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Don't pay rail fines, says Ken Livingstone (who travelled without a ticket)
Ellen Widdup23.03.09
KEN LIVINGSTONE, who once led a crusade against fare dodgers, has called on ticket cheats to refuse to pay fines after being let off a £20 penalty.
In a rant about "rip-off" charges, the former London mayor who spearheaded a "zero tolerance" campaign against passengers travelling without a valid ticket, said people were being victimised to boost train firms' coffers.
His criticism comes after he failed to pay a £7.50 single fare from Paddington to Slough but escaped the automatic fine for the offence after appealing to First Great Western platform staff.
He said he had not been trying to dodge paying and insisted he was the victim of the train company's "disgraceful record" of making its ticketing system deliberately difficult for passengers to use.
He said he had planned to buy a ticket before boarding but didn't have time because Tube service delays meant he arrived at Paddington two minutes before his train departed.
As the train was crowded the ticket inspector hadn't reached his carriage by the time he arrived in Slough so he went to the barrier and told staff he needed to buy a ticket.
In a letter to the Daily Mail he said: "No passenger who has been victimised by First Great Western should pay their £20 rip-off.
"The rail operator, First Great Western, has a disgraceful record of making its ticketing service difficult for passengers in order to maximise its income from fines.
"Five years ago I offered the company enough money to install new ticket barriers that would allow their system to be compatible with London's Oyster card system.
"First Great Western refused to do this because it would dramatically reduce income from their £20 penalty charge regime."
As mayor, Mr Livingstone said he would show no mercy to fare dodgers but the 63-year-old today denied double-standards. "While I was mayor we pursued people who dodged paying their fare but tried to avoid fining people who had made a genuine mistake," he added.
A spokesman for First Great Western said it was confused by Mr Livingstone's criticisms. "We don't know where Mr Livingstone is coming from," he said. "We are sure that Mr Livingstone will agree with us that it's in the interests of the travelling public, and the taxpayers who help fund our railways, that passengers buy a ticket before they travel and that rail operators have systems in place to prevent and penalise fare evasion."
During Mr Livingstone's mayoral term there were a number of complaints from passengers who had been fined for fare-dodging.
In one case Rachel McKenzie, a secretary of a London archbishop, was taken to court for mistakenly falling 20p short on a bendy bus. She was unaware that she had insufficient funds on her pass and when a ticket inspector did a spot check, she discovered she had just 70p on it - rather than the 90p then needed for the journey.
Her case echoed that of University of East London student Ashley Williams, 20, who was given a criminal record for travelling one stop on a bus without a valid ticket.
Fare dodgers are believed to cost the travel industry £210 million a year in lost revenue on London commuter routes. London Underground loses £25 million.
A spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies said: "The rules are simple. You are required to have a ticket for the journey you are making. If you do not then you are liable to pay a penalty.
"Having said that, people manning the ticket barrier, as in Mr Livingstone's case, take the appropriate response if they believe the mistake is genuine."
Reader views (24)
i always get up early and make sure i get a ticket before i get on the train, i have to queue everytime i travel, i dont mind doing this at all, the thing i do mind is the people who dont bother to queue and just get on a train, i say good job ticket inspectors, fine away the people who chance it 
- Kirsty, brighton
I booked my train journey from Weston Super Mare to Brighton via the internet. I arrived at Bristol Temple Meads Station before 1pm. I asked which train went to Reading and I was directed to the appropriate train. When the train pulled away, a voice came over the speaker and announced that internet tickets cannot be used on this service and that anyone using them would have to pay again. The train I was on was the 1.09pm and the train I should have been on was the 1pm. Given that FGW have 2 trains leaving Temple Meads for Reading at almost the same time is bound to cause confusion. Also the fact that FGW announce that internet tickets cannot be used on this service is a clear indication that there has been problems in the past, otherwise they would not make the announcement.
I ended up having to pay another £37 to an extremely rude ticket man and I feel totally cheated.I wrote to their complaints department in Plymouth and they said they would give me a refund if I sent them the tickets.I did this and all I got back was a letter of excuses.
I will never use First Great western's services ever again.
- William Morgan, bristol
What with fines for people who can't get a ticket in time, the extra cost to use a train on top of an Oyster pay-as-you-go daily price cap and the non refundable change from some ticket machines, it's no wonder the train companies aren't signing up for Oyster pay-as-you-go and taking a zero tollerence attitude.
- Veronica, London
The hypocricy of politians never ceases to amaze me.
- Stevo, London
When I travelled in Helsinki looked for college to study in Winter 1989. I could not find the ticket I was hurry to go I accepted to pay the fine. I thought it s over. I did not make mistake again but when I moved to Norway after 15 years I was checked and harassed by the inpectors for 6 years in Oslo.
- Patrict, Norway
I used to work until very recently for a train co. It is carzy how hard they make it for people to pay. We need to punish fare dodgers, but not at the expense of innocent people.
- Me, Sheen
Woudl this be the same Ken Livingstone who introduced the congestion charge which is notorously bad in terms of customer service.
- Ian Gilbertson, Newcastle
I agree with Janice, London.
