Misleading new Penalty Fares posters by Northern

[bengley]

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I've just noted this poster at Preston, which states that if you don't have a ticket before you board, you will receive a £100 fine.

This is not correct. A penalty fare is not a fine. Fines can only be awarded by a court.

The maximum fine for ticketless travel if taken to court is significantly more than £100.

As far as I'm concerned this poster isn't correct and must be breaching some sort of advertising rules?

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

Fine is not ordinarily a protected or regulated word. It's also highly unlikely to be misleading. Arguably it's not even incorrect. Most people (in the real world, not this forum) in 2023 would understand a penalty to be a fine and vice versa. This applies to all sorts, from a police fixed penalty notice, car park enforcement, council littering ticket etc. You may also pay a library overdue fine!

One definition of fine could be "to charge someone an amount of money as a punishment for not obeying a rule or law".

In some cases, it may even be clearer to use the word "fine" than "penalty".

Unless the poster etc is regulated in itself, (which this one is not), i.e. specific wording has been legislated, "fine" is absolutely fine!