[Hypothetical] TOC and TfL approach to offenders with non-UK addresses

[Surreytraveller]

You’ll find ticket inspectors have more “jurisdiction” than you think.

On the flip side of the coin, they also have less than they think

 

[Cloud Strife]

I'm in the same situation (British, but I travel on a foreign ID card as I'm a dual citizen and it's free for the ID card), and I asked a ticket inspector exactly this question last time I was in the UK. He said clearly that they would take the address given, and that would be that. He said that he had no means of verifying whether I was telling the truth or not, though he would normally ask to see an ID card or passport, but that there was no compulsion to actually carry one and so he couldn't demand it.

My understanding of the law is that they can theoretically ask for you to be detained until you can be put in front of the court, but that the police are almost certainly not going to get involved if the passenger is cooperating and gives an address. Incidentally, my ID card doesn't even have an address on it.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

I'm in the same situation (British, but I travel on a foreign ID card as I'm a dual citizen and it's free for the ID card), and I asked a ticket inspector exactly this question last time I was in the UK. He said clearly that they would take the address given, and that would be that. He said that he had no means of verifying whether I was telling the truth or not, though he would normally ask to see an ID card or passport, but that there was no compulsion to actually carry one and so he couldn't demand it.

My understanding of the law is that they can theoretically ask for you to be detained until you can be put in front of the court, but that the police are almost certainly not going to get involved if the passenger is cooperating and gives an address. Incidentally, my ID card doesn't even have an address on it.

The right to detain the passenger under the Regulation of Railways Act applies only where the passenger has committed the "three fails" - failing to present a valid ticket, failing to pay for a new ticket, and failing to provide name and address.

Of course the powers of police officers originate from a number of other Acts, and thus they may have the power to arrest a person if they believe it satisfies the relevant PACE criteria, for example.

 

[Snegianna]

I'm in the same situation (British, but I travel on a foreign ID card as I'm a dual citizen and it's free for the ID card), and I asked a ticket inspector exactly this question last time I was in the UK. He said clearly that they would take the address given, and that would be that. He said that he had no means of verifying whether I was telling the truth or not, though he would normally ask to see an ID card or passport, but that there was no compulsion to actually carry one and so he couldn't demand it.

My understanding of the law is that they can theoretically ask for you to be detained until you can be put in front of the court, but that the police are almost certainly not going to get involved if the passenger is cooperating and gives an address. Incidentally, my ID card doesn't even have an address on it.

Hmmm just out of curiosity well if that is the case & they have not gotten any proof of ID how do they gain confidence they are chasing the correct person? Have slightly different scenario but equally if they don't hear back from which ever contact they were given - what do they do ?

 

[cuccir]

Hmmm just out of curiosity well if that is the case & they have not gotten any proof of ID how do they gain confidence they are chasing the correct person

This is an issue with all passengers, not just foreign nationals. TOCs can try to verify details they're given against databases such as the elcetroal register, but those databases may be out of date, phone connections may not make it possible to check them, people may not appear on them, or a person may have given someone else's details. In the UK there's no law mandating that you have ID of a particular kind on you so TOCs can't confirm with 100% certainty every time.

TOCs try to verify details, and will go ahead with prosecution based on the details they've been given. We quite frequently get people on this forum whose details have been given by someone else, and the first that they know of this is receiving either a court summons, or a letter to say that they've been prosecuted in their absence!