Tram Penalty

[furlong]

Just one more question - they say no further action is necessary, but I actually paid the fine. Will it be automatically refunded or do I need to get in touch with anyone?

Supposedly this is automatic, but successful appeals at this stage are probably so rare I wouldn't be surprised if you had to chase them for it!

If an appeal is successful and a Penalty Fare has been fully paid or part paid by the appellant, they will normally receive a full refund of the amount paid. However, under certain circumstances
TfL may decide to retain the price of the minimum fare

 

[furlong]

I have only received my response for my 1st appeal today - and of course, rejected.

For the 3rd level appeal:

Any decision must take the following into account:
- the principles adopted by the TfL operators
- the legal requirements, conditions of carriage and associated regulations
- precedence from previous cases

Appeals will only be upheld if TfL have failed to follow due process or exercise appropriate discretion.

so it would be sensible to refer to this particular decided case, even though the part of the letter quoted on this thread fails to provide the grounds on which they upheld the appeal. (According to the Penalty Fares Appeals Policy, the appeals panel itself seems to have no discretion, so at first sight for the independent appeals panel to write "we are prepared to show discretion" seems to be outside its remit. It might have found that TfL, e.g. the original inspector, should have exercised discretion and not issued the penalty, or TfL should have cancelled it due to additional information available at an earlier appeal, but that's not what it appears to say, and so it could still be open to TfL to challenge this decision.)