I have been charged with failing to hand over their ticket for inspection and verification of validity when asked to do so by an authorised person, contrary to byelaws 18.2 and 24.1 of the Merseyrail Railway Byelaws 2014 and I am due to appear in court in May. I would appreciate your thoughts on the following and if you know of any similar cases that have been to court.
Previously I had travelled by Merseyrail train from Bache to Liverpool (return) on 9th May 2023, 11th May 2023, 13th May 2023, 30th June 2023, 1st September 2023. All the Liverpool destination stations had ticket barriers and so I was unable to exit the station without purchasing a return ticket. My actions on all of the occasions were to purchase a return ticket at the barriered Liverpool stations due to my visual impairment. I was permitted on every date to purchase a return ticket at the Liverpool Stations due to my visual impairment. I was never verbally prewarned on all travel dates prior to Merseyrail’s new requirement to purchase a ticket before boarding a train from 17th July 2023, even though I had mentioned my visual impairment on all occasions. I have always been allowed to purchase return tickets at staffed Liverpool stations with ticket barriers because of my visual impairment and that I require assistance from Merseyrail staff.
On all occasions I explained at the Liverpool Stations that Bache was an unstaffed station, and I was unable to interact with the ticket machine because of not being able to see the screen. The details of the witness’s statement are biased in that the Officer did not include that I retracted the comment about being in a rush (this will be on the video footage). What actually happened and was clearly explained several times (hence the delay), was that I was intentionally unaware of the train departure times from the departure station, I calmly walked up the barrier and a train just so happened to arrive.
I also explained that regardless of the time of arrival at the departure station I would have been unable to purchase a ticket in advance at the unstaffed train station due to my visual impairment. To add, upon approaching the ticket barrier at the destination station I initially approached a female colleague at the entrance barriers (not the exit barrier) and requested to purchase a return ticket. I was then directed to another female member of staff at the exit barriers when again I requested to purchase a return ticket. The second female employee passed me on to two male members of the Loss Prevention Team by the exit barriers. I had every intention to purchase a return ticket because I asked to purchase a ticket from two employees at the entrance barriers. Merseyrail would not have suffered any loss. I had no intent to defraud Merseyrail. I had no intent to avoid payment. I also answered "no" to the Loss Prevention Officer when questioned "were you aware that you should have a ticket before travel?".
6th September 2023 I provided evidence of my visual impairment to Merseyrail. “CF” means can count fingers at a specified distance, and this is used to describe vision that is too reduced to identify any letters on a chart and therefore cannot be measured as a fraction. Page 18 of Merseyrails’s “Accessible Travel Policy (June 2020)” states
“If you are unable to buy a ticket at a station before your journey or are unable to use the self–service ticket machine, you will be able to buy a ticket at your destination station or from one of our Revenue Protection staff with no penalty and with any appropriate discounts. All of our Station and Revenue Protection teams are aware of this policy and will be happy to assist you where needed.”
Byelaw 18.2 states “A person shall hand over his ticket for inspection and verification of validity when asked to do so by an authorised person”, but byelaw 18.3 states “No person shall be in breach of Byelaw 18.1 or 18.2 if an authorised person gave him permission to travel without a valid ticket”.
Merseyrail’s “Making Rail Accessible - Helping Older and Disabled Passengers (June 2020)” sets out the arrangements and services in place to help customers including those with visual impairments. The section “Unstaffed or Temporarily Closed Stations” on page 6 includes “If you want to travel from an accessible unstaffed station, please use the help point on the platform to alert our control room”.
The following day after the penalty was issued, I revisited the departure train station (Bache) and used the help point. I explained that I was at Bache train station, the station was not staffed, and due to being visually impaired, I was unable to interact with the ticket machine. The employee advised to board the train and a return ticket can be purchased at the Liverpool Station.
On Thursday 5th October 2023 I revisited the same departure station to obtain video evidence that supports the above.
Previously I had travelled by Merseyrail train from Bache to Liverpool (return) on 9th May 2023, 11th May 2023, 13th May 2023, 30th June 2023, 1st September 2023. All the Liverpool destination stations had ticket barriers and so I was unable to exit the station without purchasing a return ticket. My actions on all of the occasions were to purchase a return ticket at the barriered Liverpool stations due to my visual impairment. I was permitted on every date to purchase a return ticket at the Liverpool Stations due to my visual impairment. I was never verbally prewarned on all travel dates prior to Merseyrail’s new requirement to purchase a ticket before boarding a train from 17th July 2023, even though I had mentioned my visual impairment on all occasions. I have always been allowed to purchase return tickets at staffed Liverpool stations with ticket barriers because of my visual impairment and that I require assistance from Merseyrail staff.
On all occasions I explained at the Liverpool Stations that Bache was an unstaffed station, and I was unable to interact with the ticket machine because of not being able to see the screen. The details of the witness’s statement are biased in that the Officer did not include that I retracted the comment about being in a rush (this will be on the video footage). What actually happened and was clearly explained several times (hence the delay), was that I was intentionally unaware of the train departure times from the departure station, I calmly walked up the barrier and a train just so happened to arrive.
I also explained that regardless of the time of arrival at the departure station I would have been unable to purchase a ticket in advance at the unstaffed train station due to my visual impairment. To add, upon approaching the ticket barrier at the destination station I initially approached a female colleague at the entrance barriers (not the exit barrier) and requested to purchase a return ticket. I was then directed to another female member of staff at the exit barriers when again I requested to purchase a return ticket. The second female employee passed me on to two male members of the Loss Prevention Team by the exit barriers. I had every intention to purchase a return ticket because I asked to purchase a ticket from two employees at the entrance barriers. Merseyrail would not have suffered any loss. I had no intent to defraud Merseyrail. I had no intent to avoid payment. I also answered "no" to the Loss Prevention Officer when questioned "were you aware that you should have a ticket before travel?".
6th September 2023 I provided evidence of my visual impairment to Merseyrail. “CF” means can count fingers at a specified distance, and this is used to describe vision that is too reduced to identify any letters on a chart and therefore cannot be measured as a fraction. Page 18 of Merseyrails’s “Accessible Travel Policy (June 2020)” states
“If you are unable to buy a ticket at a station before your journey or are unable to use the self–service ticket machine, you will be able to buy a ticket at your destination station or from one of our Revenue Protection staff with no penalty and with any appropriate discounts. All of our Station and Revenue Protection teams are aware of this policy and will be happy to assist you where needed.”
Byelaw 18.2 states “A person shall hand over his ticket for inspection and verification of validity when asked to do so by an authorised person”, but byelaw 18.3 states “No person shall be in breach of Byelaw 18.1 or 18.2 if an authorised person gave him permission to travel without a valid ticket”.
Merseyrail’s “Making Rail Accessible - Helping Older and Disabled Passengers (June 2020)” sets out the arrangements and services in place to help customers including those with visual impairments. The section “Unstaffed or Temporarily Closed Stations” on page 6 includes “If you want to travel from an accessible unstaffed station, please use the help point on the platform to alert our control room”.
The following day after the penalty was issued, I revisited the departure train station (Bache) and used the help point. I explained that I was at Bache train station, the station was not staffed, and due to being visually impaired, I was unable to interact with the ticket machine. The employee advised to board the train and a return ticket can be purchased at the Liverpool Station.
On Thursday 5th October 2023 I revisited the same departure station to obtain video evidence that supports the above.
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