I went through the barriers at Oxford Circus with Grandad's freedom pass (which I used by mistake thinking it was my own ticket - we'd gone out to lunch for my 18th and he gave me his stuff to look after) and got stopped rather aggressively by a Revenue Inspector. I got the impression that he was the police 'cos he read me my rights. I was sh .... ing myself cos I'm not from London but had heard stories of brutality from the police. This guy was definitely trying to provoke a physical response from me but I kept my cool 'cos I was in a suit. He questioned me about the freedom ticket and I explained what had happened. He was having none of it. He was so close to my face that he was spraying spit too. I just immediately volunteered to go and get a ticket which I did and after extensive questioning and detaining me, continued my journey. Next thing I know, I've been charged under s.17(1) TFL Bye law (is this a strict liability offence?) for apparently entering a "compulsory ticket area" without a ticket (I'm not a Londoner and so was pretty shocked by Revenue Inspector's behaviour). He is relying on his statement. I am pleading not guilty because having traced my steps back to Oxford Circus I can't see that it is a compulsory ticket area. My mother is livid and wants to countersue for the guy's behaviour. What I want to ask is (a) because I bought a ticket before getting on a train does that get me off the hook (b) the RI's statement is a lie - it's as if I've been framed because of the way he's worded it. Is the RI's statement still valid if I haven't signed it? Can I sue him back? Is there any good case law I can use in my defence, please. Thank you.

Hi there , yesterday on the 1/07/2016 , i boarded a train from llansamlet to Cardiff , there was no conductor on the train , as I arrived in Cardiff I had to go to the unpaid fair's desk , as I was there about to buy my ticket I had a stupid moment of madness and told the guy at the ticket office that I boarded on Bridgend but he caught me out by saying that there were ticket tolls at Bridgend and I completely froze , I then got taken by a transport investigations officer she gave me a quick interview and asked me questions in regards to what just happened , I told her I was sorry and that it was a stupid thing to do and I even offered to pay for the fair there and then but she said no because the repercussions of this will be a lot more ' hefty' . The lady told me that I would receive a letter which I must respond to giving my side of the story , I have seen many posts where people have been summoned to court . Has anyone got any advice for me when I respond to this letter in what I should say or do should I attach a payment invoice covering the fair and the admin fee ? , I have a feeling cause I lied to them they are going to take me to court no matter what I say . If I do go to court what would the outcome be ? I have never had an encounter in this manner with the Arriva trains wales before this is the first time I have done something like this . I have encountered with the police for something silly in December which I had a fine for will that effects me if this goes to court ? I was really idiotic to even lie about where I boarded and it is something that I would not do again . If anyone can help me out and advise me I would greatly appreciate it . Thanks Shaun

A bit of a strange experience today. I had to wait about 45 minutes for a train, I thought that I would do that inside the station concourse as I usually do. I decided to wait near some shops inside, all of which were closed. A security guard approached me, told me that he was closing the retail section of the station and asked me to move on. I did as instructed and, headed for one of the waiting rooms. After entering the gents, I noticed that he had followed me in there. He didn't seem to use the toilet. He just stood there watching me. I left and sat down at a seat in the waiting room, planning on getting some work done on my laptop, only to have him stand in front of me staring at me. I asked him what his problem was, but he didn't reply. I left the waiting room, hoping that he wouldn't follow me, but he continued to do so. I asked him to leave me alone, at which point a British Transport Police officer walked by and asked what was going on. The security guard told him that the station was closing and that I was refusing to leave. I explained to the BTP that the station was still open for over two hours as I knew the time of my last train home. BTP then asked the security guard if I had been asked to leave the station, to which the reply was 'Yes'. I explained that I had been asked to leave the retail section, not the station, and that I had done as instructed. At this point the BTP asked to see my rail ticket. I showed it to him and he claimed that it was invalid. I claimed that it wasn't. The dispute was then taken to a revenue protection officer, who decided to issue me with a penalty fare as, despite the station I was at being the station I had to change at to get home, the ticket didn't permit me to wait inside the concourse for 45 minutes. Apparently I should have left and stood outside the station before returning to catch my train. My ticket was confiscated and I was left with a long walk home. I'm not really sure what to make of this as three members of rail staff appear to have got it all horribly wrong. What can I do from here though?

