Recent Public Posts
| Re: Rail firms accused of misusing courts for ticket errors / fare evasion (merged posts) Posted by ChrisB at 21:03, 7th January 2025 |      |
From the ORR
Call for evidence: Review of train operators’ revenue protection policies
We are carrying out an independent review of train operators’ revenue protection practices, including the use of penalty fares and prosecutions.
We'd like to hear from you if, for whatever reason, you boarded a train without a ticket, or with an invalid ticket, (or were told by rail staff this was the case), and as a result you:
were required to buy a new ticket for your journey or pay an additional fare
were required to pay a penalty fare, which included the cost of a new ticket
faced prosecution by the train operator
faced another action by the train operator
You should be aged 16 years or over to take part.
Ways to respond
Respond online.
If it is not possible for you to submit evidence online, you can also read the list of questions and write to:
Revenue Protection Review
Office of Rail and Road
25 Cabot Square
London E14 4QZ
If you are planning to write to us, please only send copies of any supporting documents and not the originals. You can redact personal data before posting. We are unable to return documents.
Please send your response by 17 January 2025.
More about the review
In November 2024 the Secretary of State for Transport wrote to ORR and asked us to conduct this review. You can find more details on the review's scope, timeline and governance in the terms of reference. We will provide a final report to the Secretary of State no later than 15 May 2025. Our report will look to make recommendations on any areas for change and improvement.
You may also find it useful to read our guide which explains more about the process and the information we are seeking. /.... continues at link
We are carrying out an independent review of train operators’ revenue protection practices, including the use of penalty fares and prosecutions.
We'd like to hear from you if, for whatever reason, you boarded a train without a ticket, or with an invalid ticket, (or were told by rail staff this was the case), and as a result you:
were required to buy a new ticket for your journey or pay an additional fare
were required to pay a penalty fare, which included the cost of a new ticket
faced prosecution by the train operator
faced another action by the train operator
You should be aged 16 years or over to take part.
Ways to respond
Respond online.
If it is not possible for you to submit evidence online, you can also read the list of questions and write to:
Revenue Protection Review
Office of Rail and Road
25 Cabot Square
London E14 4QZ
If you are planning to write to us, please only send copies of any supporting documents and not the originals. You can redact personal data before posting. We are unable to return documents.
Please send your response by 17 January 2025.
More about the review
In November 2024 the Secretary of State for Transport wrote to ORR and asked us to conduct this review. You can find more details on the review's scope, timeline and governance in the terms of reference. We will provide a final report to the Secretary of State no later than 15 May 2025. Our report will look to make recommendations on any areas for change and improvement.
You may also find it useful to read our guide which explains more about the process and the information we are seeking. /.... continues at link
| Changing trains just got cheaper…on Northern Posted by ChrisB at 21:00, 7th January 2025 | |
From a Northern Trains Press release
Anyone looking to change their train ticket will now be able to do so cheaper, after Northern and Seatfrog slashed the price of making a switch.
Since March 2023, anyone travelling on an Advance Purchase ticket with Northern has been able to change their train using Seatfrog if their travel plans changed.
It used to cost £2.50 to change a train, but that charge has now been slashed to just £1.50. The reduced price will be on offer until the end of March 2025.
People looking to swap an Advance Purchase ticket to another train on the same day should visit: trainswap.seatfrog.com.
Swaps can be processed from one day before the original departure date, up until just 15 mins before their original train was due to leave the station.
Alex Hornby, commercial and customer director at Northern, said: “We want our customers to travel for the best possible price – and railcard discounts aside, Advance Purchase tickets offer the very cheapest fares on our network.
“However, Advance Purchase tickets come with strict restrictions on travel dates and times.
“As such, Seatfrog offers a valuable service to our customers whose ‘on the day’ plans change – and we welcome the opportunity to lower the price for people needing to make a switch.”
Northern launched its partnership with Seatfrog in April 2023.
In May 2023, Seatfrog released research that highlighted the £93 million cost that people incur re-booking new seats after missing their pre-booked journeys in the North of England.
Northern has invested in the largest network of digital ticket infrastructure of any train operator in the UK, making it easier than ever to buy a ticket via its app, website or one of more than 600 ticket vending machines across the network.
Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.
Since March 2023, anyone travelling on an Advance Purchase ticket with Northern has been able to change their train using Seatfrog if their travel plans changed.
It used to cost £2.50 to change a train, but that charge has now been slashed to just £1.50. The reduced price will be on offer until the end of March 2025.
People looking to swap an Advance Purchase ticket to another train on the same day should visit: trainswap.seatfrog.com.
Swaps can be processed from one day before the original departure date, up until just 15 mins before their original train was due to leave the station.
Alex Hornby, commercial and customer director at Northern, said: “We want our customers to travel for the best possible price – and railcard discounts aside, Advance Purchase tickets offer the very cheapest fares on our network.
“However, Advance Purchase tickets come with strict restrictions on travel dates and times.
“As such, Seatfrog offers a valuable service to our customers whose ‘on the day’ plans change – and we welcome the opportunity to lower the price for people needing to make a switch.”
Northern launched its partnership with Seatfrog in April 2023.
In May 2023, Seatfrog released research that highlighted the £93 million cost that people incur re-booking new seats after missing their pre-booked journeys in the North of England.
Northern has invested in the largest network of digital ticket infrastructure of any train operator in the UK, making it easier than ever to buy a ticket via its app, website or one of more than 600 ticket vending machines across the network.
Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.
| Mk 5s moved to Wolverton ahead of assessment for Chiltern use Posted by ChrisB at 20:57, 7th January 2025 | |
From Rail, behind paywall
TransPennine's Mk 5A stock is currently in storage
Beacon Rail has been moving Mk 5 coaches to Wolverton in preparations for their assessment for use by Chiltern Railways.
Beacon Rail has been moving Mk 5 coaches to Wolverton in preparations for their assessment for use by Chiltern Railways.
| Fatal Oxfordshire train crash remembered 150 years on Posted by ChrisB at 20:53, 7th January 2025 | |
From Oxford Mail
The 150th anniversary of a train crash has been marked with a service in Shipton-on-Cherwell.
The service, held on Christmas Eve, commemorated the Hampton Gay train disaster of December 24, 1874.
A train from London which was heading to Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Birkenhead was so popular with Christmas travellers that extra carriages were added at Oxford.
As the train gathered speed, one of the carriage wheels disintegrated, just as the train was crossing a bridge over the River Cherwell.
The carriage derailed, causing the train to break apart, with several carriages plunging into the river.
The crash, which occurred between Shipton-on-Cherwell and Hampton Gay, resulted in extensive damage and the highest number of fatalities from a train crash in Great Britain at the time, with 34 people losing their lives.
Contemporary accounts recall villagers from both Shipton-on-Cherwell and Hampton Gay rushing to the scene to assist survivors.
The disaster, which occurred between the two villages, prompted changes in train carriage design and improvements in railway communication systems.
The Christmas Eve service was attended by residents of both communities and led by the Reverends Gareth Miller and Oliver Petter.
Carols were sung and there was a reading giving details of the crash and its effects.
The bells of both churches were tolled 34 times, simultaneously, in memory of those who died.
The service, held on Christmas Eve, commemorated the Hampton Gay train disaster of December 24, 1874.
