London penalty fares: £100, £50 and three appeals

Travelling in London without a valid ticket costs £100. Almost nobody pays that much, because there is a window in which the sum is halved. Knowing about that window matters more than arguing.

How much is a penalty fare, and when is it halved?

The full Penalty Fare is £100. Pay within 21 days of the notice being issued and it is £50.

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Twenty-one days is not "about three weeks" but an exact deadline. Miss it and the sum reverts to £100.

Can you appeal?

Yes, and the appeal runs in three stages, each with its own deadline and its own body.

First stage — 21 days. Handled by the Independent Appeals Service, covering buses, the Underground, the DLR, the Overground and TfL Rail. Tramlink goes to Tram Operations Limited. The clock starts the day after travel.

Second stage — 14 days. Handled by the Appeals and Prosecutions Team within TfL. The clock starts the day after the letter rejecting the first appeal.

Third stage — 14 days. The Independent Appeals Panel, on the same basis from the previous rejection.

What happens to the sum while you argue

This is the detail that costs people money. If your appeal is rejected, the reduced £50 is still available — within 21 days of the rejection letter. The policy itself adds a refinement: the deadline is 21 days from issue or 14 days from the rejection letter, whichever is later.

If neither payment nor a further appeal arrives within that new window, the fare reverts to £100.

The practical conclusion: appeal immediately, not on day twenty. The sooner the answer comes, the more time is left to pay the reduced rate if the argument is lost.

A penalty is not the only outcome

A Penalty Fare is an administrative measure. Separately there is prosecution for fare evasion, used not instead of a penalty at an inspector's whim but where the evasion is deliberate: someone else's concessionary card, a forged ticket, systematic travel without paying.

The difference is fundamental: a penalty is £100 and forgotten; a conviction is a record that surfaces in an employer's check.

How to avoid it entirely

Most penalties are issued not to determined evaders but to people who were sure they had paid. The card failed at the gate, the phone died carrying an "empty" wallet, a different card was used on exit than on entry. So: tap the same card all day, check the gate actually opened, and keep the means to show the charge.

If a notice is issued anyway, do not throw it away: it carries the date from which every deadline is counted.