Penalty Fares on the tube

It is really worth having a look at London Underground's Official site only because I don't want you to buy what you think is an "unlimited" Travelcard and then travel outside your zone and get a 10 pound penalty fare. If you're travelling to London as a tourist or out of towner it's really worth having a look at this page and the pages which link to it.

There's a load of hideous information here about Penalty Fares and how not to get charged them.

I happen to think the transport people who fine you are sadists though as sometimes us regular travellers do forget their annual pass and then end up having to pay the £10 penalty fare. Here's a word from Craig Cannell who signed my guest book:

"A few weeks ago i received a penalty fair for the first time in the 8 years of using the underground. I always buy the correct ticket and currantly own a £1,400 annual ticket. I was travelling to Watford for the first time and unfortunately for me it's outside zone 6 and my ticket was not valid as its in zone 2 I think. Anyway I explained to the ticket officer that I was unaware that my ticket was not valid.(As if I would walk through with a wrong ticket when the ticket officer was right in front of me). I paid the extra from zone 6 to zone 2 around £1.20 but still I had to pay the rest of the fine as when I wrote to London Underground they said I had to pay as I had an invalid ticket for the zone.

"They have a nerve to charge £1400 for a ticket with a service that makes me 20 mins late every day. Sometimes I have walked into work around 2 hours late even though I had left early incase of delays. I think the underground is being run by a bunch of cowboys. Nuff said. "

So folks, be careful out there. Make sure you have a valid ticket for the whole of your journey.

For more on life on the London Underground try Goingunderground.net

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