A subsidied bus service is required in order to offer transport to a small number of elderly and disabled residents who otherwise would be housebound or severely lose quality of life. One has already ended up in hospital due to not being able to get out. Bus shelters/stops are in place but buses stopped years ago. Bus company is dragging their heels. It would not take much to redirect a small bus to cover this patch. M.P.s not answered request for help. Any way to push this along? ANy relevant legislation? Thanks

This afternoon the long awaited judgment regarding Stephen Duff's Judicial Review was handed down by Justice Edes. For those who have been following this case, Stephen Duff (the Claimant) is a Certificated Bailiff and runs a business called ProServe which made a large number of requests in 2014 to DVLA for disclosure of keeper info despite not being a member of an ATA. The judgment is extremely important and no doubt the legally minded members on here will have observations after pouring over the finer details. It is now expected that DVLA will refuse to provide data to any other company who are not members of an ATA. http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2015/1605.html PS: If the link does not work......further details and a copy of the judgment can be accessed from the Parking Prankster here: http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/

Hi all, I will provide the edited version here - any advice wold be greatly appreciated. ATOS agreed to provide a taxi to take me from my house to their Medical assessment, and return me home again afterwards. This was as a result of medical evidence provided by my GP. On the day of the appointment I was to be ready 1 hour before my appointment, when the taxi would pick me up. It was a journey of around 25 miles. No taxi arrived. No phone call from ATOS. I called ATOS who told me that my file had been marked "Failed to attend" and sent back to the DWP. No explanation was forthcoming for them not providing the taxi they said they would. It's out of their hands now. I received a form today from the DWP asking for my reasons for not attending, and making it quite clear that my benefits are at risk if I don't have a reason that they define acceptable. I suspect that there are alarmingly few acceptable reasons, irrespective of what they are. I have written a 4 page letter detailing every aspect of my involvement with atos, including them not providing the transport, which is the main thing. The whole thing is ridiculous. How on earth can my benefits be at risk because ATOS didn't fill their part of the bargain? I'm quite concerned about this.

Hello, I have read with interest postings re: Transport Investigations Limited. I unfortunately am having to deal with them currently and am after any advice fellow consumer action group members may be able to offer. In summary, I use a mobile train ticket app which entails purchasing upfront a bundle of 12 journeys in a package. So they are pre-paid tickets which require individual ticket activation before use. On the particular day in question I genuinely forgot to activate a ticket until arriving at my destination. This may also have been down to the app being very tempremental and frequently crashing before I can perform the activation (a problem I have reported to the TOC). So this is a case of late activation of a pre-paid ticket. Once I had activated my ticket upon arrival at my destination I used the app which generates a bar code and I showed this bar code to the automated barrier scanner which alllowed me to exit the station at my destination proving my ticket valid. This was in full view of TOC staff. I was stopped by a RPO working for Transport Investigations Limited once I had passed through the barrier and had the activation time of my ticket checked which showed it had been activated after the train I was travelling on had arrived at my destination. I was questioned about this and allegedy accused of having travelled without a valid ticket, despite other passengers queuing up to buy tickets at their destination (ie paying at the end of their journey, thereby geuinely travelling without a valid ticket,which seems to be tolerated, surely you can only have one rule either you must have a ticket before boarding a train or not (pay on the train is allowed or pay at the other end)) I am being pursued by Transport Investigations Limited now alleging I travelled with intent to avoid paying a fare. I dont know if anyone else has had experience using these mobile app based tickets. I have used the app since March 2014 without incident and prior to that purchased paper weekly tickets and have done so since early 2008. They have sent a letter now saying an application may now be made to issue a court summons. I have replied in full with my version of events in writing, but the letter I have had back, in common with experiences of eveyone else on here, has none of my points/questions addressed. I now have a week to reply before they take it further, I obviously wish to avoid court and would rather accept an administrative settlement. Indeed the TOC policy I have checked says that court is only used as a very last resort the offer of paying the fare (which I of course paid upfront weeks before so they have my money) plus an admin fee is the first option. I would welcome any advice fellow commuters could offer, this has been causing me some stress as I attempt to recover from a recent hospitialisation for surgery.

