Penalty Fares Rules and card only TVMs

[Bletchleyite]

I was looking through the PF regulations for another thread, and found this:

The Railways (Penalty Fares) Regulations 2018

These Regulations make provision for the charging of penalty fares for the failure to produce, when required to do so, a ticket or other authority authorising a person to travel by train or to be present in a compulsory ticket area at a station.

www.legislation.gov.uk

(4) In paragraph (2)(a), there are no facilities in operation for the sale of a travel ticket if—

(a)the passenger is not able to use any means of payment the passenger has available at the relevant time; and

(b)the passenger would usually be able to purchase a travel ticket at the station in question at the relevant time of day using one of those means of payment.

Due to the AND clause that reads to me that if a station normally only has a card TVM, then at that station card is the only payment accepted and a PF can be issued if a passenger has no card.

(The first line is wonderfully badly drafted, as an aside - it could either mean if ANY ONE of their methods of payment isn't accepted and they want to use that one, or that if they have one that works they have to use it)

Any thoughts?

 

[yorkie]

The safest thing to do when paying by cash is not to let anyone see sight of any card you may have as it's a grey area.

I do not believe anyone has the right to make someone use any card they may have in their possession (it may be a company card, have insufficient funds etc and is none of the other party's business) but this wording has been deliberately badly drafted to make people think they cannot choose to pay by cash. They can.

We've been through this before and unfortunately the Penalty Fare legislation is oppressive, unfair, inappropriate and disgraceful. But who is going to do anything about it? No-one, sadly.

 

[Watershed]

I was looking through the PF regulations for another thread, and found this:

The Railways (Penalty Fares) Regulations 2018

These Regulations make provision for the charging of penalty fares for the failure to produce, when required to do so, a ticket or other authority authorising a person to travel by train or to be present in a compulsory ticket area at a station.

www.legislation.gov.uk

(4) In paragraph (2)(a), there are no facilities in operation for the sale of a travel ticket if—

(a)the passenger is not able to use any means of payment the passenger has available at the relevant time; and

(b)the passenger would usually be able to purchase a travel ticket at the station in question at the relevant time of day using one of those means of payment.

Due to the AND clause that reads to me that if a station normally only has a card TVM, then at that station card is the only payment accepted and a PF can be issued if a passenger has no card.

(The first line is wonderfully badly drafted, as an aside - it could either mean if ANY ONE of their methods of payment isn't accepted and they want to use that one, or that if they have one that works they have to use it)

Any thoughts?

On the face of it, I would agree - however firstly, this "only" allows for the imposition of a Penalty Fare and not a prosecution. We have seen time and again that TOCs do not seem to be interested in pursuing Penalty Fares in the County Court, as is the intended procedure. And they would, in principle, have nothing to prosecute over instead.

Furthermore, you have to read it in conjunction with the railway's other publications and statements, which make cash an acceptable payment method. Indeed the NRCoT specifically acknowledge this in condition 6.1 and set out that it is a valid reason to board without a ticket:

You must hold a valid Ticket or authority to travel before you board a train where there was the opportunity to buy one unless one of the following circumstances applies:
6.1.1 At the station where you start your journey, there is no means of purchasing a Ticket, either because there is no Ticket office open or a self-service Ticket machine is not in working order, or will not accept your only available method of payment (card or cash); and where notices indicate that Penalty Fares may apply from that station, you purchase a Permit to Travel if there is a working Permit to Travel issuing machine at the station where you start your journey.

In my view, that creates the requisite permission to board without a ticket, under regulation 6(2)(d), which means a Penalty Fare may not be charged:

(2) This paragraph applies if, at the time when, and at the station where, the passenger boarded the train—
(d) the operator of the train or the station, or a person acting or purporting to act on behalf of the operator, indicated that the passenger was, or persons generally were, permitted to travel by or be present on the train without having a travel ticket.

And even if Condition 6.1 were held not to to constitute such permission, in the (highly unlikely) event it came to a County Court claim, the passenger would be able to bring a counterclaim for the civil liability they have incurred whilst following Condition 6.1. The judge would likely dismiss the claims and tell the TOC where to go.

Being reliant on NRE and/or the NRCoT is, however, somewhat concerning because the policy can be changed at the TOCs' whims, and doesn't apply to other operators who operate outwith the NRCoT, such as Tyne and Wear Metro (who nevertheless rely on the same Penalty Fares Regulations).