Travelled beyond ticketed destination due to falling asleep

[jjmp37]

I bought a valid ticket for my journey yesterday from Birmingham New Street to Jewellery Quarter, and as I sat down on the train I accidentally fell to sleep due to exhaustion from university and work all week long. I was woken up by the train inspector and this is shown on the body cam, and I realised I had missed my stop. This was a genuine mistake and I have never had a situation like this before, and it is even more annoying because others who didn’t have a valid ticket at all were able to get off the train without punishment.

I’ve been given a notice but the train inspector told me how to appeal, I’ve typed the appeal number and it’s saying not recognised. So I’m just having a total nightmare would be great if someone could help with telling me if I have a good appeal and how to appeal as it’s not recognising my PF number.

I also have a screenshot of my valid train ticket and there is body cam footage from the inspector of me being found asleep.

 

[yorkie]

I bought a valid ticket for my journey yesterday from Birmingham New Street to Jewellery Quarter, and as I sat down on the train I accidentally fell to sleep due to exhaustion from university and work all week long. I was woken up by the train inspector and this is shown on the body cam, and I realised I had missed my stop. This was a genuine mistake and I have never had a situation like this before, and it is even more annoying because others who didn’t have a valid ticket at all were able to get off the train without punishment.

I’ve been given a notice but the train inspector told me how to appeal, I’ve typed the appeal number and it’s saying not recognised. So I’m just having a total nightmare would be great if someone could help with telling me if I have a good appeal and how to appeal as it’s not recognising my PF number.

I also have a screenshot of my valid train ticket and there is body cam footage from the inspector of me being found asleep.

A penalty fare is deemed by train companies to be a higher than normal fare, which can be issues to people who make a mistake under certain circumstances.

It isn't an accusation of deliberate fare evasion, for which they can prosecute.

Train companies who operate PF schemes employ 'authorised collectors', whose job it is to catch people who don't have valid tickets, and issue penalty fares or report them for prosecution.

By all means appeal the penalty fare, however it is unlikely to succeed, unless there is some other mitigating circumstances, such as unclear signage, or a lack of ticket issuing facilities at the origin station (unlikely to be the case at Birmingham New Moor Street).

Edit: The journey was presumably from Moor Street, rather than New Street.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

’ve typed the appeal number and it’s saying not recognised.

We've seen something similar recently. Give it a day or two to get loaded from the inspector's machine to the computer network, then try again.

 

[Stuwhu]

Trains don't go from New Street to Jewellery Quarter

 

[WesternLancer]

I bought a valid ticket for my journey yesterday from Birmingham New Street to Jewellery Quarter, and as I sat down on the train I accidentally fell to sleep due to exhaustion from university and work all week long. I was woken up by the train inspector and this is shown on the body cam, and I realised I had missed my stop. This was a genuine mistake and I have never had a situation like this before, and it is even more annoying because others who didn’t have a valid ticket at all were able to get off the train without punishment.

I’ve been given a notice but the train inspector told me how to appeal, I’ve typed the appeal number and it’s saying not recognised. So I’m just having a total nightmare would be great if someone could help with telling me if I have a good appeal and how to appeal as it’s not recognising my PF number.

I also have a screenshot of my valid train ticket and there is body cam footage from the inspector of me being found asleep.

It would be worth you uploading a copy of the penalty fare notice paper work with any ref numbers obscured so experts here can check if it was correctly issued as a mistake could invalidate it.

 

[Cuthbert]

I bought a valid ticket for my journey yesterday from Birmingham New Street to Jewellery Quarter, and as I sat down on the train I accidentally fell to sleep due to exhaustion from university and work all week long. I was woken up by the train inspector and this is shown on the body cam, and I realised I had missed my stop. This was a genuine mistake and I have never had a situation like this before, and it is even more annoying because others who didn’t have a valid ticket at all were able to get off the train without punishment.

I’ve been given a notice but the train inspector told me how to appeal, I’ve typed the appeal number and it’s saying not recognised. So I’m just having a total nightmare would be great if someone could help with telling me if I have a good appeal and how to appeal as it’s not recognising my PF number.

I also have a screenshot of my valid train ticket and there is body cam footage from the inspector of me being found asleep.

Are you sure it was from Birmingham New Street?
Working that line they do not call at Jewellery Quarter.
If you did travel from Birmingham New Street you would have had to change at Smethwick Galton Bridge go to the higher level and get a train from there which is silly as you can go to Snow Hill or Moor Street.

 

[island]

I bought a valid ticket for my journey yesterday from Birmingham New Street to Jewellery Quarter, and as I sat down on the train I accidentally fell to sleep due to exhaustion from university and work all week long. I was woken up by the train inspector and this is shown on the body cam, and I realised I had missed my stop. This was a genuine mistake and I have never had a situation like this before

It is most unfortunate indeed that you fell so soundly asleep within less than 7 minutes on the train that you were unable to get off at the stop you had paid to travel to. As others mention, it might take a few days for the case to be loaded to the appeals website, but there is very little likelihood of an appeal being successful here. A penalty fare is the correct resolution of a situation where a passenger does not have a ticket due to a mistake or a minor reason such as falling asleep and being overcarried. Your best option is to pay the penalty fare promptly before it goes up.

it is even more annoying because others who didn’t have a valid ticket at all were able to get off the train without punishment

You have no way of knowing that they didn't have valid tickets, and even if they didn't, the fact that the inspector didn't have enough time to deal with them doesn't excuse you from a penalty fare.

