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The horror stories are many. The pensioner physically dragged, crying, off a crowded train by two "revenue protection" goons because she had forgotten her senior citizens railcard. The passengers stung for £20 because there was a queue at the ticket office and they had to hop on without paying or miss the train. The people bullied into paying unfair penalties by empty threats of prosecution and a criminal record. Today, however, the Standard tells you how you may never have to pay another railway penalty fare again.
Penalty fares - 20 years old this month - began life under British Rail as a reasonable deterrent to fare-dodging. But for some of the privatised rail companies, these £20 fines for not having a ticket have become nice little earners in their own right. One operator made £32 million from them last year alone. Another, Stagecoach's South West Trains, sparked outrage when it started judging its guards' job performance by the number of penalty fare warnings they issued.
Many passengers complain of a "take-no-prisoners" attitude, even where travellers have good reasons for not buying a ticket and every intention of paying. They say they are being penalised for train companies' failure to provide adequate station ticket offices, with staff and opening hours cut even as passenger numbers have risen.
But what most people do not know - and what the train companies are understandably reluctant for us to find out - is that more than a few demands for penalty fares are arguably illegal. The railways' new, hard-line approach is essentially a gigantic bluff, relying on our ignorance of our rights and our unwillingness to make a fuss when collared.
Because you do, in fact, have quite extensive rights not to be charged penalty fares, many of them set out in law. Rights designed, in the words of the Government, to "make sure that the interests of honest passengers are protected".
The chances are that if you have a reasonable excuse not to pay a penalty fare, you do not have to pay it - whatever a train company's staff may claim. If you are prepared to quote your rights and call their bluff, you will usually prevail.
Provided always that you do pay the normal single fare, the chances are that any threats made against you, particularly of criminal prosecution, are hollow.
Richard Colbey, a barrister at Lamb Chambers, told the Standard: "The policy is legally dubious. Penalty fares are not enforceable unless a court orders it - and a court would be unlikely to do so with someone prepared to make a fuss. There has been no reported case of a train company suing in this way - the last thing the rail industry would want is a pronouncement by a judge on its levying of penalty fares."
Another leading rail industry lawyer told the Standard that he had himself been threatened with prosecution for not paying a penalty fare. "I wrote them a very polite letter explaining why I had not got a ticket," he said. "I told them to have a go if they felt like it and heard nothing more."
I, too, have several times successfully refused to pay penalty fares demanded of me in circumstances which were unreasonable. So here is the Standard's summary of your rights - and our advice on avoiding unfair penalty fares.
OUR 10 RULES FOR BEATING THE TICKET INSPECTOR
This advice is for National Rail services only. TfL has different rules with fewer safeguards. No legal liability is accepted.
1 Make a reasonable effort to buy a ticket before you get on.
It will weaken your case if you start from a station where there is a functioning ticket office or machine but make no attempt to use them. This does not, however, mean that you have to wait in a long queue and miss your train. See Rule Eight for the Government's guidance on what constitutes a reasonable waiting time.
2 If asked for a penalty fare, check that you actually have to pay one.
There are several non-penalty fare locations in London and the South- East - most importantly, Stansted airport. If your journey started at one of these locations, you cannot be charged a penalty fare. This probably applies even if you changed trains on to a penalty-fare service en route (see other box for full details).
There are other lines on which one operator has penalty fares and another does not (see box). If, for instance, you are asked for a penalty fare at the excess fares office at Euston and you have arrived on a train run by Virgin, not London Midland, you do not have to pay the penalty.
If you forget your season ticket, you do not have to pay a penalty fare. You may be issued with a "nil fare" penalty notice and asked to send in a photocopy of your season, or asked to buy a normal single ticket (which you can then get refunded at a ticket office on production of your season). You can only do this twice a year.
If you have a ticket between two places with multiple rail routes (eg London-Southend) but it is not valid for the route you are using, you cannot be charged a penalty fare - only the difference in price between the routes.
If you have a ticket for the right journey but it is not valid on the particular train you are using, this is a grey area. The Department for Transport's "Penalty Fares Policy" (clause 4.29) says you should not be charged a penalty fare, just the difference in price. But the National Rail conditions of carriage say holders of "some types of discounted tickets" can be charged a penalty. It is definitely worth arguing the point.
