Hi there I need some help I was issued a penalty fare as I forgot to get my ticket before hand on a Northen train feom Redcar to Southbank which cost £4.20 and as revenue officers where on the train I automatically got a penalty fare and I ignored all the stuff as I had alot going wirh mental health issues which this didnt and hasnt helped on and honestly didn't believe they would take me to court over something so small and I honestly think it's petty and annoying as once I realised I didn't have a ticket tried to get 1 on the train but couldn't as above and now have been summoned to court is there anything I can do to stop this from happening ive heard I may still be able to settle out of court any help and advice would be great as I can't get a conviction as I have a DBS and this would ruin me
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Fawkes Cat
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Welcome to the forum!
You may be able to avoid court - but this can’t be guaranteed. Send an email to drpu@northernrailway.co.uk explaining more or less what you told us. Be very polite and ask if it would be possible to settle out of court at this late point. Don’t forget to include your details and the case reference in the email.
If that doesn’t work you may be able to agree a settlement by going to court early on the day of your hearing. Ask the court staff to tell you who is the railway’s prosecutor, and see if the prosecutor will agree then to an out of court settlement.
But what happens if you can’t avoid court? As you say, it may appear on a DBS. But ask yourself if your employer will care? It’s obviously good if you don’t have any sort of conviction but in our experience one conviction for fare dodging shouldn’t be a problem. If your DBS is for work is there a union rep you can talk to? Or is there a colleague or fellow volunteer who you can trust and might be able to advise? If you can be reassured then it might be that your problem is not as big as you fear.
You may be able to avoid court - but this can’t be guaranteed. Send an email to drpu@northernrailway.co.uk explaining more or less what you told us. Be very polite and ask if it would be possible to settle out of court at this late point. Don’t forget to include your details and the case reference in the email.
If that doesn’t work you may be able to agree a settlement by going to court early on the day of your hearing. Ask the court staff to tell you who is the railway’s prosecutor, and see if the prosecutor will agree then to an out of court settlement.
But what happens if you can’t avoid court? As you say, it may appear on a DBS. But ask yourself if your employer will care? It’s obviously good if you don’t have any sort of conviction but in our experience one conviction for fare dodging shouldn’t be a problem. If your DBS is for work is there a union rep you can talk to? Or is there a colleague or fellow volunteer who you can trust and might be able to advise? If you can be reassured then it might be that your problem is not as big as you fear.
I would suggest though that you don’t display this attitude in your letter/email. Instead you need to be very contrite and apologetic a) for the original mistake and b) for then ignoring the penalty fare and hoping it would go away.
And you will need to ask them very politely too if they will agree to your request - they hold all the cards, not you.
Bungle158
Member
You should also be prepared to stump up the outstanding amount immediately, if and when you obtain settlement. You may not like it, but you have committed a criminal offence, albeit a minor one.
It's difficult to predict how much a settlement would cost, but factor in at least £100 for the railway's investigation costs, plus the full fare.
I have seen courts hand down penalties, including costs, of over £600 for avoidance of £5 fares. Not suggesting you will be hit with that amount, but it can and does happen. It's in your interest therefore, to attempt settlement ASAP
It's difficult to predict how much a settlement would cost, but factor in at least £100 for the railway's investigation costs, plus the full fare.
I have seen courts hand down penalties, including costs, of over £600 for avoidance of £5 fares. Not suggesting you will be hit with that amount, but it can and does happen. It's in your interest therefore, to attempt settlement ASAP
It might seem to be a trivial amount to you, but Northern get a lot of people skipping fares and they have a set procedure for dealing with it. Faffing around deciding what's too little is something they haven't got time for, and how do they know that you don't do this on a regular basis and owe them a considerable sum in total?
Most of the people they catch just ignore the letters and so they have an automatic system for going to court with bundles of cases.
Most of the people they catch just ignore the letters and so they have an automatic system for going to court with bundles of cases.
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