Appeals Service Independent Transparent Fair
  • Home
  • Make an Appeal
  • Make a Payment
  • Track an Appeal
  • Support
    • FAQ
    • Documents
    • Statistics
    • Independent Appeals Panel
    • TransferWise

AS Appeals Service

Providing a truly independent and impartial appeals service

Penalty Fares and Unpaid Fare Notices

Penalty Fares and Unpaid Fare Notices are issued to people who are unable to present a valid ticket to travel when requested. Passengers have the right to appeal against these notices if they believe they were issued incorrectly or unfairly.

Step by Step to make an Appeal

Working closely with


Travel Watch Transport Focus
Previous Next
Appeal Service

Appeals Service
Independent, Transparent, Fair

Investors in people

At Appeals Service (AS) we assist people who have been issued with either a Penalty Fare or Unpaid Fare Notice and who wish to appeal against the issue.

Penalty Fare Notices and Unpaid Fare Notices may be issued for a variety of reasons and people have the right to appeal against these, within a specified time, if they believe they were issued incorrectly or unfairly.

AS offers a truly independent and impartial Appeal Service. Third stage appeals are assessed by the Independent Appeals Panel.

To view our latest statistics please click here.

Navigate

  • Make an Appeal

    Step-by-Step Process to appeal your notice.

  • Track an Appeal

    Securely track and monitor the progress of your online appeal.

  • FAQ

    Most Frequently Asked Questions about the Appeals Process.

  • Supporting Documents

    Useful reference documents to assist the appeals process.

Impartially assessing appeals

  • Arriva
  • CC
  • Greater Anglia
  • Grand Central
  • Avanti West Coast
  • London Overground
  • London Underground
  • London Buses
  • Crossrail
  • DLR
  • Great Western
  • Cross Country
  • Chiltern
  • Virgin
  • Transport for Wales

Penalty Fare Notices

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 current rail industry Penalty Fare Rules, 2002 or the TfL applicable Greater London Authority Act, 1999 by visiting Documents

Unpaid Fare Notices

Transport providers 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 Fare) Regulations 1994, Unpaid Fare Notices are issued in accordance with the Transport Provider's Policy & Procedures and the National Rail Conditions of Carriage.

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 Carriage by visiting Documents

Terms Privacy & Cookies Accessibility © 2015-2021 Appeals Service. All rights reserved

Appeal Service