Penalty Fare - Expired Return Ticket

[irisgourd21]

Hey everyone. Unfortunately, this morning Northern Railway issued me a penalty fare of £114.60 (or £64.40, given I pay within 21 days) for failing to present a valid ticket for my journey from Sheffield to Leeds.

This was due to the fact that, being in a bit of a rush at the station, I accidentally bought myself a day return ticket when I'd meant to purchase an open return - not realising my mistake until the ticket inspector began to issue the fine.

Truthfully, I'm pretty gutted about the cost as I am a (very skint) first year uni student who is going to struggle quite a bit in order to pay this fine.

The inspector happened to be a pretty nice dude who advised me that I could possibly refer to my current financial situation (as in not being able to afford the ticket) as a valid reason when making my appeal.

I am just wondering how best to go about phrasing this when writing my appeal, or if anyone has any further advice in general?

Not sure if this counts as relevant information lol but - if it helps - I have a 16-25 railcard and no other penalties on my record.

If you have any suggestions I'd really appreciate it!! Thanks

 

[Egg Centric]

Hey everyone. Unfortunately, this morning Northern Railway issued me a penalty fare of £114.60 (or £64.40, given I pay within 21 days) for failing to present a valid ticket for my journey from Sheffield to Leeds.

This was due to the fact that, being in a bit of a rush at the station, I accidentally bought myself a day return ticket when I'd meant to purchase an open return - not realising my mistake until the ticket inspector began to issue the fine.

Truthfully, I'm pretty gutted about the cost as I am a (very skint) first year uni student who is going to struggle quite a bit in order to pay this fine.

The inspector happened to be a pretty nice dude who advised me that I could possibly refer to my current financial situation (as in not being able to afford the ticket) as a valid reason when making my appeal.

I am just wondering how best to go about phrasing this when writing my appeal, or if anyone has any further advice in general?

Not sure if this counts as relevant information lol but - if it helps - I have a 16-25 railcard and no other penalties on my record.

If you have any suggestions I'd really appreciate it!! Thanks

Bluntly, not being able to afford something is not a valid appeal reason, the point of capitalism in a nutshell is to try to get wealthy so that you can afford stuff. In the meantime, there are often technical deficiencies with the penalty fare that can get it waived. Can you upload the documentation you were given and say exactly what train you were on please, if you know? And also what ticket you did present?

 

[WesternLancer]

Truthfully, I'm pretty gutted about the cost as I am a (very skint) first year uni student who is going to struggle quite a bit in order to pay this fine.

The inspector happened to be a pretty nice dude who advised me that I could possibly refer to my current financial situation (as in not being able to afford the ticket) as a valid reason when making my appeal.

whilst you have my sympathy - that isn't a valid reason to appeal a Penalty Fare AIUI (but it can be the sort of thing the staff will say which appears reasonable and prevents a passenger 'kicking off' in the heat of the moment - ie a de-escalation strategy - not that I'm saying you would have kicked off of course).

But Penalty Fare experts here may have some ideas of any basis to Appeal that might be successful. You'll need to post the paperwork here for them to look at with personal identification and ref numbers obscured.

There is nothing to loose by submitting an appeal, and it would buy time to save up the sum demanded. The clock is paused on the prompt payment discount during the appeal - but if you want to pay up now if an appeal is successful you would be refunded.

 

[sheff1]

The inspector happened to be a pretty nice dude who advised me that I could possibly refer to my current financial situation (as in not being able to afford the ticket) as a valid reason when making my appeal.

Very bad advice from the inspector. As others have said, this is not a valid reason for an appeal and saying you are not able to afford the £12.55 (with raiicard) 'open' (official name Anytime Short Return) ticket would make it sound that purchasing the incorrect cheaper ticket was deliberate.

 

[gray1404]

Please can you upload a copy of the penalty fare notice received

 

[johnny_t]

Hey everyone. Unfortunately, this morning Northern Railway issued me a penalty fare of £114.60 (or £64.40, given I pay within 21 days) for failing to present a valid ticket for my journey from Sheffield to Leeds.

This was due to the fact that, being in a bit of a rush at the station, I accidentally bought myself a day return ticket when I'd meant to purchase an open return - not realising my mistake until the ticket inspector began to issue the fine.

Truthfully, I'm pretty gutted about the cost as I am a (very skint) first year uni student who is going to struggle quite a bit in order to pay this fine.

The inspector happened to be a pretty nice dude who advised me that I could possibly refer to my current financial situation (as in not being able to afford the ticket) as a valid reason when making my appeal.

I am just wondering how best to go about phrasing this when writing my appeal, or if anyone has any further advice in general?

Not sure if this counts as relevant information lol but - if it helps - I have a 16-25 railcard and no other penalties on my record.

If you have any suggestions I'd really appreciate it!! Thanks

Sadly, he just said that so that you'd think he was a pretty nice dude and he made giving you the bad news into someone else's problem.

(Having said that, it doesn't hurt to try, maybe even have a bit of fun with the wording in the hope you make someone smile, but it almost certainly won't work)

 

[AlterEgo]

Please can you upload a copy of the penalty fare notice received

Yes, I repeat this advice for the benefit of the OP - your only line of appeal here is likely that there is some technical deficiency with the notice, so we need to see it (with your details removed). Sadly being a nice lad or having "no money" is not grounds for appeal, but we might be able to help you discover a route to a successful appeal!

 

[gray1404]

I do not think we can offer any help until a copy of the notice is uploaded.