On Oct 31, 8:31*am, Seamer wrote:
2. He decides to issue you with a penalty fare. *Once he has gone down
this route then you cannot be taken to court for fare evasion as this
would be considered double jepody

So you can see that is either court or penalty fare but not both. *In
the penalty fare case you can appeal to an independent adjudicator but
you will not get a criminal record whatever the outcome.

Isn't it actually the case that in 2. you can't be taken to court
because you've bought a valid ticket? Isn't that what a penalty fare
is - a hugely overpriced single ticket, that the rail companies "dress
up" as a fine? All you're actaully doing is buying an on-board single.

Not quite. It's true that you can't be taken to court after paying a
penalty fare because it's considered to be a valid ticket, but it's
not just an expensive single.

This is clear because rail companies need to use a specific Act of
Parliament to issue penalty fares, and can't raise the fares or vary
the conditions without having the law changed - indeed, TfL is
currently promoting an Act of Parliament to raise the PFs on its
services and vary some of the conditions.

(not to be confused with certain long-distance rail companies charging
you an eye-wateringly expensive fare if you board without a / with the
wrong ticket - this is the regular Anytime Single fare).

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org