Penalty Fare Notices are issued for a variety of reasons. One example of this is when transport providers operate Penalty Fare Schemes as part of their overall Revenue Protection strategy to reduce ticketless travel. On routes where stops are frequent and trains or buses are busy, it's not always possible to check every passenger’s ticket between every station or every bus stop.

Where such Penalty Fare schemes apply, a valid ticket or other form of authority must be displayed or made available for inspection when requested. Failure to either advance-purchase correctly or, failure to buy correctly from available ticket purchasing facilities before travelling may make a person liable to pay a penalty fare.

A Penalty Fare Notice must be paid or appealed against within the stated time in order to avoid further costs or action being taken by the Transport Provider to recover the debt.

You can download a copy of the Railways (Penalty Fares) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 or the TfL applicable Greater London Authority Act, 1999 by visiting Documents

Train operators work in a number of different ways to tackle ticketless travel. In addition to operating a Penalty Fares Scheme, they may issue passengers with an Unpaid Fare Notice if they fail to pay the full appropriate fare or fail to produce a valid ticket when requested.

An Unpaid Fare Notice is not the same as a Penalty Fare Notice. Where the incident is considered to fall outside of the scope of the Railways (Penalty Fares) (Amendment) 2022, Unpaid Fare Notices are issued in accordance with the Transport Provider's Policy & Procedures and the National Rail Conditions of Travel.

An Unpaid Fare Notice must be paid or appealed against within the stated time in order to avoid further costs or action being taken by the Transport Provider to recover the debt.

For more information, download a copy of the current National Rail Conditions of Travel by visiting Documents