Why Administration Charges?
The key points are:
- If you pay or appeal on time there are no administration charges.
- If you do not, then you should contribute to the extra costs.
People with honest intentions can find themselves travelling without a vaild ticket, either because of their own mistake or because of some failure by the Train Company. The Penalty Fares process aims to make it straightforward to put things right: you have 21 days to pay if the mistake was yours, or to appeal if you think the mistake was the Train Company's.
Both the Penalty Fare and Unpaid Fares process aims to make it straightforward to put things right: you have a given period of time to pay if the mistake was yours, or, to appeal if you think the mistake was the Train Company's .
If you pay or appeal within the given time there are no administration charges.
If your appeal is unsuccessful, you will have a further 14 days to pay, and if you do so there will be no Administration Charges
Administration Charges exist for two reasons:
- To encourage passengers to follow the Penalty Fare rules, and thus to keep the process as simple and as quick as possible.
- To deal with the extra costs caused by people who do not pay or appeal on time.
Sometimes it takes several letters to persuade people to pay the debt. Sometimes the Train Companies have to take them to court, which often costs more than they get back. But it would not be right - or fair to those who follow the rules - simply to let these cases drop.
We believe - and the Department for Transport have agreed with this - that it is right that the people who cause the extra costs should contribute to covering them.
The alternative is that the extra costs should be borne by the Train Company. In this case the costs and the lost revenue simply add to the pressure for fare increases, and the consequence is that passengers who follow the rules end up paying more because of those who do not.
This would not be fair, and we try to avoid it by applying Administration Charges to those who cause extra costs.
Are there any other charges?
Bounced Cheques: a bounced cheque attracts a charge of £8, to cover our bank charges and the cost of writing a further letter. We will subsequently accept no further cheque payments from a person who bounces a cheque.Card Payments: payments by debit/credit cards are subject to a 3% charge, to cover our bank costs.