hi all, i recently bought a car off ebay which was 350 miles away joined shiply transport to collect it for me, after i accepted a price from one of there drivers he said he would be able to collect i paid my deposit of £44.00 through paypal , the driver let me down after 3 days of messing me around and eventually said he hasnt got a job up that way, i contacted shiply for a refund , after waiting 10 days they eventually said i am entitled to a credit as the driver let me down but i dont want a credit as i would never use this company again surely i must be entitled to a refund as it wasnt my fault the driver let me down, thanks, Garry

Hi All, I travelled last night from Cardiff Central to Newport. Due to being short on time and the barriers being open, I opted to just buy the ticket from the conductor on the train, which had been on the train 24 hours earlier when I had bought the ticket from the machine (Cardiff Bay to Newport, ticket checked twice). No conductor came down, so upon arrival at Newport I went up to the guys at the barriers, which were open, and before they said anything to me I said 'I need to buy a ticket, as the conductor didn't come down the train' whilst I was getting the money out of my wallet. It turned out these were people were Revenue Protection Inspectors (I may have the title wrong) and he said he could not take my money and instead asked me what had happened, he then gave me a caution and took the statement that I'm sure the regulars on here are aware of. At the end I again asked if I could pay for the ticket regardless of whatever the out come would be from the statement, he said no and that if it was my first time it could be the case that nothing happens and I don't have to pay. Now before speaking to him and reading some of the posts on here, I did not realise you had to buy your ticket before boarding and if you didn't an offence had occurred. I'm also aware that ignorance is no defence. I am just wondering about the administrative settlement charge, as I don't expect for one minute that Arriva will just say I don't have to pay anything, despite what the guy said. I've seen some differing amounts on here for posts that are a few years old, so I was wondering if any of you guys could give me a better idea of what to currently expect. Ramble over

I have to attend my nearest specialist eye clinic tomorrow as an emergency. It's nearly 30 miles away. It's far too short notice to arrange for someone with a car to take me - though actually I don't know anyone with a car who could do it anyway, and I don't even have someone available to accompany me on public transport, nor can I wheel my self in the wheelchair, which I would definitely need for such a journey. I only got back from my local A & E, who have referred me, half an hour ago but from what I've found online and what they said, getting hospital transport at such short notice is just not going to happen, so my only alternative would appear to be a taxi, approximate cost £50 each way. I'll do it if I absolutely have to - my eyesight is definitely worth £100 - but can anyone suggest an alternative at such short notice? I have to be there by 10 in the morning.

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i have a severley disabled 16 year old son. in september they changed his school bus and driver since then he has been very difficult in going on the minibus. he is refusing to put the shoulder straps of the harness on. this results in the passenger assistant refusing to transport him, so he was off loaded. At that time i was ill with pneumonia so that resulted in him not going to school as no other way to get him there. My husband works abroad. It was then agreed that they would get a Taxi this was decided before October half term(28/10/2013). The head of passenger transport said they would look into other harnesses. After half term my son was ill for a few days, when well he would go on the bus but refused the shoulder straps so was taken off the bus leaving me to take him to school in car. He is now refusing to get on the Bus. He is sevely autistic and going in car has now become ingrained. He needs to be in school by 8.45 but i need to be in work at 8.30. It is 16 miles each way to his school. my school head has allowed me to go to work an hour later ( I am loosing the money) but only to Xmas passenger transport have arranged a taxi but no PA so I am having to go instead. I am still ill with pnemonia and are due to be signed off again the Stress as this situation is really getting to me but no one seems to care or be bothered. i have no respite care or help and i am now at my wits end If i'm signed off i cannot be paid or claim for petrol. We dont have a huge income and this is now getting to the stage that my son will nor be going to school. Surely there is someone/somebody that can help

