It is a journey that Christina Ridley has taken daily for a decade; travelling from Wolverton to Central Milton Keynes for work.
Each week, Christina, who has autism, purchases a seven day season ticket and goes about her business.
“On Wednesday 17th September she was stopped by an inspector at Wolverton who had checked her tickets and let her onto the platform,” her father Paul told MKFM, “When she got off at Milton Keynes Central she was stopped by another ticket inspector and showed him her tickets.
“He asked if she had a token, which she knew nothing about and fellow members of staff and other inspectors hadn't even heard about them.”
The inspector took her details, and Christina continued using the ticket for the remainder of the week with no issues, before throwing it away.
A week later, a letter arrived demanding £175 costs and £4 for fare avoidance.
Paul and Christina appealed, but the charges were upheld.
“It was upsetting, and we just couldn't work out why this had happened. Christina always purchases her tickets. It was unsettling for her,” Paul said.
MKFM raised the issue with Northwestern Railway who reviewed the case again – and cancelled the charges.
A London Northwestern Railway spokesperson said: “Our revenue protection officers play an important role in ensuring customers pay the correct fare and can issue tokens at stations to verify where passengers began their journey.
"We take all appeals seriously and carried out an investigation into Ms Ridley’s experience. On this occasion, a penalty fare was issued incorrectly, and we cancelled the charge.
“We apologise to Ms Ridley for the distress caused and we have taken steps to prevent this from happening again.”
