She was given a penalty on the spot, but she could not pay as she had no means to do so.
She was caught without a valid ticket on a train that has a Penalty Fares policy, which means it is compulsory to purchase a ticket before boarding and carry it with you at all times. A Penalty Fare is a charge made when an inspector believes a genuine mistake has been made. The Penalty Fare does not have to be paid immediately, but the fare that was due does.
If the customer is not in possession of a ticket they will be charged the fare, and
if they are unable to pay the fare, and unable to demonstrate they ever paid a fare, then a prosecution is inevitable, and would likely succeed.
Some time later she received a letter where by (to the best of my memory) it only offered a summary of the events and asked her to write on the back of the letter to confirm the events. She did so, and we had hoped they would just send her a fine to pay.
The Train Company cannot send her a fine, only a Court can do that. If she is happy to receive a fine then she can simply plead guilty and does not need to attend court. However, I'd be rather more worried about the criminal record than the fine (depending on her job).
Yesterday, she instead was sent a court summons charged with breach of S.5(3)(a) of the Regulations of Railyways Act 1889 in addition to pay a fine of £125.
Can you check this, as that doesn't make sense to me.
The fine would be considerably more than £125 and would be for a Court to decide, if she either pleads guilty or is found guilty.
This is the first offence she has ever committed and I intend to write a plea letter to the Prosecutors office to ask for leniency in the form of an out of court settlement to prevent her getting, I feel, an unwarranted criminal conviction.
Yes, that would be a good idea.
Is there anything more that can be done? She is more than willing to pay whatever cost in order to avoid having a criminal record. My question is, will such a conviction appear on a CRB?
In this case, yes it would.
That would be for the employer to decide! It would have to be declared on interview, as if it wasn't and they later found out when the CRB came through, the employer may not be happy. If it is declared, then the employer may or may not wish to employ someone else. It would depend on the job, the employer and whatever factors were applicable to that job at that time.
If she accepts the £125 fine and pleads guilty, I assume that means she gets a record as well?
Thank you for taking the time to read this
If she pleads guilty, then she will receive a fine and a criminal record, that is what happens when you plead guilty. The fine will be reduced for a guilty plea. I have no idea where this £125 figure has come from, it doesn't make sense to me.
I do not know. She was going from Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction. On the letter, the Prosector's Office is registered to London Overground Rail Operations Ltd. Are they a separate entity? I don't know.
Yes,
LO is a TOC, for which the full legal name is
London Overground Rail Opetations Limited, and is overseen by TfL.
That isn't reasonable at all, surely, as having no means to pay surely cannot equate to an unwillingness to pay. This law is based on the sole presumption that members of the public will always have some form of money on them.
Unfortunately, I think you'll find that it can.
What we have here is the logic that if you do not have a ticket on you for whatever reason, and do not have the means to pay...
Then you can be found guilty.
the penalty fine there and then
It's not a penalty fine.
A penalty fare is simply a charge that a Train Company is allowed to make under the Penalty Fare Regulations and Rules. It is not a fine and anyone who is charged one is not being accused of avoiding, or attempting to avoid, paying his or her fare.
You will be requested to pay the full amount by the authorised collector at the time the penalty fare is charged. If you do not, you will be expected to make a minimum payment equal to the full single fare that you would have had to pay for your journey if penalty fare rules did not apply.
(My bold, but the wording is from the now-defunct National Express East Anglia's Penalty Fare leaflet, as this is well-worded and makes the situation clear, to avoid confusion).
then you will be convicted as a criminal - even if you merely lost your ticket.
Has she lost her ticket? If so, is there any evidence that the ticket was purchased? If so, present the evidence.
Genuine mistakes are not taken into account?
If a genuine mistake is made, a Penalty Fare will be charged. However if a passenger never bought a ticket and has no means to buy a ticket, it is unlikely that the Train Company will accept this as a "genuine mistake".
She is a trainee nurse. This is going to ruin her career before it even begins. Utterly ridiculous.
In that case she needs to settle out of court.
Can you provide a source that verifies this please?
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/52-53/57 5 Penalty for avoiding payment of fare.
(1)Every passenger by a railway shall, on request by an officer or servant of a railway company, either produce, and if so requested deliver up, a ticket showing that his fare is paid, or pay his fare from the place whence he started, or give the officer or servant his name and address; and in case of default shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding [F4level 1 on the standard scale][F5[F6level 2 on the standard scale]].
(2)If a passenger having failed either to produce, or if requested to deliver up, a ticket showing that his fare is paid, or to pay his fare, refuses [F7or fails] on request by an officer or servant of a railway company, to give his name and address, any officer of the company F8. . . may detain him until he can be conveniently brought before some justice or otherwise discharged by due course of law.
(3)If any person
(a)Travels or attempts to travel on a railway without having previously paid his fare, and with intent to avoid payment thereof; or
(b)Having paid his fare for a certain distance, knowingly and wilfully proceeds by train beyond that distance without previously paying the additional fare for the additional distance, and with intent to avoid payment thereof; or
(c)Having failed to pay his fare, gives in reply to a request by an officer of a railway company a false name or address,
he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding [F9level 2 on the standard scale][F5[F10level 3 on the standard scale]], or, in the case of a second or subsequent offence, either to a fine not exceeding [F9level 2 on the standard scale][F5[F10level 3 on the standard scale]], or in the discretion of the court to imprisonment for a term not exceeding [F11three months].
(4)The liability of an offender to punishment under this section shall not prejudice the recovery of any fare payable by him.
[F12(5)In this section
(a)railway company includes an operator of a train, and
(b)operator, in relation to a train, means the person having the management of that train for the time being.]
Out of interest, did she really make this journey without any money or any credit/debit cards at all? If so, that's most unfortunate.