Great Western Coffee Shop

A train company has defended its decision not to impose a penalty fare on former London Mayor Ken Livingstone after he travelled without a ticket. Mr Livingstone could have faced a ^20 fine for not buying a ticket for his journey from London's Paddington station to Slough in Berkshire. But the First Great Western (FGW) train company said it has accepted Mr Livingstone's apology and they were happy for him to pay the fare when he got to Slough.

An FGW spokeswoman added: "Mr Livingstone, like any other passengers, was given the opportunity to pay at the end of his journey - in this case, at Slough. When he got to Slough, Mr Livingstone approached a member of our staff, apologised and offered to pay before being asked. Our approach is to give passengers the benefit of the doubt before issuing a penalty fare. He said he was in a massive hurry and not obtained a ticket. We took the same approach with 10 other passengers who were on this train. There was no question of Mr Livingstone being given preferential treatment."

Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, told the Daily Mail: "It is utter hypocrisy. He has been let off just because he is famous. Other people using the same excuse have been prosecuted."

Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Norman Baker MP told the Mail: "This sends out the wrong message. It's a poor example to set."

We took the same approach with 10 other passengers who were on this train. There was no question of Mr Livingstone being given preferential treatment."

?

They do mention that...

How did he get through the barriers at Paddington without a ticket?

Are they able to barrier stations like Paddington so that trains travelling first stop Slough or Reading depart from platforms whose barriers don't have active Oyster Readers?

i.e. Have half the platforms with inactive oyster readers and half with active. (obviously, staff would have to be able to "activate" the unactive readers in case of a platform alteration)

This would act as a deterrent to people coming towards London, and would prevent those travelling away.

PS: Surely after Crossrail, all trains from the main platforms will be for destinations outside Zone 6, so the readers can be removed?

As a slight aside I don't think you'll ever see barriers on Platforms 1 or 8 as they are public rights of way. Can anyone who works there confirm?

Don't pay your rail fare fines, says Ken Livingstone (who once led a crusade against the ticketless traveller)

Ken Livingstone is now urging train passengers not to pay 'rip-off' fines after himself being let off a ^20 penalty for travelling without a valid ticket.

He says passengers are being unfairly victimised to boost train firm coffers and has even offered his services to work with lawyers to help 'to defend any other innocent traveller who is a victim of these rapacious rail companies'.

The left-winger, who as Mayor of London vigorously targeted ticket cheats, was spared his own 'zero tolerance' approach by First Great Western staff. But instead of being grateful, Mr Livingstone has instead attacked the fining policies of First Great Western.

In a letter to the Daily Mail he denied trying to dodge paying his fare and insisted he was the victim of the train company's 'disgraceful record' of making its ticketing system deliberately difficult for passengers to use, simply to earn more income from its ^20 penalty fines.

'Five years ago I offered the company enough money to install new ticket barriers that would allow their system to be compatible with London's Oyster card system. First Great Western refused to do this because it would dramatically reduce income from their ^20 penalty charge regime.'

A spokesman for First Great Western said: 'We don't know where Mr Livingstone is coming from as First Great Western didn't issue him with a penalty fare. Our approach in such cases is to give our customers the benefit of the doubt and our staff were happy to accept that Mr Livingstone's mistake was genuine

...they're easy to avoid, I find, by buying a ticket...

What he did offer was money to make the system compatible in London.  As Slough is outside London it never would have worked at Slough even if they had taken the money. Oyster is a London system and does not work outside !!!!

PCC rejects Livingstone complaint over rail fare 'dodge'

The Press Complaints Commission has rejected a complaint by former London mayor Ken Livingstone made over a series of Daily Mail articles claiming he had "dodged" a rail fare.

Livingstone lodged his complaint over articles published in March which suggested despite his not purchasing a ticket for a train journey from Paddington to Slough, he was not forced to pay a penalty fare.

The Mail said the incident contrasted with his "zero tolerance" policy on fare dodging when he was Mayor of London.

In the complaint Livingstone said he had been unable to buy a ticket as a tube delay meant he arrived at the station just minutes before his train departed and like many other passengers he approached station staff at his destination where no-one received a fine.

Making its ruling the PCC said that while the account bore the interpretation of the freelance reporter who had witnessed the event, there appeared to be nothing inaccurate about it and therefore the paper was under no obligation to obtain Livingstone's version of events.

The PCC stated: "The freelance reporter was an eyewitness to the fact that the complainant [Livingstone] did not have a ticket, which was the substance of the story, so there was no need to contact the complainant to find out whether it was true. The statements regarding the complainant being warned were attributed to a spokesman for First Great Western, and the suggestion that the complainant had looked embarrassed was attributed to a witness. Whether or not it was technically correct that the complainant had ^admitted his error^ was not significant given that he had accepted that he had approached station staff to tell them that he did not have a ticket."

The PCC failed to uphold the complaint as it said it did not consider the coverage misleading.