 

[WesternLancer]

I bought a valid ticket for my journey yesterday from Birmingham New Street to Jewellery Quarter, and as I sat down on the train I accidentally fell to sleep due to exhaustion from university and work all week long. I was woken up by the train inspector and this is shown on the body cam, and I realised I had missed my stop. This was a genuine mistake and I have never had a situation like this before, and it is even more annoying because others who didn’t have a valid ticket at all were able to get off the train without punishment.

I’ve been given a notice but the train inspector told me how to appeal, I’ve typed the appeal number and it’s saying not recognised. So I’m just having a total nightmare would be great if someone could help with telling me if I have a good appeal and how to appeal as it’s not recognising my PF number.

I also have a screenshot of my valid train ticket and there is body cam footage from the inspector of me being found asleep.

we had a case on here not so long ago (can't find it at the moment) where a passenger in west mids could not get off the train due to crowded carriage at their stop and had to get off at the next stop to go back and got issued with a Penalty Fare as they tried to get to the other platform IIRC. Like yours seems a harsh decision on the part of the inspector

However, whilst I think it is worth submitting an Appeal (this stops the clock on the promptly payment deadline which reduces the penalty fare (PF) from £100 to £50 - but do not miss the ability to pay the reduced rate) I believe for an appeal to be successful it has to be based on why the PF was not issued correctly / for a reason specified in the PF rules - unfortunately it's not an appeal to their better nature or that it was unfair to get a PF for what you did.

This is why it's worth checking if there was some sort of error with the way the PF was issued to you, as per my post above.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Are you sure it was from Birmingham New Street?
Working that line they do not call at Jewellery Quarter.

There are, however, trams (albeit the tram stop for New Street seems to be officially called Grand Central: I'm not in Brum often enough to know what locals actually call it).

To make sure that we're giving advice on the right system, please could you confirm what your journey really was - was it tram from New Street/Grand Central, or train from Snow Hill or Moor Street? And I think it would help us to know where you were woken such as to receive the penalty fare.

 

[AlterEgo]

There is no entitlement to appeal based on "being found asleep". I'm shocked they issued a penalty fare though for someone travelling a single stop, whose given location is West Bromwich, and who was found to have allegedly fallen asleep just minutes after boarding. Would expect an inspector to write that one up for prosecution and auditing.

 

[Cuthbert]

There are, however, trams (albeit the tram stop for New Street seems to be officially called Grand Central: I'm not in Brum often enough to know what locals actually call it).

To make sure that we're giving advice on the right system, please could you confirm what your journey really was - was it tram from New Street/Grand Central, or train from Snow Hill or Moor Street? And I think it would help us to know where you were woken such as to receive the penalty fare.

The revenue guys on the team normally 2-3 will be on you as soon as you enter. Very unlikely he got from Grand Central to Jewellery Quarter without being asked for a ticket.
It takes 10 minutes to Jewellery Quarter stopping at four stops before Jewellery Quarter being the fifth stop.

Where as it is 1 to 2 stops depending if the OP got on at BSW 1 stops or BMO 2 stop.

 

[deltic]

Did you buy a ticket from where you ended up back to Jewellery Quarter, can you demonstrate regular purchase of tickets between Birmingham and Jewellery Quarter and a residence in the vicinity of Jewellery Quarter all of which would help to substantiate that this was a genuine case of oversleeping. If so and an appeal does not work I would go to the local media and even your MP which will lead to the possibility of a goodwill refund

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Did you buy a ticket from where you ended up back to Jewellery Quarter, can you demonstrate regular purchase of tickets between Birmingham and Jewellery Quarter and a residence in the vicinity of Jewellery Quarter all of which would help to substantiate that this was a genuine case of oversleeping. If so and an appeal does not work I would go to the local media and even your MP which will lead to the possibility of a goodwill refund

Let's cut to the chase. OP tells us they live in West Bromwich but had a ticket from Birmingham to Jewellery Quarter (i.e. basically the first stop beyond the city centre stations). They also tell us they 'fell asleep ' and overrode.

It's possible that this is exactly what happened - but it's also exactly what someone who was fare dodging would do (buy the cheapest possible ticket to get through the barriers in Birmingham, then close eyes and start snoring when an inspector shows up). Railway ticket inspectors are used to people trying on all sorts of untrue stories to avoid getting caught for fare dodging and that's what they will assume happened here.

If the OP is telling the truth then in practice they're in the difficult position of having to prove that; they should think what evidence they have of why they needed to be near Jewellery Quarter - and as @deltic suggests above, round up evidence to show that having overslept, they did head back to Jewellery Quarter where they really wanted to be


But if actually the OP was fare dodging they should pay the penalty fare as soon as the system will allow them to, and as @AlterEgo suggests, think themselves lucky that they're not being taken to court