Train fine - fine notice is wrong do I have to pay?

Hi guys,

I was stopped by the staff at the train station then realised that I have stupidly brought the wrong ticket. It was the same start and finish station, I got the ticket for 10:03 but the previous train (09:53) was late. So when I got to the station I hopped on the late train without realising that railcard discounts are not valid before 10am.

ANYWAY, the point is, I got back to my room and looked at the penalty fare notice then discovered the station staff didn't complete the full form. He didn't even tick the reason to fine box, got my birthday wrong and put the fine due date as 30th February (lol!). If the due date will never come, it's never due right?!

If the form wasn't even filled in correctly and my information was wrong, do you think I can get away with it?

P.S I was googling and saw an article that says the form must show my correct details and if I can prove it's wrong, I don't have to pay. It's from the EveningStandard https://www.standard.co.uk/news/10-ways-to-avoid-penalty-fares-on-trains-6762684.html. Anyone or any law students know if it's true?

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 1

Mainline421

The form being filled in incorrectly is irrelevant, as they still know you committed an offense and so would be fully within their rights to pursue a prosecution or inform the police. Seeing as it sounds like you made an innocent mistake, my advice would be to simply tell them this if asked (emphasising that you intended to pay the correct fare for your planned journey), and pay up any small fine they request so they don't decide to take this to court. That Evevning Standard article is a load of cr*p. Unless the rules are 100% on your side, it's always better to pay up as I've heard of people ending up in court after refusing any payment.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 2

Es_la

Original post by Exams421

I don't know if the police would get involved, this is more of a civil matter right? I have told them that it's just a mistake when they tried to fine me but the guy was so rude, he had already come to a conclusion that I am lying before I even start to explain myself. I am definitely appealing. You are right, I am scared of ending up in court for not paying the fine and by the sound of it people actually do. :s-smilie:

It just feels like I am fined for not being smart enough and making small mistakes. :frown:

£20 is more than half of my weekly spend for a poor student.

Reply 3

RuthieG101

your ticket was still invalid, as if I read right your ticket was valid after 10 am and you took the 9:53.

it's a technicality that it wasn't filled in right but you still caught the wrong train.

You probably could appeal but you still used an invalid ticket

Reply 4

Es_la

Original post by RuthieG101

It's the railcard discount element that made it invalid before 10:00am, which I didn't know when I got on. The ticket itself is down as an Anytime Day Single and no where on the ticket does it say invalid before 10:00am, the guy at the station probably only stopped when he noticed the price difference on my ticket. They can't expect people to just know these things when they haven't been very clear about it. To be honest, granted that I was being careless, I would feel a lot better about paying the fine if the guy wasn't so rude to me.

Train fine - fine notice is wrong do I have to pay?

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