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Commuter who can't get a seat is fined for standing in luggage space near first class
Dick Murray, Transport Editor29.04.08
A commuter who could not find a seat on her train but managed to squeeze into a tiny luggage space by a lavatory was fined because she was too close to first class.
Nichola Myhill's hour-long journey ended with the threat of arrest and a £69 fine because she had strayed out of a second-class compartment.
Now the 27-year-old magazine graphic designer is waiting to hear of her appeal against what she described as "the appalling way I was treated".
Ms Myhill caught the 6.30pm service from Liverpool Street station on her way to her home in Fingringhoe, near Colchester, but there were no seats available.
She said: "I pay just over £4,000 a year for a season ticket yet I usually end up sitting outside a toilet on the dirty floor because everywhere is full up.
"People were standing in every available space between carriages - it was not possible to stand in the aisle because it would have caused huge disruption.
Together with another young couple I stepped into the space at the end of a first-class carriage. A guard saw us and we explained that there was nowhere else to go, which he accepted.
"But 10 minutes later a pair of ticket inspectors came through and having seen our tickets told us we were all going to be fined on the spot.
"I felt intimidated by their aggressive attitude - they demanded my details including my National Insurance number and where I worked.
"I was not at all happy about giving them so much information but they said I would be arrested if I refused to co-operate.
"They called up two men who showed me their warrant cards and they told us that we had to comply with the inspectors or we would be committing an arrestable offence.
"I was made to feel like a criminal and I was terrified that I would be taken off the train in handcuffs. Several passengers in the first-class compartment protested at the way I was being treated.
"They were astounded by what was happening - one man told the inspectors to leave me alone because I was not causing any problems and should be allowed to stay."
Upset and scared, Ms Myhill said she had no choice but to accept the £69 onthe-spot fine - calculated as double the cost of a single first class fare from London to Colchester - but has refused to pay and is appealing.
"Ironically they told me afterwards that I could have paid a £12 upgrade and sat in first class anyway. To add insult to injury as they left they said I could sit in the compartment because I had now paid the fine - but we had almost reached my destination."
Ms Myhill is waiting to hear from the Independent Appeals Service about her complaint.
A spokesman for National Express East Anglia said: "We are sorry if any customer feels unhappy about their journey with us.
"We will look into the specific circumstances on this particular train and decide what action is appropriate."
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Reader views (20)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
Why don't we get rid of this wasteful failure of a privatised farce that we were lumbered with by Major in 1997? The railways are a public service - everyone knows that. We need to put them into mutual ownership, like the building societies, with the customers in control, not bled dry by fare increases and humiliated in cattle-truck conditions like this.
- Robert C, London, UK
This is disgusting and puts shame on the train company, people have to put up with overcrowded, constant fare increases and very often late trains and this is the treatment they get, I hope she fights this all the way.
- Cathy,, Beckenham, Kent
For a classless society '1st class' travel is something of an anachronism. It would go some way towards alleviating the problem of overcrowding to simply do away with First Class. Take the Tube for example, its all 3rd class but nobody seems to complain, do they?
- Jeremiah, London