A train from London which was heading to Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Birkenhead was so popular with Christmas travellers that extra carriages were added at Oxford.
As the train gathered speed, one of the carriage wheels disintegrated, just as the train was crossing a bridge over the River Cherwell.
The carriage derailed, causing the train to break apart, with several carriages plunging into the river.
The crash, which occurred between Shipton-on-Cherwell and Hampton Gay, resulted in extensive damage and the highest number of fatalities from a train crash in Great Britain at the time, with 34 people losing their lives.
Contemporary accounts recall villagers from both Shipton-on-Cherwell and Hampton Gay rushing to the scene to assist survivors.
The disaster, which occurred between the two villages, prompted changes in train carriage design and improvements in railway communication systems.
The Christmas Eve service was attended by residents of both communities and led by the Reverends Gareth Miller and Oliver Petter.
Carols were sung and there was a reading giving details of the crash and its effects.
The bells of both churches were tolled 34 times, simultaneously, in memory of those who died.
| Re: Oxford station - facilities, improvements, parking, incidents and events - merged posts Posted by ChrisB at 20:51, 7th January 2025 | |
From the Oxford Mail
Minister and rail boss to visit Oxford road shut since 2023
The Rail Minister and boss of Network Rail will face angry traders when they visit Oxford's Botley Road later this month.
It is now over 600 days since the main route into Oxford was closed in April 2023 for a £161m scheme to upgrade Oxford rail station.
Last year a completion date was given of October but that has since been postponed indefinitely due to complex pipework. Work was previously waylaid by the discovery of a historic arch.
Oxford MP Layla Moran has confirmed that Lord Hendy and Network Rail CEO Andrew Haines will come to Oxford on January 25.
Businesses have already said they are planning a protest to coincide with the visit.
Ms Moran, MP for Oxford West, who had a meeting with the pair in December, said they told her the latest hold up was caused by Thames Water.
"I mean, we really do have a Mexican stand-off of incompetence here," she said.
“What’s happened was Thames Water took 18 months to get back to them to do these exploratory works for the piping. It wasn’t just the rail arch that was the problem.
"They also found that the re-routing of the water and sewage and all that was going to be more complex – fine. But it then took Thames Water a long, long time to come back and start to do that work.
“They have been doing that work over the Christmas break. They are now analysing it, and I was told that on the 25th by then, if not before, we should have a final, definitive completion date."
But she told BBC Radio Oxford: "I mean you know, those sighing at the radio saying, we’ve heard that before, I completely agree with them. We’ve just got to keep the pressure up.”
She said she wanted them to meet businesses and residents to "hear from the people who have been so badly affected by this, what it has done to them, their day to day lives, their livelihoods."
She said she did have some sympathy as it is a very complex project, involving several different firms, and she welcomed improvements on the railway especially as the scheme is a key part of East West Rail.
"We want East West Rail – we want it electrified, that’s a separate campaign – but that’s good for the country, it’s good for Oxford, it’s good for our local economy and it’s good for the station.
“No one, even those worse affected, no one is saying we shouldn’t have done this," she said.
But she added: "I think there is now an acknowledgement that it has been mismanaged.
"And in fact in the meeting we had together Network Rail basically admitted they’d not really done a project like this before.
“They’d cut a few corners at the beginning and not done the exploratory works, hoping that would save time.
"Well, anyone who’s done any massive construction project knows well, you do your exploratory work before you begin so you then come up with a plan that’s actually going to be able to be executed.
“They didn’t do that and they didn’t appreciate the complexity right from the off.
"But that was because they chose not to do those works that would have told them that in order, perhaps, to save money and time.
“So there’s lessons learned everywhere – the main one being from Network Rail’s point of view that they probably shouldn’t have taken on the project themselves.
"It should have been escalated and perhaps managed by the Department [of Transport] directly."
She said there has been "some movement in our discussions" about various aspects of the project.
To give "a hint of the complexity" she said: "In order to get this done at some point they are going to have to shut all rail services that go along that line. Now that’s a really key line, not just for passengers but also for freight.
"In order to achieve that normally it takes months and months and months of planning. What they’ve assured is that when they have to do that closure they are going to expedite it, and that that is going to be absolutely prioritised – which was not the case before.
"Before they were trying to fit it in with everything else.
“They are trying.”
Network Rail said it is continuing to meet businesses and has been running a campaign to support them.
The Rail Minister and boss of Network Rail will face angry traders when they visit Oxford's Botley Road later this month.
It is now over 600 days since the main route into Oxford was closed in April 2023 for a £161m scheme to upgrade Oxford rail station.
Last year a completion date was given of October but that has since been postponed indefinitely due to complex pipework. Work was previously waylaid by the discovery of a historic arch.
Oxford MP Layla Moran has confirmed that Lord Hendy and Network Rail CEO Andrew Haines will come to Oxford on January 25.
Businesses have already said they are planning a protest to coincide with the visit.
Ms Moran, MP for Oxford West, who had a meeting with the pair in December, said they told her the latest hold up was caused by Thames Water.
"I mean, we really do have a Mexican stand-off of incompetence here," she said.
“What’s happened was Thames Water took 18 months to get back to them to do these exploratory works for the piping. It wasn’t just the rail arch that was the problem.
"They also found that the re-routing of the water and sewage and all that was going to be more complex – fine. But it then took Thames Water a long, long time to come back and start to do that work.
“They have been doing that work over the Christmas break. They are now analysing it, and I was told that on the 25th by then, if not before, we should have a final, definitive completion date."
But she told BBC Radio Oxford: "I mean you know, those sighing at the radio saying, we’ve heard that before, I completely agree with them. We’ve just got to keep the pressure up.”
She said she wanted them to meet businesses and residents to "hear from the people who have been so badly affected by this, what it has done to them, their day to day lives, their livelihoods."
She said she did have some sympathy as it is a very complex project, involving several different firms, and she welcomed improvements on the railway especially as the scheme is a key part of East West Rail.
"We want East West Rail – we want it electrified, that’s a separate campaign – but that’s good for the country, it’s good for Oxford, it’s good for our local economy and it’s good for the station.
“No one, even those worse affected, no one is saying we shouldn’t have done this," she said.
But she added: "I think there is now an acknowledgement that it has been mismanaged.
"And in fact in the meeting we had together Network Rail basically admitted they’d not really done a project like this before.
“They’d cut a few corners at the beginning and not done the exploratory works, hoping that would save time.
"Well, anyone who’s done any massive construction project knows well, you do your exploratory work before you begin so you then come up with a plan that’s actually going to be able to be executed.
“They didn’t do that and they didn’t appreciate the complexity right from the off.
"But that was because they chose not to do those works that would have told them that in order, perhaps, to save money and time.
“So there’s lessons learned everywhere – the main one being from Network Rail’s point of view that they probably shouldn’t have taken on the project themselves.
"It should have been escalated and perhaps managed by the Department [of Transport] directly."
She said there has been "some movement in our discussions" about various aspects of the project.
To give "a hint of the complexity" she said: "In order to get this done at some point they are going to have to shut all rail services that go along that line. Now that’s a really key line, not just for passengers but also for freight.
"In order to achieve that normally it takes months and months and months of planning. What they’ve assured is that when they have to do that closure they are going to expedite it, and that that is going to be absolutely prioritised – which was not the case before.
