Couple fined for getting off train too early

Couple fined for getting off train too early

A couple have told how they were fined £114 for getting off a train too early.



Emma Clark and her fiancé Davyd Winter-Bates were travelling home to Southampton, Hants, from London when they decided to alight two stops early at Eastleigh.

However, they were shocked when they handed over their tickets and were told they had to pay a penalty for not staying on the train until their destination.

They were each fined £57 by the rail operator South West Trains – twice the cost of a standard fare of £28.50.

Miss Clark, a 22-year-old art student from Bishopstoke, Hants, told The Sun: “It is utter madness. I could understand being fined if I had stayed on the train two stops beyond my destination.”

The train company said the couple incurred the fines because they were using discounted tickets, which do not allow passengers to break their journeys.

The pair had bought the single tickets for £6 online and were not aware of the conditions.

A spokesman for Stagecoach, which owns South West Trains, said: “Leaving a train early is not allowed on heavily discounted tickets. The fine is double the standard single fare.”

The couple were on their way home after a theatre trip and hotel stay in the capital to celebrate Mr Winter-Bates’s 25th birthday.

Comment: This is utter madness and I would urge the couple to sue the train company for their money back. This is not a case of breaking the journey by getting off midway and then getting back on another train to complete the journey. If you cannot get off a train when it suits you then this is not a free country!