3 Check that the person asking for a penalty fare is an "authorised collector".
Under the Penalty Fares Rules 2002, sections 5 (2) and (3), only an "authorised collector ...individually authorised by or on behalf of the operator of that train" is allowed to collect penalty fares. Not all train guards and excess ticket office staff are authorised collectors. You have the right to ask them to produce the special identification document which proves that they are. (This also helps to return a measure of the "embarrassment factor", which some collectors use to get travellers to pay up.)
Check also whether the person asking you for a penalty has been authorised by the operator whose train you travelled on. At stations served by more than one train company, even where they both have penalty fares schemes, it may be that the people on the ticket barrier are authorised by one operator but not by the operator you used.
4 Even if they pass these tests, politely refuse to pay the penalty and simply pay the full single fare.
On the train or at the station, you have the absolute right to make only "a minimum payment that is equal to the full single fare which [you] would have had to pay for [your] journey if penalty fares had not applied." This is section 8 (2) of the Penalty Fares Rules 2002 - quote it if anyone tries to tell you different. (The full single fare means the fare without any railcard discounts, cheap offers etc.) Ignore any threats that may be made at this point if you refuse to pay the full sum - these are phoney and have no legal basis.
5 Never pay the penalty in the belief that you can recover it on appeal.
You are allowed to appeal against a penalty fare to one of two supposedly "independent" bodies. Most operators use the Independent Penalty Fares Appeals Service (IPFAS), others the Independent Appeals Service (IAS). But IPFAS is in fact owned by Southeastern Trains, is based at Southeastern's head office and all its staff are Southeastern employees. IAS was also until recently based in railway offices and its company secretary is a director of the company which runs the railways' ticketing system. In short, the appeal process is not independent of the rail operators, is not operated in your interests and is most unlikely to recover your money.
6 Give your correct name, address and journey details.
Once you have paid the single fare, the collector will then ask for your name and address so that they can send a demand for the rest to be paid within 21 days. They can check names and addresses while you wait with the electoral roll database. The only criminal offence in the whole penalty fares legislation is refusing to give a name and address, or giving a false one. So give the right details.
7 Once you have paid the minimum, they will hand you a form.
Check this carefully. It must show the authorised collector's name and identity, your correct details, the details of the journey you have taken and how much you have paid. Collectors are often careless. If any of these details are omitted or are wrong, and you can prove it, it is game over.
8 When the letter demanding the rest arrives, write back politely, again refusing to pay, and explaining why you were unable to buy a ticket before travelling.
This is where the most useful part of the Penalty Fares Rules comes in - Rule 7 (4), which states that a penalty fare must not be charged "if ... there were no facilities available for selling the appropriate ticket or other authority for the journey the person wanted to make".
The Rules themselves do not define what "no facilities available" means. But in separate guidance on penalty fares ("Penalty Fares Policy") issued by the Department for Transport, it is made quite clear, in clauses 4.2 and 4.11, that passengers must be given "sufficent opportunity" to buy a ticket and that regular queues over three minutes (off-peak) and five minutes (peak) breach the definition of what is "sufficient".
It is not clear whether this definition has any legal force - but if you quote it in your letter back to the train company, you are unlikely to be bothered again.
The Penalty Fares Policy also tells companies to "use discretion" towards the elderly, pregnant women, people who have enough money to buy a ticket "but not in the form needed to use the [ticket] machine" and "all passengers when the train service is severely disrupted". Once again, if you can truthfully quote any of these, you are unlikely to be bothered.
9 Remember: penalty fares are a civil, not a criminal-matter.
Train companies often scare people into paying up by threatening prosecution and a criminal record. However, the legislation establishing penalty fares, the Railways Act 1993, section 130, states that apart from failing to give your right name and address, "nothing in this section creates, or authorises the creation of any [criminal] offence". The Penalty Fares Regulations 1994 state that "the recovery of a penalty fare is a civil debt". So even if after reading your letter the company still decides it wants the money, it has to sue you - probably not worthwhile for such a small sum.
Railway companies sometimes threaten people with the main criminal law against fare-dodgers, the Regulation of Railways Act1889. But this says there has to be "intent to avoid payment". You could argue that you haven't intended to avoid payment because you have, in fact, paid the full single fare.
10 But don't abuse the system.
The safeguards provided in the law and the regulations are intended for people who want to pay the proper fare but occasionally fall foul of inadequate facilities. If you constantly board trains without buying a ticket, or if you lie to train company staff, this could be construed as intent to avoid payment and the chances of criminal prosecution will rise.