"Before they were trying to fit it in with everything else.
“They are trying.”
Network Rail said it is continuing to meet businesses and has been running a campaign to support them.
| Re: Rail firms accused of misusing courts for ticket errors / fare evasion (merged posts) Posted by ChrisB at 20:48, 7th January 2025 | |
From The Telegraph, via MSN
‘I was charged for fare dodging when I was 7,000 miles away. Britain’s fast-track justice is flawed’
On 16 March 2024, Jake Taylor boarded a ferry to Bali from the picturesque Indonesian island of Nusa Lembongan, after spending several days exploring its remote coves and beaches.
The 26-year-old Brit was enjoying a final holiday before starting a new life in Australia. But on the very same day he was bobbing between the Lesser Sunda Islands, on a train approximately 7,700 miles away travelling from London to Edinburgh, a fare dodger presented his long-expired European Health Insurance Card to a ticket inspector.
The incident set off a chain of events that ultimately saw Taylor wrongly prosecuted for an offence he did not commit, and embark on a lengthy battle to prove his innocence.
His legal ordeal, while troubling, is far from unique. In fact, Taylor is just one of more than 730,000 people prosecuted under the Single Justice Procedure (SJP) in the year leading up to September 2024, for a range of typically minor offences including transport fare evasion, TV licence breaches, speeding and uninsured vehicles. The process can only be used for low-level and “victimless” offences that cannot result in a prison sentence, but can lead to significant fines and a criminal record if they are not paid.
Expand article logo Continue reading
An investigation by The Telegraph has uncovered numerous wrongful prosecutions under the SJP, including cases of mistaken identity and charges against people who have passed away.
There are concerns that many defendants swept up in the secretive, fast-track system do not know they are being prosecuted or are unable to fight cases, with official figures showing that the vast majority of people charged via the system in England and Wales never enter a plea.
Campaigners fear the process is pockmarked by widespread dysfunction, and warn that the true scale of errors and miscarriages of justice is unknown.
Errors and confusion
Since being introduced in 2015, the SJP has allowed charges for minor offences to be dealt with by magistrates and legal advisers in closed courtrooms based on written submissions, unless defendants plead not guilty and demand a hearing.
While those in favour of the process view it as clearer and faster for defendants and less costly and burdensome for overloaded courts, critics point to official research warning of errors and confusion.
For his part, Taylor may not have known of his prosecution at all, because all official documentation relating to it was posted to a UK address he had left in March of last year.
When a letter arrived at the London flat in September, as Taylor was settling into life in Sydney, a relative picked it up and offered to send a photo of its contents.
According to London North Eastern Railway (LNER), Taylor had not been in Bali on 16 March, but was in fact on a train from King’s Cross to Edinburgh.
“Important: You have been charged with a criminal offence,” read the document, which claimed Taylor had been caught on the 7.38am service without a ticket. It informed Taylor that under the Single Justice Procedure process, he had three weeks to either plead guilty and pay a large fine, or deny the charge and prepare for a court hearing.
The letter did not state why he was believed to be the alleged fare dodger or offer any evidence regarding his identity, aside from a curt statement explaining: “When requested by an authorised person for London North Eastern Railway, Mr Jacob Taylor failed to hand over a valid ticket entitling him/her to travel. Mr Jacob Taylor was issued with an Unpaid Fare Notice. A reminder letter has been sent and [LNER] have received no response or acceptable statement in mitigation [sic].”
Taylor was baffled, and scared. He had not been in Britain for months and he had no idea how he was going to prove his innocence from Australia.
“Very easily I could have just never heard of this at all, and I’m not sure what would have happened when I went back to the UK,” he says.
“It ended up causing me quite a lot of stress, because if you plead not guilty, you get a court date and you have to attend in person – which seeing as I live in Sydney, presented quite a major problem.”
Mistaken identity
Taylor entered a not guilty plea online and, with the help of relatives, wrote to LNER directly. “Basically, we offered to exchange all the evidence that we had that I wasn’t on the train, for them telling us the evidence they had that it was me,” he says. “Through doing that they told us that someone presented my European Health Insurance Card.”
Taylor believes the document had been inside a wallet that was stolen from him more than seven years ago, and would have been long out of date.
“I’m shocked that it was accepted as ID,” he adds. “The fact that I could receive a letter that’s accusing me of a crime off the back of an old European Health Insurance Card being presented on a train is just bizarre to me.”
The prosecution was formally withdrawn by LNER after Taylor offered up a mountain of evidence that he was in Indonesia and could not possibly have been on the train in question, including visas, ferry tickets, credit card transactions and time-stamped digital photos.
LNER told The Telegraph it did not comment “on individual cases”, but only pursued instances of unpaid fares in court as a “last resort” and uses “recognised databases and credit check companies to verify identities”.
Incredibly, the incident involving the rail operator was the second time Taylor had been wrongly prosecuted under the SJP in a case of mistaken identity.
While at university in Manchester in 2016, he was accused of being behind the wheel of a speeding vehicle in London, and the DVLA later admitted an unexplained “clerical error”.
The first he learnt of that prosecution was a letter sent to his parent’s home demanding he surrendered his driving licence. “I ended up having to go to magistrates’ court to plead not guilty, and then it was a gruelling process of trying to find out what was going on,” Taylor recalls.
“Somehow they got their wires crossed and got my identity, my address and requested my driver’s licence to destroy it.
“After I pleaded not guilty they set another court date, but before that my dad had basically managed to get them to admit it was an error on their side, and proved that it was nothing to do with me.”
Taylor says he found fighting the case “really stressful”, adding: “I’m not someone that’s had run-ins with the law or anything like that, so being summoned to magistrates’ court out of the blue, especially when it all felt so unfair because I just knew outright it had nothing to do with me, was a pretty unpleasant experience.”
By the time his second prosecution arose, Taylor says the first case had faded into “a funny anecdote that I would tell people sometimes – ‘I went to court for a crime I didn’t commit’ – and then absolutely bizarrely it happened again. As far as we know, there’s no relation between the two cases. It has just randomly happened twice”.
Pursuing the deceased
Taylor’s extraordinary experience was not the only case of mistaken identity present in a random sample of 50 recent SJP prosecutions sampled by The Telegraph.
A 27-year-old man from Mansfield who was charged with travelling on another LNER service without a ticket in March pleaded not guilty with a submission saying he was the repeated victim of fraud. “This wasn’t me,” he wrote. “I had someone using a picture of my personal ID on several train services in which I appealed and they closed the cases … I have proof.”
Another man, who was prosecuted by Transport for London (TfL) for allegedly pushing through ticket barriers at Leicester Square station in September, also claimed mistaken identity.
Pleading not guilty, the 21-year-old wrote that he was not at the station on that day, adding: “This is not the first time I’ve got letters sent home about this issue, I’ve got friends and family who know my details – anyone could have used them and stolen my identity.”
In other cases, prosecutions were triggered against people who had passed away. In September, the DVLA wrote to an 81-year-old Rochdale woman accusing her of keeping an uninsured vehicle, but it was her daughter who replied saying she had died in June 2023 – nine months before the alleged offence – and the car in question had been sold for scrap shortly afterwards.
In another distressing case, a bereaved father was charged by the police with speeding in Devon, but said it had been his daughter who was behind the wheel of the car at the time.
