SUMMONED TO COURT

[Ashley Ball]

Hi all. I’ve been summoned to court over an £80 fine that I just flat out didn’t pay. This happened back in November, is there any way I can avoid going to court/ potentially getting a criminal record as I’m only 19 and this would ruin future career prospects. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[JN114]

Hi all. I’ve been summoned to court over an £80 fine that I just flat out didn’t pay. This happened back in November, is there any way I can avoid going to court/ potentially getting a criminal record as I’m only 19 and this would ruin future career prospects. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

You could try and negotiate an out of court settlement with the train operator; some are more amenable than others. But the likelihood of that succeeding is dependent on what happened. If you’ve sat on a penalty notice for 7 months and not paid that it’s not going to help your situation.

With more detail we may be able to advise further avenues of mitigation; there’s a “sticky” thread at the top of the sub-forum with the kind of detail being sought.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Hi all. I’ve been summoned to court over an £80 fine that I just flat out didn’t pay. This happened back in November, is there any way I can avoid going to court/ potentially getting a criminal record as I’m only 19 and this would ruin future career prospects. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

There's a lot more nuance to train ticket "incidents" than there might appear to be on the surface.

Can you let us know:

• Which train company you travelled with, and which train company you received the "fine" (correspondence) from?
• What journey you made, on what date, and at roughly what time?
• Did you hold a ticket at all, and if so, which ticket?
• What were the circumstances of you being issued with the "fine"?

It's also be helpful to have a redacted copy of any correspondence you've had with the train company, including the summons.

 

[Ashley Ball]

You could try and negotiate an out of court settlement with the train operator; some are more amenable than others. But the likelihood of that succeeding is dependent on what happened. If you’ve sat on a penalty notice for 7 months and not paid that it’s not going to help your situation.

With more detail we may be able to advise further avenues of mitigation; there’s a “sticky” thread at the top of the sub-forum with the kind of detail being sought.

Nice one. I’ll write a thread in there, thanks for the help

 

[Ashley Ball]

There's a lot more nuance to train ticket "incidents" than there might appear to be on the surface.

Can you let us know:

• Which train company you travelled with, and which train company you received the "fine" (correspondence) from?
• What journey you made, on what date, and at roughly what time?
• Did you hold a ticket at all, and if so, which ticket?
• What were the circumstances of you being issued with the "fine"?

It's also be helpful to have a redacted copy of any correspondence you've had with the train company, including the summons.

• I was travelling with Merseyrail and got my initial fine from some undercover workers when me and my friend were waiting for our other friends to come through the gates to buy a ticket together. The workers worked for Merseyrail.
• I mad a single journey from the Wirral to Liverpool central, it was the 17th November and was either the last or second to last train so it would’ve arrived at either roughly 11:45 or 12am.
• I held a ticket for that day as I’d already been out, it was a 16-18 rail pass (as I was 18 at the time) however I didn’t have the ticket on me and was prepared to buy another one as I had forgotten it
• I was given the fine for heading towards the exit after leaving the ticket office despite we had only left the doors of the shop, I tried to explain that we were waiting for our friends however the guy was having none of it.

Again, thanks for the help, it means a lot.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

• I was travelling with Merseyrail and got my initial fine from some undercover workers when me and my friend were waiting for our other friends to come through the gates to buy a ticket together. The workers worked for Merseyrail.

Ok, you talk about a fine but a Penalty Fare would be the usual on-the-spot charge that you might receive, and on Merseyrail that would almost always be for £20. So how come the amount is/was £80?

• I mad a single journey from the Wirral to Liverpool central, it was the 17th November and was either the last or second to last train so it would’ve arrived at either roughly 11:45 or 12am.

Ok, most stations in the Wirral have ticket offices open during the entire period of service. Can you just confirm which station it was that you boarded at? And, presuming that it had an open ticket office, why did you not buy your ticket there before travelling?

• I held a ticket for that day as I’d already been out, it was a 16-18 rail pass (as I was 18 at the time) however I didn’t have the ticket on me and was prepared to buy another one as I had forgotten it

Do you mean a RailPass as in a season ticket? If so, do you still have the original ticket, or at least the receipt or a picture of either of the two? Did you explain the fact that you held a season ticket, but just didn't have it on you, to the members of staff you spoke to?

• I was given the fine for heading towards the exit after leaving the ticket office despite we had only left the doors of the shop, I tried to explain that we were waiting for our friends however the guy was having none of it.

Ok, so is the ticket office inside or outside the barrier line at Liverpool Central? Did your friends receive similar Penalty Fares etc.?

 

[Puffing Devil]

2nd summons from incidents on Merseyrail posted on here today.

Both may be out of time: Ashley Ball - call the court on Monday and ask when the information was laid. If it was after the 18th May, they are out of time to prosecute.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Some information for anyone offering advice who may not be familiar with Merseyside public transport:

Ok, so is the ticket office inside or outside the barrier line at Liverpool Central?

The ticket office at Liverpool Central is outside the ticket line. It's in an MtoGo shop, so (although I don't think this is an issue here) it doesn't follow that a transaction at the counter is overwhelmingly likely to be the sale of a ticket

Do you mean a RailPass as in a season ticket

You may find it useful to know that Merseytravel issue a product called a 'Railpass' which is issued instead of National Rail season tickets. See https://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/Tickets/compare-tickets/Pages/Railpass.aspx for details. There are terms and conditions at https://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/Tic...ments/Paper Trio Solo or Railpass Tickets.pdf which among other things say

 We issue Trio, Solo and Railpass tickets in line with the bye-laws, regulations and
conditions of each company on whose services the tickets are used (except in
relation to refunds and allowances).

I am not sure how far this would allow the NRCoT rules for season tickets to be read into the Merseytravel terms and conditions.