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Hounslow Liberal Democrats |
Cable protests over rail company Penalty Fare abuses
July 25, 2007 12:00 AM
South West Trains approach to Penalty Fares is being challenged by local Lib Dem campaigners
Local residents are being put at risk of a criminal record, as a result of being caught without a ticket when they set off from a station where the ticket office is closed, the automatic ticket machine is out of service and there is no Permit to Travel machine. Vincent Cable, Lib Dem MP for Twickenham, has taken up the case of a Twickenham resident who left from Strawberry Hill unable to obtain a ticket. When she was stopped later in her journey - at East Grinstead, on Southern Railway - and disputed the fare, the police were called arriving with flashing lights to make an arrest.
The Penalty Fares Appeal Service subsequently dismissed her appeal and she now faces criminal charges if she were to face another penalty fare. In the course of correspondence, it has emerged that passengers are expected to find a guard on the train if they cannot obtain a ticket at the start of the journey. But guards are often not easily contactable, especially on packed, peak hour trains.
Vincent Cable said:
"The rail companies are being greedy and unreasonable. They demand that passengers obtain tickets before they set off but in many cases there are no functioning offices or machines, or queues are very long. South West Trains say passengers without a ticket and unable to obtain one at the ticket office should approach a guard.
"But a confidential memo leaked from SW Trains (to The Times) three weeks ago says that guards should fine passengers without a ticket, even if they ask to buy one, and guards are being given bonuses depending on the fines they collect.
"I have asked the rail companies to justify their behaviour, and the fare appeals body to explain their pathetic response. What we see here is a gross abuse of their monopoly position by the rail companies."
Cllr Andrew Dakers, Leader of Hounslow Liberal Democrats, has also raised concerns on SW Trains approach to Penalty Fares in the past few weeks on behalf of Hounslow residents.
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