“When the original notice was sent to me, I passed it on to her to sort out and she assured me that it was taken care of,” the 76-year-old man wrote. “She was found dead on 10 September 2024 whilst in the same car.” The prosecution was later withdrawn.
A DVLA spokesperson told The Telegraph that formal notifications must be made for sold and scrapped vehicles, or those being kept off the road.
“When a vehicle has not been taxed or has no insurance, we will write to the registered keeper multiple times and these letters give them the opportunity to make us aware of any mitigating circumstances,” they added.
“Only when we have exhausted all other enforcement routes will a Single Justice Procedure notice be issued.”
‘Overwhelming complexity’
A report published in December by HM Courts and Tribunal Service highlighted the scale of the problems associated with SJP, revealing that in sampled cases from 2023, only half of police prosecutions for driving offences received a response and the proportion was even lower for other categories.
Just a quarter of TV Licensing prosecutions received a plea, while the figure was 21 per cent for the DVLA, 19 per cent for TfL and only 8 per cent for Merseyrail.
Officials said their research suggests there is “confusion about the difference between the official court stage of a case” and earlier letters, that people are “overwhelmed by the length and complexity” of documents and those from lower-income areas are less likely to fight prosecutions because they “have broader financial concerns that may discourage them from engaging with their case”.
The report also warned of “inaccurate address details” for letters, as well as “technical issues” with the online portal where people are directed to enter pleas.
“Defendant engagement is important to give prosecutors an opportunity to review any mitigations raised and to withdraw the case if they believe it is no longer in the public interest to pursue it,” it added. “There has been media and public concern about vulnerable defendants being prosecuted and examples of defendants pleading guilty while also indicating mitigations related to mental health or other serious conditions.”
In several TV Licensing prosecutions reviewed by The Telegraph, people expressed distress and confusion at the way they were treated by the licensing inspectors.
A mother whose Watford home was visited in August when she was home alone with her child said she let the officer in because she had “nothing to hide”, and that they watched no television or online content requiring a licence.
In her not guilty plea, she said the inspector seemed to be “losing his temper” and accused him of recording information which was “obviously a lie”, adding: “I got a bit worried about me and my child who was at home at that time.”
In another case, a 25-year-old woman from Keighley, in West Yorkshire, accused TV Licensing of “harassment”, writing in a not-guilty plea in November that she did not watch any content requiring a licence and adding: “Your assumed evidence is false and completely inaccurate, and we have already refuted all previous accusations very clearly. We consider this persistent and continual harassment.”
A TV Licensing spokesperson told The Telegraph that officers were trained to be “polite and fair”, and followed set processes when conducting interviews, adding: “TV Licensing has a duty to collect the licence fee from anyone who requires a licence, and we do our utmost to support customers while treating everyone fairly. Our primary aim is to support people in getting licensed so that they avoid prosecution.
“Prosecution is always a last resort, and will only proceed if there is sufficient evidence and any mitigation has been assessed to ensure that the public interest test is met.”
‘Miscarriages of justice’
While the SJP system allows magistrates to send cases back to prosecutors if they receive information suggesting defendants have been wrongly prosecuted or are vulnerable, safeguards rely on people receiving documents, being able to understand them and respond in writing within 21 days to make their case.
If there is no response, magistrates proceed to consider the case without any evidence from defendants, and can find them guilty of the alleged offences and issue large fines.
If people find about a prosecution at a later date – as Taylor did when the DVLA tried to seize his driving licence – they can make a “statutory declaration” that they were ignorant of the proceedings against them, causing the conviction to be overturned and a hearing to be set.
“They send the prosecution notices by normal mail so nobody has any idea how many are actually received by people who are supposed to receive them,” says Penelope Gibbs, director of the Transform Justice charity. “It’s an unfair system and there are miscarriages of justice within it. People don’t understand their rights and they have no access to free legal advice.”
The Telegraph has viewed four recent cases where people were fined £483 each after being prosecuted for allegedly having their feet on train seats, without entering any pleas.
Notices by Merseyrail stated: “It is an offence to interfere with the comfort or convenience of any person on the railway by putting your foot/feet on the seats/seat structure while on the train.”
Several other people charged with the offence contested the prosecutions, including a young woman whose case was withdrawn after she said her actions were not deliberate and that she was “under significant emotional strain” while travelling to a therapy session for sexual abuse survivors.
“I did not intend to break any rules or cause harm,” the woman wrote. “I placed my feet on the seat, not out of disregard for public property or the comfort of other passengers, but because I was distracted and anxious.”
Another woman prosecuted for the same offence pleaded guilty but told how she had been returning from a night shift and suffering from a migraine when caught with her feet up, and was then refused by train station staff when trying to pay the earliest £60 fine. But she was still fined £368.
Other passengers prosecuted for the “feet on seats” offence – including one man on his first visit to Britain – said they did not know it was a crime.
Suzanne Grant, the deputy managing director of Merseyrail, told The Telegraph the fines are enforced to reduce antisocial behaviour on the network’s trains, and that the policy was “clearly advertised” with announcements and posters.
“Our customers tell us that they find people placing their feet on the seat or seat structure in front of them, both unhygienic and on occasion, intimidating,” she added.
A system ‘unfit for purpose’
Gibbs argues the overarching SJP process was set up with insufficient safeguards over how it would operate in practice, while allowing the government to expand it without passing new laws. After going live in April 2015 for vehicle and travel-related prosecutions by the police, DVLA and TfL, it was widened by statutory instrument a year later to cover cases brought by TV Licensing, the Environment Agency, train operating companies and local authorities. In January 2023, the SJP was extended again to cover the prosecution of companies, not just individuals.
“The bit that really concerns me is this lack of participation,” says Gibbs. “It means we have a large swathe of the justice system where it appears that people who are being prosecuted are probably not understanding what’s involved and the consequences. To me, if the plea rate is so low it means that the system is not fit for purpose.”
She adds that while the reasons for low plea rates have not been fully investigated, the evidence suggests that “there are the ones who don’t receive it [the legal documentation], some who put up two fingers and can’t be bothered, and then all the ones – probably the majority – who for a myriad of reasons can’t cope with engaging with the prosecution. It could be to do with having English as a second language, not understanding the form, mental health problems, homelessness – we literally don’t know”.
The SJP received little media attention until the Covid pandemic, when its use to prosecute alleged breaches of lockdown restrictions sparked several high-profile miscarriages of justice.
Journalists have since exposed numerous cases where vulnerable people have been targeted under the SJP, as well as the wrongful application of relevant laws.
In August, it emerged that more than 74,000 rail fare evasion cases had been wrongly prosecuted because train operators had applied the process to the wrong laws. The month before, TfL admitted wrongly telling people caught without a bus fare that they had no legal defence and in 2020, a review found police had been prosecuting people for alleged Covid lockdown breaches under the wrong law.
Gibbs questions how it took years for the legal errors with rail prosecution to be noticed when each case was overseen by a magistrate and a legal adviser. “The government set up no scrutiny mechanisms, the data is poor and there is very little transparency.”
The Ministry of Justice told The Telegraph it was in the process of redesigning the notices sent to people prosecuted under the SJP to ensure they are clear, and that a consultation will be launched early this year to look at enhancing safeguards, improving transparency and driving up prosecution standards.
