Student fined £130 over first class 'confusion'

A Lincolnshire student has described his £130 fine by a train company as "wholly disproportionate" after he claimed he and other passengers were caught up in the "confusion" over the use of first class carriages.

Theo Griffiths, from Boston, was travelling to London on Tuesday as part of his course when he moved from an overcrowded standard carriage into a first class compartment at the front of the train.

Mr Griffiths said he thought he was able to make the move as some of the first class compartments on the Thameslink service were "declassified" and could be used by all passengers.

However, the firm said only the first class compartments at the rear of the train could be used by everyone.

The 19-year-old business student said he was shocked when he was handed the fine.

"The fine is wholly disproportionate and a far better solution would have been to simply be asked to move or pay the difference," he said.

"Instead, customers are treated like criminals on the railway now and this discourages people from using public transport."

Mr Griffiths, who is appealing against the penalty, said there had been a large response from people with similar stories after he posted details of his experience on social media.

"Something is needed to make their rules clearer," he said.

"You can't just have a first class section which is declassified on some routes and then it's not on some others, and then it's only at the back but not the front.

"It's just really confusing."

A spokesperson for Thameslink said the rear first class compartments on its trains had been declassified since in 2016,"to create more space for customers with regular tickets".

"No-one would think they were not in a first class compartment," the spokesperson said.

"It is clearly signposted both on the outside and the inside of the carriage. Our station platform train describer boards also clearly state where first class is situated.

"The compartments also look very different and they are separated from the rest of the carriage by a door."

The spokesperson added that the fine was dictated by national rules, and was £100 plus the price of the full single fare, reduced to £50 plus the price of the single fare if paid within 21 days.

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