Reader views (32)
My Daughter aged 12 has just starting making her own way to secondary school, she has an oyster card that entitles her to free bus travel, she was with friends and decided to travel the very short distance to school (One Stop) on the train instead of the bus. We are a family that occasionally travels on Public Transport and if we do I the parent buy the tickets. Therefore my daughter was unaware the oyster only entitled her to free bus travel but all travel. A ticket inspector got on and asked for her ticket, she showed him her oyster to which he explained she had to pay on trains. He then issued her a penalty notice. My Daughter has since recieved a letter stating pay up the £20 or face court procedings.
I refuse to pay this fine as it was an innocent mistake, and she has been disaplined for this by way of grounding her and she assures me she will never do this again.
This fine has escalated to £60 and i am worried that this can go further, I couldn't afford the original £20 so now really can't afford the currant fine. Anyone have any advice as to what I as the parent should do?
- Angela, West Wickham
My daughter has recently received a letter from the SWT Prosecution Dept. Bsically the letter states that "all evidentce available is being consideres as to whether legal proceedings are appropriate". What options are open to her. As in many instances, there was a queue at the ticket office and her train was in the station. Unfortunately her record of paying two penalty fares a couple of years ago now appears to be working against her also..... The difference now, is that she had actually learnt the errors of her ways andthis is an entirely genuine occurrence...
- Swt Stitchup, Sunbury
Train operators of course have a right to protect revenue against fare evasion. But they are now using penalty fares to increase revenue in defiance of the Govenment Penalty Fare policy: I have confirmation from Jim Morgan, First Capital Connect CEO. He uses 'bully boy teams' of ticket inspectors and thinks it fine to intimidate and lie to passengers in order to issue penalties in contravention of the Department of Transport Penalty Fares policy.
IPFAS is a joke. We need a full public debate about penalty fares before train operators get to put up the Penalty fare to £50.
I would like to talk to Andrew Gilligan further about this but cannot find an e-mail contact.
David
- David, cambridge
heres a story thats common.
you get to your local station, the trains just comming so you rush past either the ticket office or machine not wanting to miss the train. no conductor comes along and you get off at the stop you want, theres only a machine there, what do you do?
walk past or buy a ticket for the journey you have just made?
the answer is walk past, and as soon as you do then your liable for prosecution for making off without payment.
whats better a £20 penalty of face going to court?
for all those against penalty fares what about the honest people who buy annual season tickets or who will miss their train to buy a ticket. (SIMPLES) buy a ticket or take the chance with a penalty fare and stop moaning!!!
- Kirsty Mia, london
Congrats to Andrew if it were not for his article I would possibly have paid up my £130 fine for a ticket I had already bought to Chester proof of which I had at the time but dropped the seat number ticket....
so vicious collectors...
I even got a letter from Virgin back
- Victoria, London UK
Someone mentioned below that there is no excuse not to buy a ticket from a London terminus. This doesnt take into account a big problem. I (like most) have a travelcard and therefore when you travel from London it saves a lot of money to buy the ticket from the boundary of Zone 2/3/etc.
However, you cannot do this using the ticket machines so have to queue. London terminuses have MASSIVE queues (especially at rush hour) so I get on the train. If you travel Frist Cap Connect (which I unfortunately have to) I am now liable for a £20 fine, even though I will get off at a barriered machine and pay the single (which is extortionate anyway).
I pay £70 per week on travel - I could do without an extra £20 fine every time the tube gets me to the station late. This article should ensure that I wont have to pay those fines, and that is great news.
- Adam, London
Unfortuantly we live in a society of chancers. It is fine to board the train having queued up for several minutes,but who is going to queue at the other end to purchase a ticket? I used to work on a barriered station which sometimes had no revenue staff to issue tickets.However the ticket office was open. I would say only 1 in 100 persons actually went over to the ticket office and purchased a ticket for the journey they had taken.Having worked in this job, you get to trust nobody.Fare dodgers come in all shapes and sizes, and from all walks of life.
- Dave, south east england
I work for HMCS, we are more than happy to facilitate fare non-payers, there is no excuse for not having a ticket, you can buy in advance from machines,stations and online.
By the way, from experience the worst fare evaders are business people in suits.
- Max, london
It is worth remembering one point that Mr Gilligan seems to overlook.
If the ticket inspector doesn't believe you they do not have to charge a penalty fare even where penalty fares can be charged.