A spokesperson added: “The Single Justice Procedure was designed to allow low-level offences to be dealt with swiftly, sparing people having to go to court. However, the government is reviewing what more can be done to support vulnerable defendants.”
But Gibbs says the problems with the system have so far been “hidden” and that the government must conduct a “proper review”, warning: “Mitigation about vulnerability only comes out after people have been charged – these prosecutors don’t have the information and don’t even try to get it so they’re prosecuting blind. People need to really look into it in a way they never have.”
Taylor fears his case is the tip of the iceberg, and that other people in his position may not have been able to fight to prove their innocence.
“They will know that a lot of these things fall through when they get challenged, so they should recognise that their process is pretty flawed,” he says. “Some of it feels predatory. Even having not committed a crime, a lot of people would be tempted to pay the fine because of the unknown of what will come down the line. It is just sort of set up to pressure people in a way that feels quite unfair.”
On 16 March 2024, Jake Taylor boarded a ferry to Bali from the picturesque Indonesian island of Nusa Lembongan, after spending several days exploring its remote coves and beaches.
The 26-year-old Brit was enjoying a final holiday before starting a new life in Australia. But on the very same day he was bobbing between the Lesser Sunda Islands, on a train approximately 7,700 miles away travelling from London to Edinburgh, a fare dodger presented his long-expired European Health Insurance Card to a ticket inspector.
The incident set off a chain of events that ultimately saw Taylor wrongly prosecuted for an offence he did not commit, and embark on a lengthy battle to prove his innocence.
His legal ordeal, while troubling, is far from unique. In fact, Taylor is just one of more than 730,000 people prosecuted under the Single Justice Procedure (SJP) in the year leading up to September 2024, for a range of typically minor offences including transport fare evasion, TV licence breaches, speeding and uninsured vehicles. The process can only be used for low-level and “victimless” offences that cannot result in a prison sentence, but can lead to significant fines and a criminal record if they are not paid.
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An investigation by The Telegraph has uncovered numerous wrongful prosecutions under the SJP, including cases of mistaken identity and charges against people who have passed away.
There are concerns that many defendants swept up in the secretive, fast-track system do not know they are being prosecuted or are unable to fight cases, with official figures showing that the vast majority of people charged via the system in England and Wales never enter a plea.
Campaigners fear the process is pockmarked by widespread dysfunction, and warn that the true scale of errors and miscarriages of justice is unknown.
Errors and confusion
Since being introduced in 2015, the SJP has allowed charges for minor offences to be dealt with by magistrates and legal advisers in closed courtrooms based on written submissions, unless defendants plead not guilty and demand a hearing.
While those in favour of the process view it as clearer and faster for defendants and less costly and burdensome for overloaded courts, critics point to official research warning of errors and confusion.
For his part, Taylor may not have known of his prosecution at all, because all official documentation relating to it was posted to a UK address he had left in March of last year.
When a letter arrived at the London flat in September, as Taylor was settling into life in Sydney, a relative picked it up and offered to send a photo of its contents.
According to London North Eastern Railway (LNER), Taylor had not been in Bali on 16 March, but was in fact on a train from King’s Cross to Edinburgh.
“Important: You have been charged with a criminal offence,” read the document, which claimed Taylor had been caught on the 7.38am service without a ticket. It informed Taylor that under the Single Justice Procedure process, he had three weeks to either plead guilty and pay a large fine, or deny the charge and prepare for a court hearing.
The letter did not state why he was believed to be the alleged fare dodger or offer any evidence regarding his identity, aside from a curt statement explaining: “When requested by an authorised person for London North Eastern Railway, Mr Jacob Taylor failed to hand over a valid ticket entitling him/her to travel. Mr Jacob Taylor was issued with an Unpaid Fare Notice. A reminder letter has been sent and [LNER] have received no response or acceptable statement in mitigation [sic].”
Taylor was baffled, and scared. He had not been in Britain for months and he had no idea how he was going to prove his innocence from Australia.
“Very easily I could have just never heard of this at all, and I’m not sure what would have happened when I went back to the UK,” he says.
“It ended up causing me quite a lot of stress, because if you plead not guilty, you get a court date and you have to attend in person – which seeing as I live in Sydney, presented quite a major problem.”
Mistaken identity
Taylor entered a not guilty plea online and, with the help of relatives, wrote to LNER directly. “Basically, we offered to exchange all the evidence that we had that I wasn’t on the train, for them telling us the evidence they had that it was me,” he says. “Through doing that they told us that someone presented my European Health Insurance Card.”
Taylor believes the document had been inside a wallet that was stolen from him more than seven years ago, and would have been long out of date.
“I’m shocked that it was accepted as ID,” he adds. “The fact that I could receive a letter that’s accusing me of a crime off the back of an old European Health Insurance Card being presented on a train is just bizarre to me.”
The prosecution was formally withdrawn by LNER after Taylor offered up a mountain of evidence that he was in Indonesia and could not possibly have been on the train in question, including visas, ferry tickets, credit card transactions and time-stamped digital photos.
LNER told The Telegraph it did not comment “on individual cases”, but only pursued instances of unpaid fares in court as a “last resort” and uses “recognised databases and credit check companies to verify identities”.
Incredibly, the incident involving the rail operator was the second time Taylor had been wrongly prosecuted under the SJP in a case of mistaken identity.
While at university in Manchester in 2016, he was accused of being behind the wheel of a speeding vehicle in London, and the DVLA later admitted an unexplained “clerical error”.
The first he learnt of that prosecution was a letter sent to his parent’s home demanding he surrendered his driving licence. “I ended up having to go to magistrates’ court to plead not guilty, and then it was a gruelling process of trying to find out what was going on,” Taylor recalls.
“Somehow they got their wires crossed and got my identity, my address and requested my driver’s licence to destroy it.
“After I pleaded not guilty they set another court date, but before that my dad had basically managed to get them to admit it was an error on their side, and proved that it was nothing to do with me.”
Taylor says he found fighting the case “really stressful”, adding: “I’m not someone that’s had run-ins with the law or anything like that, so being summoned to magistrates’ court out of the blue, especially when it all felt so unfair because I just knew outright it had nothing to do with me, was a pretty unpleasant experience.”
By the time his second prosecution arose, Taylor says the first case had faded into “a funny anecdote that I would tell people sometimes – ‘I went to court for a crime I didn’t commit’ – and then absolutely bizarrely it happened again. As far as we know, there’s no relation between the two cases. It has just randomly happened twice”.
Pursuing the deceased
Taylor’s extraordinary experience was not the only case of mistaken identity present in a random sample of 50 recent SJP prosecutions sampled by The Telegraph.
A 27-year-old man from Mansfield who was charged with travelling on another LNER service without a ticket in March pleaded not guilty with a submission saying he was the repeated victim of fraud. “This wasn’t me,” he wrote. “I had someone using a picture of my personal ID on several train services in which I appealed and they closed the cases … I have proof.”
Another man, who was prosecuted by Transport for London (TfL) for allegedly pushing through ticket barriers at Leicester Square station in September, also claimed mistaken identity.
Pleading not guilty, the 21-year-old wrote that he was not at the station on that day, adding: “This is not the first time I’ve got letters sent home about this issue, I’ve got friends and family who know my details – anyone could have used them and stolen my identity.”
