Ticket fine advice - Help please!

[Murray760]

Hello,
My husband frequently commutes between Great Missenden and Marylebone for work. Sometimes he jumps on a train without a ticket and buys it at Marylebone before he goes through the barriers - he always buys a ticket - you cannot get out of Marylebone without one. He was recently stopped at Marylebone whilst waiting near the barriers purchasing his ticket online. He was asked to present his ticket and he proceeded to tell the inspector he was in the process of buying one before exiting. We have now received a letter stating they want to prosecute him for not having a valid ticket for his journey. We wrote back and explained how he always buys a ticket as you need one to exit at Marylebone. We have evidence of all his recent Train tickets. We have now received a letter saying they will proceed with the prosecution unless we want to pay £92 admin fee to make it all go away. Can we appeal this? Or do we not have a case because he didn’t have a valid ticket before travelling? Please help as it seems very unfair. Thank you in advance

 

[jfollows]

Unfortunately, you should look at the National Rail Conditions of Travel (https://assets.nationalrail.co.uk/e...572570/National_Rail_Conditions_of_Travel.pdf) and specifically

6. Your Requirement to Have a Valid Ticket to Travel
6.1 You must hold a valid Ticket or authority to travel before you board a train where there was the opportunity to buy one unless one of the following circumstances applies:
6.1.1 At the station where you start your journey, there is no means of purchasing a Ticket, either because there is no Ticket office open or a self-service Ticket machine is not in working order, or will not accept your only available method of payment (card or cash); and where notices indicate that Penalty Fares may apply from that station, you purchase a Permit to Travel if there is a working Permit to Travel issuing machine at the station where you start your journey – see Condition 10 for more information about Penalty Fares; or
6.1.2 The station is staffed, and you are specifically permitted to board a train service by an authorised member of staff, or you have received a written notice or heard an audible announcement to this effect; or
6.1.3 At the station where you start your journey, there is no means of purchasing a Ticket, because
6.1.3.1 the Ticket office is closed; or
6.1.3.2 a self-service Ticket machine is not in working order, or will not accept your preferred method of payment (card or cash); or
6.1.3.3 You have a disability and Ticket purchasing arrangements at the station you are departing from are not accessible to you.
In these cases, you must, as soon as you are reasonably able, buy an appropriate Ticket to complete your journey. The price of the Ticket you purchase will be the same as if you had bought a Ticket at the station from which you first departed.

If there were suitable facilities for buying a ticket at Great Missenden, you husband is liable for prosecution (as you have found, see section 9.2 in the document I quoted above) for not having a ticket on the train from there.
As Haywain says below, pay the £92 because the alternative will be worse, unless you can provide a valid defence for not having a ticket which seems unlikely.

 

[Haywain]

In short, pay up. Boarding a train without first buying a ticket is an offence. And buying at the barriers at Marylebone is a big red flag as the train company will ask what would happen if the barriers were open.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Unfortunately, you should look at the National Rail Conditions of Travel (https://assets.nationalrail.co.uk/e...572570/National_Rail_Conditions_of_Travel.pdf) and specifically

Indeed - an offer to settle for £92 is good and should be accepted.

If nothing else, think how your husband's actions would look to the railway: he didn't have time to buy a ticket at Missenden but did have time at Marylebone? Why didn't he buy the ticket between Missenden and Marylebone?* The railway will see this as buying only when it becomes clear that he needs a ticket to exit at Marylebone.

*For those used to being here: yes, I know that buying on board is statutorily no better than buying on exit. But buying on exit is fully aligned with only buying when challenged.

 

[AlterEgo]

Classic pay when challenged behaviour and you’re lucky to be offered a settlement. Pay it as soon as possible to avoid big trouble.

 

[WesternLancer]

Yes, as others say pay this and change what your husband does in future. It's possible that you have even given them more evidence against you by saying (if you did) that this is what you typically do. They have in fact given you the benefit of the doubt by offering the settlement payment they have.

A quick look at threads on this forum re Chiltern Trains you will see that they take a harder line on ticket irregularities than every other train company I can think of - and their agents TIL play hard ball with people often have to plead 2 or 3 times with them not to be taken to court.

Obv not saying your are dishonest but it could be much worse than what they are offering.

 

[Murray760]

Thank you all for your advice. This is really disappointing as he always pays for his fares but not always before boarding if the train is there for him to jump on. We will pay the settlement and make sure he pays upfront in future.

 

[jfollows]

Thank you all for your advice. This is really disappointing as he always pays for his fares but not always before boarding if the train is there for him to jump on. We will pay the settlement and make sure he pays upfront in future.

Sorry to disappoint you, but I think you realise you’ve received good advice nonetheless.

 

[Gloster]

And just to be clear, he must make sure that he always buys a ticket before boarding if there are such facilities available (ticket office or functioning ticket machines that he can use). He is now on their radar and if it happens again they are unlikely to be so lenient; they do appear to have been unusually lenient this time.

 

[Murray760]

Yes, all great advice and very much appreciated. Thank you

 

[fandroid]

To give himself time and to be able to leap aboard the first train without worry he should buy his ticket before he leaves home (even the night before?)