Penalty fare

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (February 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Penalty fare" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

A penalty fare, standard fare, or fixed penalty notice is a special, usually higher, fare charged because a passenger using public transport did not comply with the normal ticket purchasing rules. It should not be confused with an unpaid fares notice.

Penalty fares are incurred when a ticket or a rail pass cannot be produced on request. If, for example a mobile device is inoperative and the ticket cannot be displayed a penalty fare can be issued.

Contrary to popular belief, penalty fares cannot solely be avoided if tickets are purchased before commencing the journey; the offence under the (British) Railway Byelaws has nothing to do with purchase of tickets, it consists solely in the failure to produce a ticket and, where necessary a rail pass, at the time of request. Evidence of ticket purchase other than the ticket itself, is not relevant to the offence.

Penalty fares are a civil debt, not a fine, and a person whose penalty fare is paid is not considered to have committed a criminal offence. Penalty fares are used to discourage casual fare evasion and disregard for the ticketing rules without resorting to (in the case of railways in Great Britain) the drastic and costly step of prosecution under the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 or other laws dealing with theft and fraud. More egregious fare avoiders can still be prosecuted and fined or imprisoned if convicted.^[1]