In other cases, prosecutions were triggered against people who had passed away. In September, the DVLA wrote to an 81-year-old Rochdale woman accusing her of keeping an uninsured vehicle, but it was her daughter who replied saying she had died in June 2023 – nine months before the alleged offence – and the car in question had been sold for scrap shortly afterwards.
In another distressing case, a bereaved father was charged by the police with speeding in Devon, but said it had been his daughter who was behind the wheel of the car at the time.
“When the original notice was sent to me, I passed it on to her to sort out and she assured me that it was taken care of,” the 76-year-old man wrote. “She was found dead on 10 September 2024 whilst in the same car.” The prosecution was later withdrawn.
A DVLA spokesperson told The Telegraph that formal notifications must be made for sold and scrapped vehicles, or those being kept off the road.
“When a vehicle has not been taxed or has no insurance, we will write to the registered keeper multiple times and these letters give them the opportunity to make us aware of any mitigating circumstances,” they added.
“Only when we have exhausted all other enforcement routes will a Single Justice Procedure notice be issued.”
‘Overwhelming complexity’
A report published in December by HM Courts and Tribunal Service highlighted the scale of the problems associated with SJP, revealing that in sampled cases from 2023, only half of police prosecutions for driving offences received a response and the proportion was even lower for other categories.
Just a quarter of TV Licensing prosecutions received a plea, while the figure was 21 per cent for the DVLA, 19 per cent for TfL and only 8 per cent for Merseyrail.
Officials said their research suggests there is “confusion about the difference between the official court stage of a case” and earlier letters, that people are “overwhelmed by the length and complexity” of documents and those from lower-income areas are less likely to fight prosecutions because they “have broader financial concerns that may discourage them from engaging with their case”.
The report also warned of “inaccurate address details” for letters, as well as “technical issues” with the online portal where people are directed to enter pleas.
“Defendant engagement is important to give prosecutors an opportunity to review any mitigations raised and to withdraw the case if they believe it is no longer in the public interest to pursue it,” it added. “There has been media and public concern about vulnerable defendants being prosecuted and examples of defendants pleading guilty while also indicating mitigations related to mental health or other serious conditions.”
In several TV Licensing prosecutions reviewed by The Telegraph, people expressed distress and confusion at the way they were treated by the licensing inspectors.
A mother whose Watford home was visited in August when she was home alone with her child said she let the officer in because she had “nothing to hide”, and that they watched no television or online content requiring a licence.
In her not guilty plea, she said the inspector seemed to be “losing his temper” and accused him of recording information which was “obviously a lie”, adding: “I got a bit worried about me and my child who was at home at that time.”
In another case, a 25-year-old woman from Keighley, in West Yorkshire, accused TV Licensing of “harassment”, writing in a not-guilty plea in November that she did not watch any content requiring a licence and adding: “Your assumed evidence is false and completely inaccurate, and we have already refuted all previous accusations very clearly. We consider this persistent and continual harassment.”
A TV Licensing spokesperson told The Telegraph that officers were trained to be “polite and fair”, and followed set processes when conducting interviews, adding: “TV Licensing has a duty to collect the licence fee from anyone who requires a licence, and we do our utmost to support customers while treating everyone fairly. Our primary aim is to support people in getting licensed so that they avoid prosecution.
“Prosecution is always a last resort, and will only proceed if there is sufficient evidence and any mitigation has been assessed to ensure that the public interest test is met.”
‘Miscarriages of justice’
While the SJP system allows magistrates to send cases back to prosecutors if they receive information suggesting defendants have been wrongly prosecuted or are vulnerable, safeguards rely on people receiving documents, being able to understand them and respond in writing within 21 days to make their case.
If there is no response, magistrates proceed to consider the case without any evidence from defendants, and can find them guilty of the alleged offences and issue large fines.
If people find about a prosecution at a later date – as Taylor did when the DVLA tried to seize his driving licence – they can make a “statutory declaration” that they were ignorant of the proceedings against them, causing the conviction to be overturned and a hearing to be set.
“They send the prosecution notices by normal mail so nobody has any idea how many are actually received by people who are supposed to receive them,” says Penelope Gibbs, director of the Transform Justice charity. “It’s an unfair system and there are miscarriages of justice within it. People don’t understand their rights and they have no access to free legal advice.”
The Telegraph has viewed four recent cases where people were fined £483 each after being prosecuted for allegedly having their feet on train seats, without entering any pleas.
Notices by Merseyrail stated: “It is an offence to interfere with the comfort or convenience of any person on the railway by putting your foot/feet on the seats/seat structure while on the train.”
Several other people charged with the offence contested the prosecutions, including a young woman whose case was withdrawn after she said her actions were not deliberate and that she was “under significant emotional strain” while travelling to a therapy session for sexual abuse survivors.
“I did not intend to break any rules or cause harm,” the woman wrote. “I placed my feet on the seat, not out of disregard for public property or the comfort of other passengers, but because I was distracted and anxious.”
Another woman prosecuted for the same offence pleaded guilty but told how she had been returning from a night shift and suffering from a migraine when caught with her feet up, and was then refused by train station staff when trying to pay the earliest £60 fine. But she was still fined £368.
Other passengers prosecuted for the “feet on seats” offence – including one man on his first visit to Britain – said they did not know it was a crime.
Suzanne Grant, the deputy managing director of Merseyrail, told The Telegraph the fines are enforced to reduce antisocial behaviour on the network’s trains, and that the policy was “clearly advertised” with announcements and posters.
“Our customers tell us that they find people placing their feet on the seat or seat structure in front of them, both unhygienic and on occasion, intimidating,” she added.
A system ‘unfit for purpose’
Gibbs argues the overarching SJP process was set up with insufficient safeguards over how it would operate in practice, while allowing the government to expand it without passing new laws. After going live in April 2015 for vehicle and travel-related prosecutions by the police, DVLA and TfL, it was widened by statutory instrument a year later to cover cases brought by TV Licensing, the Environment Agency, train operating companies and local authorities. In January 2023, the SJP was extended again to cover the prosecution of companies, not just individuals.
“The bit that really concerns me is this lack of participation,” says Gibbs. “It means we have a large swathe of the justice system where it appears that people who are being prosecuted are probably not understanding what’s involved and the consequences. To me, if the plea rate is so low it means that the system is not fit for purpose.”
She adds that while the reasons for low plea rates have not been fully investigated, the evidence suggests that “there are the ones who don’t receive it [the legal documentation], some who put up two fingers and can’t be bothered, and then all the ones – probably the majority – who for a myriad of reasons can’t cope with engaging with the prosecution. It could be to do with having English as a second language, not understanding the form, mental health problems, homelessness – we literally don’t know”.
The SJP received little media attention until the Covid pandemic, when its use to prosecute alleged breaches of lockdown restrictions sparked several high-profile miscarriages of justice.
Journalists have since exposed numerous cases where vulnerable people have been targeted under the SJP, as well as the wrongful application of relevant laws.
In August, it emerged that more than 74,000 rail fare evasion cases had been wrongly prosecuted because train operators had applied the process to the wrong laws. The month before, TfL admitted wrongly telling people caught without a bus fare that they had no legal defence and in 2020, a review found police had been prosecuting people for alleged Covid lockdown breaches under the wrong law.
