Penalty Fare Appeal Support

As our readers may be aware, East Midlands Trains are to extend their Penalty Fare Scheme to cover Bedford, Luton and Luton Airport Parkway.

These Stations are managed by First Capital Connect and have First Capital Connect Inspectors that deal with the revenue protection duties on these stations.

Rule 5.4 of the Penalty Fare Rules 2002 state that the inspector MUST provide when asked identification that gives them permission to charge a Penalty Fare for the TOC that the passenger has travelled on.

Rule 5.4. Each authorised collector must carry, and produce if asked, identification which proves that he or she is authorised to collect penalty fares on behalf of a specific operator or operators. This identification must be in line with a code of practice approved by the SRA for the purposes of this rule. Authorised collectors must allow passengers to make a note of the relevant details of their identification and authority.

Sample of FCC Authorised Collectors Badge on Thameslink Route.

First Capital Connect Revenue Inspectors DO NOT have this authorisation at the moment. If you have been issued with a Penalty Fare from a First Capital Connect Revenue Inspector for travelling on an East Midlands Train, then you have been incorrectly fined and should win your appeal.

What is even more worrying, are some of the comments that have been posted on an internal forum within First Capital Connect. These comments have been given to us from one of our many sources within the company:

“Out of all the times I have done PF’s I have only been asked for my ID a handful of times. If they said that to me I would sell them a ticket with a PF warning. If they didn’t I would do a PF the onus being on the customer to know there T & C’s.” (Spelling corrected from original text)

“Could also write on the back of my ID card East Midland Trains, in permanent marker, which would then make me an authorised bloke to do PF’s EM train customers.

“This would be a quick fix without the need for new ID cards etc…….I feel this is good initiative…….and would help FCC save money, time and would be good for the environment as new ID cards wouldn’t be needed.” (Spelling also corrected)

As you may have noticed from the comments above First Capital Connect are still allowing their inspectors to use underhand tactics to catch out the members of the public and it seems that they fully support them in their actions.

Always remember: IF IN DOUBT ASK FOR ID

You are entitled to see this ID under the strict rules that all Inspectors and Train Operators must abide by. If  the inspector fails to show ID when requested then you will not be charged a Penalty Fare as this is against the Penalty Fare Rules. However if the inspector does show you ID make sure you check that they are authorised to collect on behalf of the Train Operator you have travelled on.
If you are harassed by an Inspector demand that the British Transport Police attend and also ask the Inspector to provide you with copy of the Penalty Fare Rules.

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