On the 23rd of August 2012 I was travelling back home from Leeds to London Kings Cross on a train specific ticket. In a rush as my connecting train had been delayed, I did not pay full attention to the board, and accidentally got on the wrong train. I was travelling with friends and, being engaged in conversation, and relieved that I was on the train, I did not realise my error until the ticket inspector told me when he checked my ticket after Wakefield. I apologised and offered to get off at the next stop and board the correct train when it arrived, which I thought would be a reasonable cure for an innocent mistake. However he told me I could not, and would have to pay for a full priced ticket. Being only 17, needless to say I did not have £124.50 in my wallet, so he filled out an unpaid fare notice for me. I do not have anywhere near the £124.50 I need, so I thought it would be best to dispute the claim as soon as possible, I sent a letter explaining in slightly more detail what I have already said here. As of yet I am awaiting a response. can anyone give me any advice? Do I have any basis to keep disputing? Is it better to somehow find the money to pay? Seeing as how I had a valid and paid for ticket, should that price be deducted from what I need to pay, ie, go down by about £30? Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I have no idea where I stand! Thanks in advance, Charlie

my son purchased an annual train ticket for the duration of his work placement for his 3rd year of his degree - at a cost of c.£1,800. on one of the days covered by this annual ticket, whilst already travelling, he was asked to show his ticket - he had forgotten his wallet and therefore could not show the annual ticket. he did not have any cash, so could not purchase a ticket for that day's travel. the guard reported the incident and my son received a threat of summons - no mention of any other means of resolving the situation. we wrote a letter, explaining that he had an annual ticket covering the day in question and apologised unreservedly for not being able to show his ticket on the day in question. he received a further letter threatening summons, suggesting that he had travelled with the intention of not paying for the trip, despite the fact that he had explained that he had an annual (expensive) ticket, covering that day, therefore clearly paying upfront for the travel. they have now offered to forget the issue, if he pays £85, otherwise expect to be summoned to magistrates court!! he is a principled soul and does not see why he should pay £85 for 'intending to travel without paying' when he had already forked out £1,800. should he be prepared to go to court and argue his case and see whether a magistrate will see sense or should he pay up and put this down to experience, especially as he could do without another distraction in his final year of university? any advice would be gratefully received.

Transport Officials Suspended Over West Coast Rail 'Fiasco' Read more :- http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/03/transport-officials-suspe_n_1935100.html

Hi, I have read other threads in this section of the forum and found the feedback by senior members to be very positive so I was hoping if you would please help advise me on my case. At the end of June, I was on the bus when I was found using my father's discounted Oyster card by the ticketing inspector. Up until this point I was unaware that I had accidentally picked up my father's Oyster card until the ticketing inspector had asked me "Do you have the photocard for this pass? These passes are not transferable?" and I replied "It's my dad's" knowingly at that point I had picked up the wrong one. He took my name and address down and told me that he would be submitting a report to the Transport for London Prosecutions Team for their consideration. I replied "OK". Days later I received a letter from TfL regarding that day's situation and offered me to make comments. I explained apologetically about the situation and explained that this was the first time and usually me and my father kept our Oyster cards in the same place above the shoe rack by the front door and promised that this mistake would never happen again by keeping our cards in separate places. Another letter arrived days later requesting the serial number of the Oyster card I had intended to use (i.e. my own card) which I gave in my reply. TfL then said I had insufficient funds on my Oyster card that day and that it was invalid for my journey. (However, if I did have my own one I wouldn't be able to get on the bus anyway with insufficient funds so I would have got off the bus to top-up ) I now have been summoned to the Magistrates's Court for my "alleged offence" of "Being a passenger on a Public Service Vehicle operated on behalf of London Bus services Limited being used for the carriage of passengers at separate fares, did use in relation to the journey you were taking a ticket which had been issued for use by another person on terms that it is not transferable..". In response to this I have sent a settlement proposal to the person who authorised this charge at TfL explaining the situation again in the most apologetic way possible and asking to settle out of court. I sent the letter on the 13th Sept and have not since received a reply. The court appearance is on the 25th of Sept and by then I would have returned to university so I guess my only choices are that I plead guilty by post and accept the penalty fine and criminal conviction on my record (which I do not want as it will hinder my chances of future employment) or to continue waiting for a reply to my settlement proposal. What would be the best way to approach this situation? I thank you in advance for taking the time to read this thread and any responses will be greatly appreciated!