I am not saying that all cases fall foul of this, but it might be worth reading the Appeal Court judgement in a 1978 case in the name of Corbyn.
Where there are reasonable facilities to buy a ticket before getting on a train, you must use them otherwise you may be charged with fare evasion as Mr Corbyn found out to his cost.
By the way, I don't agree with the use of penalty fares as a revenue raising tool either.
- Pessimist, Cambridge UK
I am an ex Conductor who worked in an area with few booking offices so all I required from people was either a ticket or the means to pay. I found the amount of attempts at free travel astounding. They came from ALL ages/walks of life and it was difficult to sort the genuine from the dishonest.
A few examples being.
Railcard holders (or perhaps not?) who purchase a ticket at for example 10:00 from a self service machine yet lose the card (but not the ticket) by 10:05. I'd see this at least once, usually more, every day. How do I work out who is lying/genuine?
2 Senior Railcard holders each with the year part of the date covered by a scrap of paper which when in a plastic wallet at first glance appear valid. On checking the date was last year. Genuinely forgot to renew? Perhaps -how could I tell? Should I treat them differently to 2 17yr olds in similar circumstances?
The time taken trying to decide who was lying meant many people on short journeys from unstaffed stations travelled free. I adopted a stance of requiring either A VALID ticket, means of payment or verifiable details. If neither of the three could be produced I would report them.. Perhaps some genuine people fell foul of this but in my opinion there is an element of personal responsibility rather like arriving at an airport ensuring your passport is a)In date and b)With you. While people do arrive at airports without passports I imagine the proportion is FAR less than rail travellers without tickets.
- Ex Conductor., Manchester, UK.
Not sure the Tesco analogy below is strictly valid. I’ve never turned up at Tesco to find it unstaffed and that there is no food but I’ve certainly turned up at an unstaffed train station to find there are no trains. I don’t have to pay Tesco in advance for food that then doesn’t materialise but I’ve paid for train tickets for trains that don’t arrive.
Tesco certainly doesn’t shut most weekends for engineering work. Perhaps most importantly, when I leave Tesco after paying for my goods I’m not confronted by 10 members of security staff backed up by police who demand to see my receipt (which they justify by saying some people shoplift).
I think the point this article is making is that people who are genuinely trying to pay for the service are being penalised even for minor transgressions – let’s put it this way: if I got fed up after waiting for 10 minutes for a checkout at Tesco and decided to try and get 10 items through the 8 items or less checkout they wouldn’t hit me with a £20 penalty charge!
- Max, London
National Rail Conditions of carriage, Condition 2 states you must buy a ticket or other authority to travel BEFORE you travel, where you are given the opportunity to do so. To my mind, if you buy a ticket before you travel, as you're supposed to, when you reach your destination station you can leave promptly. If you don't buy a ticket before travelling then it's not unreasonable to expect a delay at the other end of your journey. Yes, trains are delayed, and dirty, but you still need to pay for the service you use. If you don't like the service, don't use it.Walk, cycle, get a taxi or bus. We have a choice. I'm fed up with my ticket prices being so high because I'm partly subsidising non payers.
- Jacky, London
With the highest fares in Europe and First Great Western today announcing a 20% rise in off peak fares next year, would it not surely be the Train Operating Companies that are the real crooks?
- Rory, Battersea
Hey....I'm gonna try the same tactic in Tesco's when all the tills are busy. walk out with the trolley, just say in a bit of a rush will pop back later & pay when its a bit quieter!! Get real!, I think everybody is grown up enough to realise you need to to buy a ticket before you travel on a train.
- John, guildford UK
There is no excuse to not buy a valid ticket from a london terminus before boarding your train. Buy a ticket or face the consequences.
- Anonymous, london
Linzi, I'm in the same boat as you. You should be able to buy tickets in advance of travel - I get my three for the week all at once. If you go to the station in the afternoon there's usually less of a queue.
- Ian, London
As a recent visitor to London, I recently came across the 'Penalty Fare Mafia' backed up by the British Transport Police when I arrived at Charing Cross after the short journey from London Bridge on South Eastern trains I tihnk it was.
As I tried to exit the barrier by 'touching out' my card, the 'seek assistance' light came on and the barrier declined to open. I was immediately pounced upon by the 'Mafia' who without letting me say a word joyfully pointed out that Oyster 'Pay as you go' cards were not valid on their trains.
