A question for James Cleverly GLA member and Boris Ambassador - Where is the common sense?

I despair of this country sometimes. It seems to me that that there is no such thing as common sense or common decency in the petty minded, bureaucrats we have to deal with. If you received an official letter from an arm of the government about one of your children, how would you react.

Putting aside the obnoxious and patronising tone for one second, you might think that my child had been up to some serious no good. Talk of courts and sentences. What henious crime do you think the offspring of Rog T have been getting up to.

Well one of my children went down to London for the day with some friends. On the way back, she decided to use the Thameslink Service from St Pancras to Mill Hill. She touched in at the Thameslink station and the barrier opened. She went and got on the train.At Mill Hill, she was stopped by a ticket inspector. "Where's your ticket" He asked. She produced her pay as you go Oyster card. He said "That's not valid at this station" My child replied "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know, it let me get on the train and it's in zone 4 so I thought it was". The inspector replied "You should know that Thameslink isn't covered by Pay as you go". My child replied "There were no signs". The inspector was adamanant "You should have checked, I'm giving you a £20 penalty fare notice". My child has never been in trouble and was quite traumatised. As she'd touched in but not touched out, she'd actually been charged more than the cost of the journey, she'd been terrorised by a bully in a uniform and she'd been told she'd have to pay a fine.

My wife wrote a letter of appeal to the appeals service. She explained that my daughter, had made a genuine mistake. Shes not familiar with the ins and outs and arcane payment rules. She didn't realise that Thameslink is not in the scheme. There are even PAYG readers in the station. She explained that for young people, unfamiliar with all of this the system can be confusing. She explained that my daughter had used her Oyster PAYG at ST Pancras, so presumably had actually been charged for her journey. She assumed that as PAYG worked in St Pancras it would work in a Station in zone 4. The fact that Boris can't get the system to work at Mill Hill, despite having the readers installed for nearly a year, is not relevant. The fact that there are no big signs alerting kids. The fact that she'd never done it before. Nothing mattered to the cash hungry vultures. Here's what the reply said.  Click on the letter for a readable view.

Even more insulting to me was the letter from the "revenue collection" side. This is the bit of the organisation which wants your dosh. If this is how they treat youngsters who have made a genuine and understandable mistake, is there any wonder that we are losing respect for such institutions.

What justification can there possibly be for being so threatening and patronising to parents of a child who has made a genuine mistake. I can think of nothing worse than bullies in uniforms picking on children. Especially when they are backed by a cruel, heartless and aggressive bureaucracy. One other point I will make. Boris Johnson said when he took over that he'd sort out pay as you go Oyster cards on National Rail. There was a revenue protection hit squad at Mill Hill Broadway on Tuesday evening, giving penalty fares to people with PAYG Oyster cards. I asked one of these people when the PAYG Oyster, which they have readers for at Mill Hill would be available. His reply "I'm not here to answer questions". Boris's deputy mayor for Young People is a Conservative GLA member called James Cleverely. He's a good guy, by all accounts. He talks straight and seems honest. I have this question for you James. What message has all of this sent to my child? What opinion of authority will she have now? Have a word with your boss Boris and get him to sort these numskulls out. By all means fine kids if they lie, repeatedly get caught or try and evade fares. In this case a polite explanation and a warning not to do it again would have sufficed. It appalls me. Here is the full letter from the purple nasties.