A commuter was left fuming after being slapped with a £142 rail fine, despite trying to buy a ticket four times.
Kelly Hannah-Rogers wanted to buy a Flexi 28-day season pass, but the ticket office was closed when she arrived at her local station in Folkestone, Kent. Despite seeing others do it before, Kelly was told by a Southeastern conductor that she couldn't buy her season pass on the train. Instead, she was told to buy one at St Pancras station.
Once there, she was told she had to pay an extra £50 for the journey she just took, on top of the £440.90 Flexi pass she wanted to buy. Kelly said she couldn't afford the extra cost and was reportedly accused of lying.
Even the British Transport Police tried to step in and sort out the situation. Rail staff suggested Kelly pay the £50 single fare and it could be deducted from the £440.90 Flexi pass total.
But the frustrated commuter, who was now too late to give a talk to hundreds of nurses, was told she would have to travel to London Bridge to top up the Flexi pass using her 'The Key' card, as St Pancras did not have the facilities. The Key smartcard is an alternative to paper tickets and Southeastern claim it "makes it quicker and easier to travel".
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She was instead told to buy one at St Pancras (PA)She asked to walk through the barrier and sort the ticket out on her way. However, rail staff reportedly told her she was not allowed to leave the station without paying a fine for not having a ticket.
Exhausted by the situation, Ms Hannah-Rogers accepted the fine. She said: "The ticket office is where I would normally always purchase my ticket. It really threw me when I arrived at the station and saw it was shut," she added. "It's crucial that they are open for getting certain tickets, especially when it states online that it would be open.
"This whole situation could have been avoidable," she lamented. Recalling the situation at St Pancras, she said: "I explained that I wasn't refusing to buy a ticket. I had endeavoured four times to purchase one. This member of staff was rude and at one point accused me of lying," she continued. "I was then asked to speak to another employee. By this time I had explained the same situation half a dozen times to different members of staff.
"I had already been held up by an hour at this point and I had a training session planned which I was delivering at 9am for 250 people," she revealed. "I asked whether I could go through the barrier and sort out the ticket when I have access to my emails.
"I was told that I could not be let through the barrier and I questioned whether I was being detained," she said. "However, I was told that was not the case, but no one would tell me how I could leave the station." Ms Hannah-Rogers felt she had "no other choice than to accept the fine".
She said: "I was issued with a £142.10 fine in order to be allowed off the station property. In the words of one of the staff members, I was told 'you are free to go' as he opened the barrier." Ms Hannah-Rogers has tried to appeal the fine twice but hasn't been successful.
In response to her first appeal, the railway network stated: "As the train company has provided proof that the opportunity for your Flexi season ticket purchase existed, I'm afraid it is the conclusion of penalty services that the penalty fare notice should stand.
"Although the mitigation mentioned on appeal has been taken into consideration, there is no evidence to support the discretion guidelines having been breached by the authorised collector at the time of issue. Having taken into consideration all the points raised to date, we regret to advise that your appeal has been unsuccessful. It is your right to re-appeal this decision."
Ms Hannah-Rogers has now lodged a second appeal. She believes the whole ordeal could have been avoided if the ticket office had been open. Recent proposals to close the doors on ticket offices in 1,000 stations have been scrapped.
Southeastern apologised for the inconvenience caused by Folkestone Central office being shut when Ms Hannah-Rogers arrived at the station. A Southeastern spokesperson said: "We're really clear that wherever possible, you must purchase a ticket before boarding a train.
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"A penalty fare isn't a fine, but rather a reminder to our passengers that they must buy a ticket before boarding a train. It's the responsibility of every passenger to buy a ticket to travel before they do so and where we supply the facilities to do this. Unfortunately our ticket office at Folkestone Central was closed at that time we're sorry for the inconvenience that caused.
"However, as the letter outlined, Southeastern has explained that the opportunity to buy a ticket existed when our member of staff asked the customer if she wanted to buy a ticket she declined as this wasn't convenient, and said she would pay the penalty fare instead."
A BTP spokesperson said: "The high visibility presence of our officers on the network is not to intimidate anyone, but to provide reassurance to passengers that we are there to assist them and deter crime."
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to webhomepage@mirror.co.uk
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