Within milliseconds his pad flipped open, and name and address were demanded which I duly gave him (well it is a requirment). Whilst this was going on, despite me being on crutches I was almost frog marched off to a convenient area for them alongside a BTP officer (perhaps he thought I going to do a runner!!).
Anyway I let him complete the ticket thing and just as he was about to sign it, I politely informed him that I was not travelling on a PAYG Oyster but actually a Veterans Concessionary Travel Scheme Oyster card which was fully valid for my journey. I also pointed out it was not my fault their barriers had not been correctly programmed to accept the Veterans Card and surely he should have asked me what card or ticket I was using before he dived straight in with the Penalty notice (The BTP chap was nodding in full agreement with me).
So it seems to be never mind what the passenger is going to say, just issue the penalty.
Peter
- Peter, York, NorthYorkshire
In my little corner of south London we rely heavily on Southern trains to get us into central London.
I always pay my fare but sympathise with those who do not – especially those who decide to jump on a train and pay at destination when confronted with a long wait for the ticket office. If the service was better I think train companies would have more justification for their ‘zero tolerance’ approach.
It is always frustrating to drag yourself off a dirty, delayed and overcrowded train to be confronted by aggressive ticket inspectors – especially, as is often the case at Battersea Park, if the ticket office itself is closed.
It’s also concerning that ticket inspectors are often backed up by British Transport Police – surly it’s not the job of the police to enforce a private company’s trivial debts? It wouldn’t be so bad if British Transport Police had a visible presence anywhere else on the network.
- Max, London
Thanks for the information, It should really help me.
In my case I arrived at sydenham station 5mins before my train was due(off Peak), I had a anual zone 2-3 travel card & needed to buy an extention, there was 2 people in frount of me & before I could get the extention my train started to pull into the station (I queued about 3-4 mins).
I had an apointment to get to at croydon Registers office & if I missed this train I would have been too late, which would have ment booking another day of work.
I would have bought the extention at the ticket machines but they do not have the option to do this.
I was fully aware that East Croydon station had ticket barriers, they also have a "fares to pay" window, I got to croydon & was queueing at the window to pay when a revenue protection office offered to help.
I told him what happened & explained how important this interview was, He then told me that I would have to pay a fine (which I refused to do).
I showed him that I had about £100.00 in cash on me & a GOLD / Anerual ticket, Strangly he would not accept this as a resanable excuse even though he said he could see that I would have payed for the fare.
I Payed the cost of the full single fare, not an extention, nor did I have any gold discount.
P.S
I had ID with me going back atleast 2yrs, when he asked to see proff of address I just passed him the bag, He used a 2yrs old bank statement with a old address.
What could this mean?
- Mark F, Sydenham, London
The other issue is how random/repetitive these checks become. I've had journeys from London to Colchester (50 mins) with checks before boarding, two on board, then a fourth at the destination. It tries the patience severely.. Plus the "robocop" approach, with ticket checkers in quasi-military uniform, some with cameras on their helmets.. It's all intended to bully and increase tension. 5 mins queuing time? At Liverpool Street during rush hour, you can stand for 30-40 minutes...
- Steven Davidson, Colchester, England
Diplomat, Battersea; Dipstick, Battersea!
Do you actually understand the point of this article,
or do you work for one of the licensed bandit train
companies?
- Lb, Bromley
In Italy if you do not validate your ticket before boarding local or semi fast services, or when your ticket has no fixed date, you are liable for a 50 Euro fine. However, if you tell the train guard before he or she checks your ticket in all probability this fine will be waived. As far as I know penalty fares in Italy are just that and nothing more, there is no possibility of a criminal record. At any rate it would probably take a long time to get to court, and courts here have better things to do with their time.
- Mark, Venice, Italy
Unfortunatly you would be suprised by the number of passengers who have no intention of buying a ticket.The issue is the very poor training given to inspectors especialy those on FCC.Be warned that the infomation is not all correct rail bylaw 18 makes it an offence not to have a ticket without having to prove intent,a penalty fare does not have to have the collectors name just number.Get two or three penalty's and it can be used in court to show intent.An Honest passenger and a properly trained inspector nobody should fear the system except those intent on abusing it.
