Penalty fare appeal

[ainsworthm1985]

Hi there.

First time poster after finding out about this forum from Google.

My situation is that I failed to notice my app ticket purchase (via Greater Anglia) failed (not sure why, I know it was processing when I looked away) so I travelled without a ticket for my journey (Stansted Mountfitchet to London Liverpool St)

On noticing this, I approached a ticketing officer on the platforms at Liverpool whereby I was informed of the need to pay a penalty fair.

Fair cop, I travelled without a ticket but I had hoped on appeal for a reduction/elimination of the £50 penalty on the basis this was a genuine mistake and my past payment history would prove this. However, I just had my appeal rejected.

What is frustrating is that I could have just used contactless to get through the barriers for minimal fare and feel like I’ve been punished for attempting to do the right thing, probably wishful thinking on my part but this is my first mistake in coming up to 19 years of commuting.

Do I have any basis to re-appeal?

 

[Titfield]

I don't think you have been punished for attempting to do the right thing. On the basis of what you have said you have been issued a penalty fare for travelling without a valid ticket.

I can not see any grounds of appeal upon which to challenge the imposition of the penalty fare.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

This is a frustrating situation, a bit like getting a parking ticket. I wouldn't expect an appeal to succeed, there might be some very technical grounds on which you might be able to appeal but I'll let other forum members advise whether or not this is likely to succeed in this case.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi there.

First time poster after finding out about this forum from Google.

My situation is that I failed to notice my app ticket purchase (via Greater Anglia) failed (not sure why, I know it was processing when I looked away) so I travelled without a ticket for my journey (Stansted Mountfitchet to London Liverpool St)

On noticing this, I approached a ticketing officer on the platforms at Liverpool whereby I was informed of the need to pay a penalty fair.

Fair cop, I travelled without a ticket but I had hoped on appeal for a reduction/elimination of the £50 penalty on the basis this was a genuine mistake and my past payment history would prove this. However, I just had my appeal rejected.

What is frustrating is that I could have just used contactless to get through the barriers for minimal fare and feel like I’ve been punished for attempting to do the right thing, probably wishful thinking on my part but this is my first mistake in coming up to 19 years of commuting.

Do I have any basis to re-appeal?

Unfortunately I don’t believe you can appeal based on the idea that the PF has been issued unfairly or unreasonably. Only on the basis that it has been issued outside of the terms laid down in the regulations that regulate PFs.

That said there is nothing to lose by submission Appeal through the various stages beyond the time it will take you to do it. Bear in mind the railway company will not read it because these are dealt with by an independent appeals handling organisation. So your time might be better spent raising the whole thing with your MP as a point of broader principle.

 

[furlong]

You get three appeals. Use them all. The third one is more independent than the other two. If that fails then you can escalate to Transport Focus which oversees the system or your MP.

Use all the grounds for appeal available. In your case the main reason would fall under 16(3)(d) compelling reasons but the signage in most places doesn't appear to comply with the regulations in multiple ways - you'll see various threads about this - so you can include those grounds under 16(3)(a) too. Consider placement at the station where your boarded and wording separately.
Also if you upload a copy of the complete paperwork including all the boilerplate text (but covering up reference numbers and names etc.), people here can check it wasn't completed incorrectly.

You can also try to fall back on the argument that Penalty Fares were designed to take most cases of deliberate fare evasion outside the criminal law, not to penalise honest passengers who make a simple mistake, but it's always been accepted that the regime does catch out such passengers and so the primary purpose of an appeal is as a means of rectifying this imbalance and trying to distinguish between those two categories. So do present whatever evidence you can muster to try to persuade them of your honesty. There's nothing to lose and you might get lucky.