Permit to travel
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In the ticketing system of the British rail network, a permit to travel provisionally allows a passenger to travel on a train when they have not purchased a ticket in advance and the ticket office of the station they are travelling from is closed, without incurring a penalty fare.
Since a large proportion of rail passengers travel without having their tickets checked at any point of their journey—particularly at off-peak times when stations are more likely to be unmanned—the obligation to possess a permit to travel allows the collection of at least some revenue from passengers who would otherwise travel for free.
Permits to travel bear the warning that they are not fare tickets and must be exchanged for one at the first opportunity. The machines which dispense them also print details such as the station and time of issue, and the amount paid. This record of the station of issue means that a passenger travelling on a permit cannot claim that they have only just boarded the train (allowing them to travel on a cheaper fare) if they are not reached by a ticket inspector until a few stops after boarding. Permits to travel are in any case only valid for two hours from the time shown on them.
If the holder of a permit to travel is asked to present their ticket by an inspector, they will be asked where they are travelling to and issued with the appropriate ticket, and will be charged the difference between the balance already paid, as stated on the permit, and the full cost of the ticket for their journey. If they have already paid the full price of the ticket it will be exchanged for the permit and no money will change hands. Because any amount of money on a valid permit to travel will ensure that a passenger cannot be charged a penalty fare, it is entirely possible (if not encountered by an inspector, who will sell a full ticket) to make a two hour train journey for as little five pence (this is the lowest denomination coin the machine will accept) without breaching any fare regulations. However, this may occasionally be frowned upon by ticket inspectors who may regard it as an attempt to exploit a loophole which allows fare dodging.
Permits to travel are dispensed from machines at stations which closely resemble those found in pay and display car parks. When a station is manned and its ticket office open the machine will usually be deactivated, and a light illuminated to indicate that full tickets should be purchased. Station staff frequently neglect to switch on permit machines when they close the ticket office, making it impossible to travel without being technically liable for a penalty fare. The passenger's best course of action in this case may be to say that the ticket office was closed and feign ignorance of the permit system, as many people who travel by train regularly are only vaguely aware of it, and ticket inspectors will often allow a certain leeway or give passengers the benefit of the doubt if it appears that they have not made a deliberate attempt to avoid payment, in which case the passenger will simply be charged the full price of the ticket they should have bought.