- Lloyd, london
We must stop theft by our own bureaucrats -- speed fines, penalty fares, parking tickets, bin fines, stealth taxes, even being accosted in Heathrow by fuel tax thieves... it is entirely immoral, repugnant, antisocial, and is inciting our youth into rebellious disrespect. It increasingly makes me feel violated -- like being mugged or assaulted. These people are vermin. We don't need newspaper articles to tell us how to get around the system, we need newspaper leadership to change the system and teach them a lesson they'll never forget.
- Whistleblower, London
Thanks for this information, I recently had a penalty charge & this will help me.
In my case I arrived at sydenham station 5mins before my train was due(off Peak), I had a anual zone 2-3 travel card & needed to buy an extention, there was 2 people in frount of me & before I could get the extention my train started to pull into the station (I queued about 3-4 mins).
I had an apointment to get to at croydon Registers office & if I missed this train I would have been too late, which would have ment booking another day of work.
I would have bought the extention at the ticket machines but they do not have the option to do this.
I was fully aware that East Croydon station had ticket barriers, they also have a "fares to pay" window, I got to croydon & was queueing at the window to pay when a revenue protection office offered to help.
I told him what happened & explained how important this interview was, He then told me that I would have to pay a fine (which I refused to do).
I showed him that I had about £100.00 in cash on me & a GOLD / Anerual ticket, Strangly he would not accept this as a resanable excuse even though he said he could see that I would have payed for the fare.
I Payed the cost of the full single fare, not an extention, plus without any gold discount, Further more I had ID with me going back atleast 2yrs, when he asked to see proff of address I just passed him the bag, He used a bank statment 2yrs old with a old address.
- Mark F, Sydenham, London
"I regret to inform you that I do not have a ticket. This is due to a payment failure at Charing Cross"
(from a Private Eye cartoon years ago)
- Mike, London
Of course, you could just buy a ticket.
- Diplomat, Battersea
Of course, you could try reading the article
- Steve, london
How interesting ! This is certainly informative - it is probably the most useful article the Evening Standard has published for a long time. Well done Mr Gilligan
- Rob, dorking
It's not always possible to buy a ticket, at my station the ticket office is hardly ever open - and the machine works when it wants to - and when the ticket office is open, the machine is usually on the blink again and you can queue for up to 20 minutes to buy a ticket. I had bought a ticket at my destination on a regular basis for 18 months, and a few months ago I was hit with a £20 fine for being unable to buy a ticket at the start of my journey (my train station does also not accept Oyster cards, we have readers but these have still not been connected due to an arguement between Southeastern trains and Tfl over the fare structure). I was told by the "Revenue Protection Officer" that I should buy myself a season ticket if I had problems buying a ticket every day - as I only work 3 days a week this would work out costing me more per week than the daily tickets - probably just what Southeastern want actually.
- Linzi, London
I once caught the wrong train out of Vauxhall as the signs were down along the entire network (and no announcements were made upon the train). Although I did catch the Guildford train (manual announcements were made as to the destination) I caught the "via Surbiton" rather than the "via Epsom". On alighting at Surbiton (when I realised I was on the wrong train) I was collared by the ticketing thugs (who refused to give me their details) and told that it was my fault and promptly ticketed me. I wrote a letter to SWT explaining what had happened, they replied saying it was nothing to do with them but had forwarded my letter to the appeals committee, who promptly wrote back telling me that I was in the wrong and normally they wouldn't budge but in this instance they didn't have a leg to stand on as the penalty form had been filled out incorrectly.
The moral of the story is: make sure that the penalty form has been filled out correctly as unless it is it's not legally binding.
- Bob, Cheam
I once travelled after having queued for more than 5 minutes at Waterloo (before they installed a lot more machines) with no luck. I paid the full single fare as I'd intended to anyway and then wrote to them and explained the situation and they did not charge me the penalty. I agree that the take-no-prisoners attitude is unsavoury to the small number of people who experience unnecessary difficulties in buying a ticket.
The entire penalty fares scheme is a disincentive to installing Oyster across the network-it's probably the main reason they've waited 5+ years to install it. Once that is in, there'll be very few instances where people cannot buy a ticket, so much less dodging.
And of course installing barriers would also be a sensible idea but that's expensive isn't it - so they would again just prefer to issue penalties.
I think Andrew Gilligan forgets that a lot of the time these ticket checks are made with British Transport Police in attendance. At the very least, the police presence ups the embarrassment factor. What to do in that situation?
- Philip, London UK
Of course, you could just buy a ticket.
- Diplomat, Battersea