When Livingstone was mayor he had a zero tolerance of fare dodgers - that was anybody caught without a ticket, rightly or wrongly to raise more revenue.
Now the "boot is on the other foot" and he is a mere mortal now, he goes on about how unfair it is.
Hes just trying to make himself out to be a "man of principal" having fare dodged himself and fallen foul of his own system.
Don't fall for his crude attempt to flatter, us so he can get back in and become a dictator again.
- Mike, London
Well well well Ken. It's true then Do as I say but don't do as I do. Hypocrit
- Ayliff Mcnab, Spain
So its the greedy Train Operators who have made it more difficult to pay for a ticket. Mr Livingston was exemplary in making it easier to buy tickets. Got rid of conductors on buses (do I remember a Manifesto commitment to keep conductors?). Stop Drivers collecting fares. Have ticket machines that rip you off because they can't give you change. Propose closing ticket offices on the Underground at places like Cannon St. And as the article points out his Nazi gestapo would clobber people with a criminal record for being short by 20p.
- Dave, London England
It will be funny to see what his stance if, in the remote chance, he gets re-elected at the next election!
- Andy, london
What a great advert for the 2012 Olympics ! ! !
- Fraser, Telford Park
Sorry if I'm being a bit dim here, but if you don't fine people for fare dodging then how exactly are you supposed to put people off doing it??
- Sarah Bradshaw, Enfield, Middx
Ken is right and justified in not paying a fine to a company with such a disgraceful track record. His actions will save commuters thousands of pounds. Well done that man
- Keith Price, Luton, England
Pot, Kettle Black, Petart, Own, Hoist.
Livingstone should be given a criminal record for fair dodging, that will have the bonus of stopping him standing for Mayor !
- Janice, London
Mark - have you never needed to be somewhere for an important appointment? Have you never found yourself with insufficient time to buy a ticket, because of a screw-up elsewhere on the transport network, or staff shortages at the ticket office and a 15-minute queue?
In my youth, there was no question of fining anyone if they volunteered their fare to the inspector or at the ticket barrier on arrival. You fine people for being dishonest. Now it's the rail companies being dishonest, fining honest people as a nice little earner, and (I suspect) deliberately making it impossible to buy a ticket in a hurry. Witness their longstanding opposition to the introduction of Oyster Pay As You Go, which would have rendered this discussion moot.
- Nigel, London
London and it's transport system is known world wide as a rip off. I don't know what Livingstone is bleating about. He is the one who is reponsible for the whole transport system mess in London. Including the congestion charge system.
- Ebin Donk, angus scotland
A few weeks ago I received a good telling off from a pathetic little guard in his broken English for not having a ticket on HIS train. I would have had a ticket if the ticket office hadn't been closed at 5:15pm and the ticket machine outside hadn't been out of service. I'd every intention of buying the ticket on the train but apparently my crime was sitting down and waiting for the guard instead of finding him before sitting down. A message to the train operators...HOW CAN WE HAVE TICKETS IF YOU WONT SELL THEM TO US!
- Jj, Bracknell
There is no excuse for being on a train without a ticket. If you are late it's your fault, wait for the next train. There is even an annoying reminder announcement when you board trains. As usual Ken doesn't think the rules apply to him. The perfect apologist for the 'I'm an exception' generation.
- Mark, London
Livingstone should not be above the rules.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland
Transport for London made the Kengestion Charge deliberately difficult to pay with the result that they raked in the penalty income. Their website makes it clear that they don't accept a geuine mistake as a reason for not paying the Charge.
- Jools, London
Yep, I got a nice £20 fine from the train jobsworths with attitude for being on the train and then not being allowed to pay on it (I got the bus to Paddington not the tube as it was a tube strike and then jumped on a train to ealing and forgot to buy a ticket which I would have done at the beginning of my journey)...Also whats all this about those trains having a first class area? Sometimes you have to stand in them as its too cramped and then again you get threatend with a fine. They have a damned nerve for fining anybody with that level of service, ive lost count of how much money ive lost as a contractor for being late for work becasue of their incompetence!!!!
- Dc, London
The train companies should be doing a lot more to make it easier to buy tickets. Ticket machines in France can sell you season ticket extensions, advance purchase tickets, tickets from any station to any station, AND handle ticket refunds and changes. Passengers in Germany can print off their tickets at home.
Until the train companies provide equipment that actually meets the needs of passengers, and in sufficient numbers so that they don't find themselves queueing for 10 minutes, then I think people have fair complaint at being fined when they can't buy their ticket.
That being said - there are trains to Slough every 15 minutes or so - Ken should have done what the rest of us do - wait until the next train.
- Mark Lee, Vauxhall
I made exactly the same mistake as Ken Livingstone: I was running late for a train and didn't have time to buy a ticket, thinking I could use my Oyster card at Hemel Hempstead. However, the inspectors insisted on charging me the penalty fair. One law for the privileged and the other for the rest of us Mr L. By the way, I once travelled in the same Jubilee line carriage as Mr L - he dropped a crisp packet on the floor as he left he train. Obviously he has no concern for the environment....
- Alison, London, UK