I was stopped on 24/04/2012 in cross country when I was travelling from Leeds to Sheffield in Cross Country. I was using a two part return ticket during that travel which i used while coming to Leeds. I used to live in Sheffield and have Travelmaster southyorkshire pass fortrain travel in South yorkshire. When I travelled from Sheffield to Leeds I was issued a two part ticket from moorthorpe to leeds as south yorkshire boundary ends there. While returning from Leeds, i just missed a train in a platform and a member of staff in the railway station asked me when i wanted to go. I told him i was returning to Sheffield and showed him the ticket and Southyorkshire pass as he wanted to see my ticket. He advised me to board a train that was about to leave then, which was a Cross Country express train. During the course of my travel the ticket inspector saw the ticket and said it was invalid on that train and asked me to purchase a new ticket. I refused because I used the same combination of ticket to come to Leeds and more over I was asked to board that particular train by a member of railway station staff who already verified the ticket. I said I wanted to raise a complaint, and asked him the details. After making few phone calls the ticket inspector said he will get my details and will issue a Zero value ticket.He also verified my ID details. He suddenly seized my travel pass and ticket and walked away. I explained him that I need to use the travel pass for other days in South yorkshire and asked him why he did not mention he would seize my pass. I even said I would pay for the ticket and raise a complaint later but I needed the travel pass for further travel. He behaved so rude and put me in an embarrassing situation and walked off. After getting down in Sheffield he came back and gave me the travel pass which he took photograph of earlier and took an expired travel pass. He said I would be contacted by cross country within a month by post and I may be asked to pay the train fare then. I had to move to Leeds in the next couple of weeks, however I did not receive any correspondence for a month from them. I was sent letter from cross country to my old address dated 28/06 asking me to contact TIL. I was then told that there was a letter dated 09/07 stating TIL is considering wether to issue summons. I called TIL said i wanted to speak to the related person and mentioned that I have moved house in the beginning of may but I received a letter from Cross Country dated the end of may.I did not mention that I knew about the second letter. The lady on the phone checked my details on the system and said there was no incidence raised in my name and address. She advised me to send a letter to TIL stating I have changed address. I am not sure what should i say in the letter and bit confused if they are trying to threaten me first even before asking for a dialogue. Kindly give me some guidance.

I was smoking on an outside/non enclosed section of the overground platform (something i didnt know about) and was approached by two transport officers. after two months I received a letter about court proceedings asking me to respond in 14 days notice. I responded about there being confusing or limited signs, the sign at the entrance was actually the no smoking circle and was placed the wrong way around (there was no text and I have a photo of this on the day) they’re doing renovations on the station and believe that they had removed the signs for some time. I since received a court summons and am unsure if they received my original letter. I know that there are laws on proper signs and in the summons it says that 'near which there is a notice indicating that 'smoking is not allowed'. I read that businesses not displaying the proper signs can be fined. also what is the best option, is it possible to settle out of court or pay a fine (used with money for quitting smoking) should i get a solicitor on this. any help, thank you.