Gibbs questions how it took years for the legal errors with rail prosecution to be noticed when each case was overseen by a magistrate and a legal adviser. “The government set up no scrutiny mechanisms, the data is poor and there is very little transparency.”
The Ministry of Justice told The Telegraph it was in the process of redesigning the notices sent to people prosecuted under the SJP to ensure they are clear, and that a consultation will be launched early this year to look at enhancing safeguards, improving transparency and driving up prosecution standards.
A spokesperson added: “The Single Justice Procedure was designed to allow low-level offences to be dealt with swiftly, sparing people having to go to court. However, the government is reviewing what more can be done to support vulnerable defendants.”
But Gibbs says the problems with the system have so far been “hidden” and that the government must conduct a “proper review”, warning: “Mitigation about vulnerability only comes out after people have been charged – these prosecutors don’t have the information and don’t even try to get it so they’re prosecuting blind. People need to really look into it in a way they never have.”
Taylor fears his case is the tip of the iceberg, and that other people in his position may not have been able to fight to prove their innocence.
“They will know that a lot of these things fall through when they get challenged, so they should recognise that their process is pretty flawed,” he says. “Some of it feels predatory. Even having not committed a crime, a lot of people would be tempted to pay the fine because of the unknown of what will come down the line. It is just sort of set up to pressure people in a way that feels quite unfair.”
| Re: 'Railway 200' events and commemorations 2025 Posted by ChrisB at 20:41, 7th January 2025 | |
One of the first events is the 'Railway 200 Whistle Up' at midday GMT on 1st January 2025, when heritage locomotives across the UK (and further afield) will sound their whistles to herald the start of the year long Railway 200 commemorations.
From the Oxford Mail
Oxfordshire heritage railway celebrates 200 years of passenger trains with whistle
The director of Great Western Railways and a peer in the House of Lords both attended an event to mark 200 years of passenger railways in the UK.
Cholsey and Wallingford Heritage railway hosted a special train journey on New Year's Day to mark the occasion, in which train company managing director and president of the heritage group Mark Hopwood blew the whistle on a historic steam train.
The nationwide Rail200 "Whistle-up" event was organised by the Heritage Railway Association in which more than 50 railways and 200 locomotives sounded their whistles or horns to at midday on January 1 to start the year.
It will culminate in celebrations on September 27, which was the date of the first passenger railway journey on the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825.
Mark Hopwood, managing director of Great Western Railways, blew the whistle at midday (Image: Tony Stead) Alan Hyde from Railway 200 said: “The 200th anniversary of the modern railway marks a major milestone in our national life.
"In time-honoured fashion, the Whistle-Up fanfare launches what promises to be a memorable year with lots of exciting activities and events planned to celebrate the past, present and future of rail.”
The Cholsey and Wallingford Railway had both Mr Hopwood and Lord Bradshaw, who was an Oxfordshire County Councillor and director of operations for British Rail, in attendance.
The volunteer-run organisation invited passengers to ride on steam locomotive "Kilmersdon" in this latest of its seasonal and tourist trains.
The director of Great Western Railways and a peer in the House of Lords both attended an event to mark 200 years of passenger railways in the UK.
Cholsey and Wallingford Heritage railway hosted a special train journey on New Year's Day to mark the occasion, in which train company managing director and president of the heritage group Mark Hopwood blew the whistle on a historic steam train.
The nationwide Rail200 "Whistle-up" event was organised by the Heritage Railway Association in which more than 50 railways and 200 locomotives sounded their whistles or horns to at midday on January 1 to start the year.
It will culminate in celebrations on September 27, which was the date of the first passenger railway journey on the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825.
Mark Hopwood, managing director of Great Western Railways, blew the whistle at midday (Image: Tony Stead) Alan Hyde from Railway 200 said: “The 200th anniversary of the modern railway marks a major milestone in our national life.
"In time-honoured fashion, the Whistle-Up fanfare launches what promises to be a memorable year with lots of exciting activities and events planned to celebrate the past, present and future of rail.”
The Cholsey and Wallingford Railway had both Mr Hopwood and Lord Bradshaw, who was an Oxfordshire County Councillor and director of operations for British Rail, in attendance.
The volunteer-run organisation invited passengers to ride on steam locomotive "Kilmersdon" in this latest of its seasonal and tourist trains.
| Re: Coastal walks - station to station Posted by grahame at 19:55, 7th January 2025 | |
Not quite coastal, but here's another station to stations all I did
| Re: GWR Advance Purchase sale - January 2025 Posted by ChrisB at 19:50, 7th January 2025 | |
Certain stations have fared (did you see what I did there?
) better for discounts than others - for example Swindon westwards into Wales were all in single digits, even 1st class sometimes! 
| Re: Senior Railcard - ongoing issues, merged posts Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 18:55, 7th January 2025 | |
.....must be getting old and forgetful 
I do sympathize, eightonedee. I am also getting ...
| Re: Senior Railcard - ongoing issues, merged posts Posted by eightonedee at 18:22, 7th January 2025 | |
Rite of passage yesterday - the first time (in nearly 5 years) I forgot to "press" the Senior Railcard "button" on the ticket machine screen.....must be getting old and forgetful
| Re: DFT - Where is the South Devon Railway Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 17:26, 7th January 2025 | |
... but, to someone at the Department for Transport, that could all make perfect sense. Hence this entire topic.
| Re: Senior Railcard - ongoing issues, merged posts Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 16:49, 7th January 2025 | |
I have tidied up - that's an easy thing to do if you're one button out!
From my knowing grahame, over many years, I can confirm that his shirt front will probably be 'one button out'.
| Re: Senior Railcard - ongoing issues, merged posts Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 16:43, 7th January 2025 | |
Just noticed that the hover function doesn't work for:
LU - London Underground
POM - Passenger Operated Machine (equivalent to a TVM but sometimes handy to distinguish)
Can an admin add them please?
LU - London Underground
POM - Passenger Operated Machine (equivalent to a TVM but sometimes handy to distinguish)
Can an admin add them please?
Thank you for your request, Ralph Ayres.
I am 'on the case' here, with guidance from grahame. Please do bear with me, while I update my (somewhat basic) online technical skills.
| Re: Senior Railcard - ongoing issues, merged posts Posted by Ralph Ayres at 16:12, 7th January 2025 | |
Short of asking staff to do so, there may be a way to check if an Oyster is linked to a railcard, but if there is it's well hidden. I've two Oystercards and the system presumably will not let me link the railcard to more than one Oyster (though I've not tried that).
Present the Oyster card to the yellow reader on an LU POM (possibly also other Oyster-enabled TVMs?) and somewhere inconspicuous on the screen - top left if I remember correctly - it will show that you have a Railcard discount set. You can link one Railcard to multiple Oyster cards so long as you have the Railcard with you when using that card in case you are asked to show it; gates can be set by revenue staff to flag that a card with a discount has just been used.Just noticed that the hover function doesn't work for:
LU - London Underground
POM - Passenger Operated Machine (equivalent to a TVM but sometimes handy to distinguish)
Can an admin add them please?
| Re: Warnings of snow, wind and rain across the UK for New Year Posted by UstiImmigrunt at 14:36, 7th January 2025 | |
It's elf and safety gone mad! 
