Failure to Pay Penalty Charge

saltthrow said:

I need to send the letter off tomorrow, this is the closest I've got:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing in response to receiving a Notice of Intention to Prosecute Letter on 12/09/2019, Reference: XXXX.

Please note that my name is <NAME>, not <INCORRECT> as your correspondence reads.

On 26/05/2019, I travelled from New Southgate (NSG) to Hatfield on the 10:52 service in order to attend “Slam Dunk Festival'. On reaching the platform at New Southgate, I used Contactless to start the journey. Upon reaching Hatfield, the station was very busy and I attempted to ’tap out' at the Hatfield barriers. The barriers did not open and I was informed that I must pay £20 to exit through the gate. I mistakenly believed that Hatfield accepted Contactless and so mistakenly believed the Penalty Fare was issued unfairly. I thought I had already paid via the Contactless machines (I was charged the full day fare from Transport for London on this date as my TfL journey from NSG was not terminated).

This was a clear error of judgement on my behalf and refusing to pay the Penalty Fare was a regrettable course of events that I am extremely remorseful for. I am an infrequent traveller to London, had never travelled on that line or between those stations before and believed that due to it's proximity to London, I would be able to use my Contactless card to complete my journey when I arrived in Hatfield. I regrettably refused to pay the Penalty Fare, as I genuinely believed I had paid for my journey, for which I send my sincerest apologies.

I would like to apologise unreservedly, and settle this matter out of court if I may. I am prepared to offer you suggest that I should pay the full single fare for my journey from New Southgate to Hatfield, the Penalty Fare, plus any reasonable costs incurred in pursuing your claim against me and would be grateful for your agreement or advice of what amount you think would be appropriate.

Since this incident, I have moved address. My mail is being forwarded, but please send further correspondence to:

<NEW ADDRESS>

Yours faithfully,

<NAME>

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OxtedSignaller said:

I would not worry too much about the letter GTR generally speaking will give you a settlement figure for it to be dealt with out of court.

End of the day they can deal with it as a prosecution or penalty fare it is entirely up to the RPIs discretion there is no right or obligation on the RPI for you to be offered a penalty fare.

If the RPI tells you that Contactless or Oyster is not valid then they will be telling you for good reason, they will know their patch and which tickets and payment methods are valid where so the defence that you thought you had paid and which is why you refused a penalty fare is confusing.

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saltthrow said:

Just re-read the letter, it says 'Tell us what happened from your point of view. Information should be both factual and honest'.

The letter also states 'That you on 26/05/2019 11:30 upon inspection at Hatfield (HAT); Had entered a train for the purpose of travelling on the railway, without a ticket entitling travel.'

I'm not sure what that means regarding whether they'd prosecute as the by-law or railways act?

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saltthrow said:

I need to send the letter off tomorrow, this is the closest I've got:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing in response to receiving a Notice of Intention to Prosecute Letter on 12/09/2019, Reference: XXXX.

Please note that my name is <NAME>, not <INCORRECT> as your correspondence reads.

On 26/05/2019, I travelled from New Southgate (NSG) to Hatfield on the 10:52 service in order to attend “Slam Dunk Festival'. On reaching the platform at New Southgate, I used Contactless to start the journey. Upon reaching Hatfield, the station was very busy and I attempted to ’tap out' at the Hatfield barriers. The barriers did not open and I was informed that I must pay £20 to exit through the gate. I mistakenly believed that Hatfield accepted Contactless and mistakenly believed the Penalty Fare was issued unfairly. I thought I had already paid via the Contactless machines (I was charged the full day fare from Transport for London on this date as my TfL journey from NSG was not terminated).

This was a clear error of judgement on my behalf and refusing to pay the Penalty Fare was a regrettable course of events that I am extremely remorseful for. I am an infrequent traveller to London, had never travelled on that line or between those stations before and believed that due to it's proximity to London, I would be able to use my Contactless card to complete my journey when I arrived in Hatfield. I regrettably refused to pay the Penalty Fare, as I genuinely believed I had paid for my journey, for which I send my sincerest apologies.

I would like to apologise unreservedly, and settle this matter if I may. I am prepared to offer you the full single fare for my journey from New Southgate to Hatfield, the Penalty Fare, plus any reasonable costs incurred in pursuing your claim against me.

Since this incident, I have moved address. My mail is being forwarded, but please send further correspondence to:

<NEW ADDRESS>

Yours faithfully,

<NAME>

Click to expand...