"asdf" wrote in message
...
that some ticket inspectors are
trained to interpret willingness to pay the penalty fare as evidence
of deliberate fare evasion, and therefore refuse to allow the
passenger to pay the penalty fare, instead insisting on prosecution.

Since it is criminal law they can only pass the person over to British
Transport Police and then it is up to Crown Prosecution whether a
prosecution proceeds.

This is because in many areas, ticket inspections are rare enough that
it'd be cheaper to pay the penalty fare on every inspection than to
buy a ticket for every journey.

I believe German public transport works on a 1 in 10 risk of being caught
and a penalty of 10 times the fare.
They are quite strict. At Berlin I bought a ticket but failed to validate it
on the platform. As a kindness to a stupid tourist they did not fine me but
made ne vacate
the train to validate but then had to wait for the next train.