I really have had enough of hearing that there is nothing that can be done when my friend needs medical treatment at the out of hours or A&E but has no way of getting there...she is on benefits and public transport to the hospital where the out of hours clinic is stops at 6pm meaning there is no way to get there easily or really at all without money. Doctors say she should come in immediately but back off as soon as she says she has no transport and then she gets a lot worse waiting for the following morning when she can get her one and only friend with a car (when on benefits most people cannot afford to run one) to drop her at her emergency appointment....or struggle on the buses....only to be told off for not coming in earlier.... It is just a matter of time before things just get out of hand before she can find any way to get to the hospital or gp....they used to do home visits for such things or at least suggest a way to get there....now nothing. I know it is money etc but I fear it will kill someone, if it has not done so already. Is there anything she can consider for the emergency need for medical help. Ambulances will charge if they believe they have been called without good need and she has nothing spare for a taxi...especially as it would cost almost a third of her weekly benefits to get there and back.... It is not as if she can claim it back and even if she could she does not have it to pay out in the first place.. Sorry if this is a bit unclear I am tired and worried as she has a nasty infection in her arm from a bite, saw gp today and told to go back or out of hours if antibiotics not help....it is travelling up her arm and getting worse but she can do nothing until after 8.30....or go to A&E on first bus of morning if she can make it.....and feeling worse and worse by the hour....

It all happen when i got on a c2c train from barking to upminster I touched in at the gates at barking got on the train to Upminster during the journey rail inspector asked for my ticket which I handed for checking but it wasn’t reading I opened up the sleeve to remove all the cards to find my oyster missing it had slipped into an inner pocket it took several minutes to actually locate the oyster card. I buy each week zones 3 to 6, which expires on Sunday I had sufficient funds on my oyster to pay for my single journey fare to Upminster i had about £13 with the intention of purchasing my weekly 3 to 6 zones later on that morning, which I offered to do but was declined and told I didn’t have the cash at hand to do so. i was given any caution of what act i had committed before my 'rights' where read and i was then asked questions upon questions because i didnt understand what was happening my oyster was taken away, there were a couple of whispers among the inspectors in which i felt very intimidated i was not issued a penalty fare but a prosecution notice. i have never been caught fare evading, cctv footage will clearly show me tapping in. i was made to feel like a criminal i dont earn much so i have to budget, it had never crossed my mind to evade a fare when i clearly had the means to pay and i think the inspectors were quite upset they had to get off the train with me cos one of them was mubberling they could have sorted this all out on the train before reachin upminster which is like a 6 minute journey. sorry for the long story but i feel so helpless and need advice asap. thank you

Can you get free school, invalidity or elderly transport if you live in a remote area ?? The tools on 'magic.gov website can help. Please remember to click on the 'accept terms' button to enter the site On the bottom of the page, Use the + & - buttons to zoom in and out and the 'hand' to center the map. At the top of the page , use the 'Ruler' button to measure distance. http://magic.defra.gov.uk/website/magic/viewer.htm?startTopic=maggb

Just got a letter from UKCPS - Car park solutions asking me to pay for overstaying in a car park. The car park is shared by a pet store and Co -op supermarket an we can park there for 2 hours free of charge. The letter says that my car was caught on a ANPR camera entering the car park at 12:12pm an leavong at 14:24 but i swear that i got there at 12:25 an went back at the time i went. I always park there on a saturday, for the last 7 years and i always check my watch to make sure i don't have any problems. They are asking £60 if i pay in 14 days and £100 if i take more than that to pay. At this moment i am out of work and not getting any benefits and my husband just lost is job 1 week ago and still waiting for a decision on is jobseekers allowance, so as you can imagine life is not easy and money is short.. What should i do?? Ignore it, contact them by email as it states on the letter and tell them that i can;t afford to pay or what????? Please help!!! Thank you