The great train robbery! I was fined £615 for not buying a £1.90 rail ticket
A train passenger is facing a £615 bill after she failed to buy a £1.90 ticket for her four-minute journey.
Jenny shearman, 46, had rushed to catch her train and intended to buy her ticket once on board.
But as the Arriva train Wales service from Llandaff pulled into Cardiff station, she was stopped by an inspector, who said she would be fined for travelling without a ticket.
the disability support worker was later sent a summons ordering her to pay a £440 fine, along with a victim surcharge of £44, costs of £130 and £1.90 for the ticket.
In a post on Facebook, the married mother, who works at Cardiff university, hit out at the disproportionate fine.
Posting a picture of her court summons, she wrote: ‘so this arrived yesterday. £615.90 fine for not buying my ticket before boarding the train for my four minute train journey to work that cost £1.90. Regardless of it seeming unfair as they sell tickets on the train (not that day though of course) and you can’t exit the station at the other end without paying, it just seems vastly disproportionate.
‘People get fined less for GBH [grievous bodily harm].’
Friends claimed she should have been given a chance to admit she was guilty after the incident on February 24. this would have resulted in a smaller fine. Mrs shearman replied: ‘the first letter I received said I could appeal, which I did.
‘the next letter said they’d received the appeal but it had failed. I then received the court summons then yesterday the notice of fine.
‘But at no point was I given the opportunity to settle before that. I definitely wasn’t given an offer to pay a fixed fine at any point ... It doesn’t make it clear that you need to respond with your income details for the purposes of setting the level of the fine
she later told the sun she plans to challenge the fine on the basis she was not offered an out of court settlement. An Arriva trains Wales spokesman said: ‘It is [customers’] responsibility to buy a valid ticket ... If ticket buying facilities are available at the station ... customers must buy their ticket before they board.’ It insisted it takes mitigating circumstances into account when assessing fines.