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/public-safety-and-emergencies/health-and-safety-alerts/trains-cancelled-after-union-tells-drivers-not-to-walk-on-snow/ar-AA1x3ATg?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=a6adf81109604cd5ba970c70a324f18c&ei=26
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/public-safety-and-emergencies/health-and-safety-alerts/trains-cancelled-after-union-tells-drivers-not-to-walk-on-snow/ar-AA1x3ATg?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=a6adf81109604cd5ba970c70a324f18c&ei=26
One has to ask how did the drivers even manage to get to the depot if it was unsafe?
Are the union going to ask each council/company to clear all paths/roads of snow before drivers can leave their house?
I wouldn't laugh too much. Far too many drivers and guards have no idea how to walk on ballast either, so what chances of being able to walk on ice and or snow?
Whilst instructing I asked my DSM if it was possible to use a SPT rather than the SG button on the GSMR. The answer, no. Because if the trainee sprained an ankle it would be my fault. So only those who work on SPM definitely and maybe Gloucester, Westbury or Laira would know how to walk on ballast. Everywhere has a lovely walking route installed.
I've spent more time walking on the ballast of České Dráhy in the last 3 months than the last 5 and a bit years in work. In May 2018 I visited SPM for the final time, that was my last ballast walk.
PS Currently having a few nights around Bern, plenty of snow and I'm being very careful in my walking around.
| Re: Senior Railcard - ongoing issues, merged posts Posted by grahame at 11:57, 7th January 2025 | |
Don't know what happened there - tried to correct a typo and it posted the whole amended thing again as a quote 
I have tidied up - that's an easy thing to do if you're one button out!
| Re: Coastal walks - station to station Posted by grahame at 11:55, 7th January 2025 | |
Not exactly a coastal walk - more an estuary - but I love this one
| Re: Senior Railcard - ongoing issues, merged posts Posted by Clan Line at 11:49, 7th January 2025 | |
Don't know what happened there - tried to correct a typo and it posted the whole amended thing again as a quote
| Re: senior railcard Posted by Clan Line at 11:43, 7th January 2025 | |
This happened to me once with my FOSS, at Southampton Central. Where was yours, as I wonder whether it was something specific to that station?
My FOSS cards never worked Southampton during my multiple visits last Oct/Nov. Gave up trying....................
| Re: GWR Advance Purchase sale - January 2025 Posted by grahame at 11:38, 7th January 2025 | |
A couple of days to go ... and I have planned a couple of days out - though the Advance Purchase sale is not quite the headline bargain the marketeers would have you believe. There are some good deals (I have one in February), but in March I have done better on a day out with normal Advance fares and a railcard.
| Re: DFT - Where is the South Devon Railway Posted by rogerw at 11:27, 7th January 2025 | |
How does the South Devon Railway relate to the Devon Valley Railway 
Very distantly. About 400 miles. one in England, the other in Scotland| Re: senior railcard Posted by grahame at 11:05, 7th January 2025 | |
Only once, ever, at a ticket gate - and that was a really odd case where my FOSS had failed to work the gate, I was the only passenger around, and the bloke on the gate insisted on taking a careful look at my ticket and punching a hole in it having got his punch out from the cupboard.
This happened to me once with my FOSS, at Southampton Central. Where was yours, as I wonder whether it was something specific to that station?
The woman at the barrier took a lot of time checking my ticket, asking where I was going and generally questioning it, and insisted on punching it too, and I only just made it onto the platform in time to catch my train.
Mine was Chippenham ... and I found myself wondering if punching a hole in a ticket these days is a way of signalling to other staff "awkward customer". Staff are usually excellent, but this was the exception. I do recall a more thorough check of my FOSS that usual at Southampton Central too - same person perhaps - but then utterly helpful there on other occasions.
The FOSS ticket is a bargain if you want to do what it allows, and I wonder if s minority of staff resent the really good price you've got your travel at. I've found the same attitude on occasions with my Interrail pass.
| Re: senior railcard Posted by froome at 10:50, 7th January 2025 | |
Only once, ever, at a ticket gate - and that was a really odd case where my FOSS had failed to work the gate, I was the only passenger around, and the bloke on the gate insisted on taking a careful look at my ticket and punching a hole in it having got his punch out from the cupboard.
This happened to me once with my FOSS, at Southampton Central. Where was yours, as I wonder whether it was something specific to that station?
The woman at the barrier took a lot of time checking my ticket, asking where I was going and generally questioning it, and insisted on punching it too, and I only just made it onto the platform in time to catch my train.
| Re: Senior Railcard - ongoing issues, merged posts Posted by froome at 10:46, 7th January 2025 | |
I have had a Senior Railcard for several years now (I am 72 and got it on the first day I was able to and made use of it on that day). I have always had a card ticket rather than having it on my phone. Several train managers like to call it a Young Persons card, which is always pleasing to hear, though I did once get sold a ticket at a station by someone who assumed I had a Senior Railcard, several years before I was old enough to get one, presumably due to my prematurely grey hair, which by then was almost white. I did also once get sold a Young Person's ticket by a train manager on a train. He had made the joke about a Young Persons card when I asked to buy a ticket with my Senior Railcard, and then presumably forgot he was joking! I had to explain to other train managers on my route why I was travelling with this ticket - not sure if they actually believed me.
I'm pretty sure it makes no difference at the station barriers. Tickets often seem to be rejected, but I don't think the railcard is ever the issue, though obviously I can't be sure on that.
I usually show both my ticket and card at the same time, but if I forget (or can't get the card out in time), I find about half of the managers ask to see the card and half don't, though more do these days than not.
| Re: Warnings of snow, wind and rain across the UK for New Year Posted by GBM at 10:35, 7th January 2025 | |
I was suffiiciently impressed by the ridges on the footpath crossing over the main line to take photos
Good to see Melksham is now double tracked.At last
| Re: Warnings of snow, wind and rain across the UK for New Year Posted by grahame at 10:18, 7th January 2025 | |
I was suffiiciently impressed by the ridges on the footpath crossing over the main line to take photos
| Re: Warnings of snow, wind and rain across the UK for New Year Posted by stuving at 09:53, 7th January 2025 | |
It's elf and safety gone mad!
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/public-safety-and-emergencies/health-and-safety-alerts/trains-cancelled-after-union-tells-drivers-not-to-walk-on-snow/ar-AA1x3ATg?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=a6adf81109604cd5ba970c70a324f18c&ei=26
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/public-safety-and-emergencies/health-and-safety-alerts/trains-cancelled-after-union-tells-drivers-not-to-walk-on-snow/ar-AA1x3ATg?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=a6adf81109604cd5ba970c70a324f18c&ei=26
One has to ask how did the drivers even manage to get to the depot if it was unsafe?
Are the union going to ask each council/company to clear all paths/roads of snow before drivers can leave their house?
That does remind me of something: the recent trend for surfacing walking routes to sidings with manufactured panels. These look to be made of some plastic, but whatever it is it also looks as if it would be pretty slippery when wet, let alone covered in a thin layer of snow. So maybe there is a real issue behind this; smoother paths need more anti-slip and snow-clearing procedures.
That would be of a piece with our local council, who repaved the footpath along the main road outside their offices with some rather glazed pink blocks. It's on a slope, and broken leg or two later the paving was torn up and replaced with something grippier.
