TFL £50 fine and appeal help

[Fard]

Okay, so today on the way back home from the train station, I realised my oyster was a bit short of the fare as it wouldn't work at the barrier. I tried to top it up online but it said it was unavailable for some reason and I didn't have my card on me at the time. I know it sounds convoluted and this is my fault, but I lost my debit card a few days ago and when I tried to add the new one to my google wallet they said they needed to verify my identity. Leading to this weird situation where I couldn't really do anything except for using my oyster until one got fixed.

As a result I was kind of just stuck there and talked to the tfl worker by the gate, to ask what I could do. He asked where I was going and then just said to top it up with cash not fully understanding my situation I think.

I went to the side after this just kind of waiting to see if the tfl website would work after a while. But a few minutes later another tfl worker motioned me towards the first one and he told me that it was fine and opened the barrier after asking for my name. I asked him about the other station and he said it would be okay.

This sounds good but this is where I messed up as I shouldn't have trusted this guy that easily and should have asked for his name or something. As you can expect I was unlucky, especially since the station I got off at had ticket inspectors and police officers checking. I tried to explain my situation to one of the tfl workers but the inspectors asked me what was going on and unfortunately I told the truth and they gave me a ticket. I asked if they could call the first station but they refused saying it wasn't possible.

Now I'm stuck with a £50 fine and I'm not sure if I could appeal in general and I'm worried that the actual tfl worker and group could just say I'm lying even if it could support me.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

It sounds as though you've been issued with a Penalty Fare, which is actually a decent outcome. You could've had details taken to be reported for prosecution.

Can you post a copy of the paperwork you've been given (do redact any case reference number and personal details) so forum members can check it's been correctly issued. There's nothing stopping you from appealing but I doubt it will be successful.

 

[furlong]

You should respond with the truth. If you were given permission to travel under certain conditions and you met those conditions then you should obviously not have been issued with a penalty and TfL should put that right when you contact them. Be as precise as you can be about the exact location and time things happened so that they can look up CCTV relatively easily and speak to the staff on duty at the time if they decide to check your story. Give them the card number so they can see the failed presentation at the barrier and get your picture and then see you being allowed to pass through shortly afterwards. (You can also separately make a request for CCTV.)

 

[Fard]

Welcome to the forum!

It sounds as though you've been issued with a Penalty Fare, which is actually a decent outcome. You could've had details taken to be reported for prosecution.

Can you post a copy of the paperwork you've been given (do redact any case reference number and personal details) so forum members can check it's been correctly issued. There's nothing stopping you from appealing but I doubt it will be successful.

Thank you, I'll try and upload the receipt like paper they gave me when I come back home

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Oct 2024 ==

You should respond with the truth. If you were given permission to travel under certain conditions and you met those conditions then you should obviously not have been issued with a penalty and TfL should put that right when you contact them. Be as precise as you can be about the exact location and time things happened so that they can look up CCTV relatively easily and speak to the staff on duty at the time if they decide to check your story. Give them the card number so they can see the failed presentation at the barrier and get your picture and then see you being allowed to pass through shortly afterwards. (You can also separately make a request for CCTV.)

Thanks for the advice.

I was on a call at the time describing my situation to someone else so I do have basically the exact time period I was in the station. I was also in a bright blue hoodie so it would be easy to find me on the Ctv if I can get it.

I might try going to the station and find or ask for the employees name if I can too. So I'll see what happens after asking and try making an appeal.

 

[Fermiboson]

CCTV retention period on TfL is quite short - 72 hours I think? - so if you intend to use it you should write to them immediately.

That said, appeal the PF first no matter what - after an appeal has been lodged, they will no longer be able to criminally prosecute you.

 

[didcotdean]

Topping up Oyster online via the app is not possible at the moment as that facility has been withdrawn as a consequence of the cyber attack on TfL. This could be a mitigating circumstance to raise, although your recent change of debit card makes it less clear.

 

[Haywain]

Topping up Oyster online via the app is not possible at the moment as that facility has been withdrawn as a consequence of the cyber attack on TfL.

That doesn't seem to be the case for me.

 

[didcotdean]

This is TfLs statement:

"We're currently unable to process payments on the Oyster & contactless app. You can still make payments on this website and in stations."

Not had cause to try myself yet.

 

[Fard]

If anyone else in the future reads this, I was thankfully able to succesfully appeal. I made a point to save all the emails of my enquiries to the TFL, emails about my lost card and google wallet being deactivated and emails about my tfl oyster history and online top ups. I saved them as pdfs and uploaded them as proof to try and demonstrate I did as much as I could to give evidence and that the circumstances of my story were true, which I believe were what ultimately made the appeal successful as I didn't technically have hard proof. Though I equally believe that the strikes and the website being down, were what made this appeal possible in the first place as I technically did not have a way to top up.

 

[TheSmiths82]

If anyone else in the future reads this, I was thankfully able to succesfully appeal. I made a point to save all the emails of my enquiries to the TFL, emails about my lost card and google wallet being deactivated and emails about my tfl oyster history and online top ups. I saved them as pdfs and uploaded them as proof to try and demonstrate I did as much as I could to give evidence and that the circumstances of my story were true, which I believe were what ultimately made the appeal successful as I didn't technically have hard proof. Though I equally believe that the strikes and the website being down, were what made this appeal possible in the first place as I technically did not have a way to top up.

Thanks for letting us know, so many people come on here asking for help yet never let us know how they got on .