A university student who says she was misled by station staff while trying to get home during a train strike has been convicted in a fast-track court hearing of fare evasion.
Mariah Laheri, 20, was bought a ticket online by her father, but found services were disrupted by ASLEF union industrial action on April 5.
She told a court her father was assured by railway staff that the ticket would be valid on other services, as she attempted to navigate from Gillingham to Preston to see her family.
Ms Laheri got on to the train after being personally told on the platform by a staff member that her ticket would still be valid, she says.
However she was then confronted on board by a ticket inspector, and on September 24 she was charged with fare evasion.
Ms Laheri wrote in to the Single Justice Procedure to explain the circumstances behind the incident, after being told she was being prosecuted by government-owned London North Eastern Rail.
“I’m a university student. It was my 1st year at university using public transport”, she wrote.
“My dad books my ticket using Trainline as I come home usually every fortnight.
“On the day of travel there was a rail strike. My dad physically went to Manchester Victoria railway station (he was in Manchester on that day of strike) and explained that I had to travel from Gillingham to Preston but due to strike what my options are.
“My dad was told clearly when there is a strike you can use any train to get home as it’s not your fault. He was told this was normal.
“My father told me to get on any train as explained by the staff but still to ask before you get on the train to verify. I did ask the staff on the platform who said yes, it is OK for you to board this train due to the circumstances.
“As I explained to the ticket master on the train, I was told I CAN board this train due to rail strike on the other network.”
Ms Laheri, from Blackburn, was charged with failing to hand over a valid ticket, and entered a guilty plea online.
But in her mitigation she insisted she only technically committed an offence because she had been misled by staff.
“This is my case – if I was told I couldn’t I would have purchased another ticket and claimed a refund in the usual way which I didn’t as I did travel”, she wrote.
“As you can appreciate, I was told misinformation by two members of staff. I would like the court to consider this please.
“I purchase a ticket every time I travel. It has caused me a lot of stress but feel I did purchase a ticket and boarded the train in good faith. I was not aware of the different network policies.”
Department for Transport OLR Holdings (DOLR), the governmental body which operates the rail firm, said Ms Laheri has a ticket for an Avanti service rather than LNER.
In the Single Justice Procedure, the case was dealt with behind-closed-doors at a hearing in North Shields, with Ms Laheri receiving a criminal conviction and being ordered to pay £40.10 in compensation and £60 in costs.
The sentencing magistrate dealt with the case based on written evidence alone, including her guilty plea and mitigation.
When The Standard pointed out to DOLR that the prosecution had been brought without any actual evidence or statements to support the criminal charge, it said a review of the entire company’s enforcement strategy is now underway.
“Doing the right thing for our passengers is at the centre of all we do”, said a DOHL spokesperson.
“We remain firmly committed to tackling fare evasion, this has not changed.
“But we have reached the view that it is right to look again at the simplification of fares and ticketing and revenue enforcement processes across our train operators to ensure they are being implemented fairly and robustly.
“We will continue to work with the government and the wider industry to ensure that we continue to put passengers first, with clear and easy to understand products and services.”
