley to Sheffield in November 2014 on a ticket with a South Yorkshire 16-18 pass. My friend purchased a single ticket to Sheffield from Barnsley at the ticket office in the station. He recalls having to do this since Revenue Protection Officers were on the station and only allowing passengers through the doors onto the platform who had the correct tickets/passes. He showed his ticket and pass to the Revenue Protection before joining the fast Leeds - Sheffield service.
Tickets and passes were also checked again once on board the service after leaving Meadowhall. When asked to do so my friend showed his ticket and pass to the conductor on the train.
The issue occurred however once my friend arrived at Sheffield Station. My friend left his ticket on the train table believing that he would not require it as he had completed his journey. When we tried to leave the Sheffield he was greeted by more revenue protection officers asking to see tickets. My friend was not able to produce this as he had left it on the train so was pulled to one side. His name address and a statement were taken where he informed them that he had must have had a ticket as there was a barrier in force at Barnsley.
After Christmas, my friend received a penalty notice through the post requiring £80 to be paid in order to settle the dispute however he decided foolishly to ignore this. Yesterday, another letter came in the post from Northern following a prosecution which gave dates where he would be required to attend a court in Doncaster.
Is there anything that my friend could do to prove to the courts that he was travelling with a ticket? He has debit card statement showing the purchase of the ticket however this isn't sufficient enough to be used as clear evidence as there is no time on the slip.
Could my friend contact Northern Rail and ask for relevant CCTV surrounding the days events? This could show my friend:
A). Purchasing the ticket
B). Showing it to the revenue protection inspector at Barnsley.
C). Showing it to the train guard - this could also prove that it was a valid ticket as it was shown the guard after leaving Meadowhall and the train terminated at Sheffield
D) Leaving the ticket on the train
Any advise would be kindly appreciated. Apologies for being rather vague on the prosecutions and penalty notice letters, my friend has only told me of these and I have not actually seen the letters.
Cheers,
Richard
