A commuter has described her fury at being hit with a £142 fine – despite her repeated efforts to buy a train ticket.

Kelly Hannah-Rogers wanted to purchase a Flexi 28-day season pass at Folkestone Central station but when she arrived at 6.40am the ticket office was shut.

Despite three further failed attempts to pay at various points before arriving at St Pancras, she ended up being delayed for an hour at the London station before being issued with the “unfair” penalty notice.

The 51-year-old, of Connaught Road, Folkestone, told KentOnline: “The whole situation has caused me a huge amount of distress. I am furious at the way it has been handled.”

After finding the ticket office closed on Tuesday, October 10 - despite the Southeastern website saying it would be open from 6am – she tried paying using a machine at the station, but that would not work either.

“The ticket office is where I would normally always purchase my ticket,” Ms Hannah-Rogers said.

“It really threw me when I arrived at the station and saw it was shut.

“It’s crucial that they are open for getting certain tickets, especially when it states online that it would be open.

“This whole situation could have been avoidable.”

The barriers to the platform were open so Ms Hannah-Rogers decided to buy her season pass on the train instead.

But she says she was told by a member of Southeastern staff on board that this was not possible and she would need to purchase one when she arrived at St Pancras.

But once there, she was told she would need to pay for a £50 ticket for the journey she had just been on - on top of the £440.90 Flexi pass she wanted to buy.

Ms Hannah-Rogers, who works as an advocate for nurses and social workers, says she was not able to afford the extra £50.

“I explained that I wasn't refusing to buy a ticket,” she said. “I had endeavoured four times to purchase one.

“This member of staff was rude and at one point accused me of lying.

“I was then asked to speak to another employee. By this time I had explained the same situation half a dozen times to different members of staff.”

At this point, British Transport Police (BTP) arrived and tried to resolve the situation.

It was suggested to Ms Hannah-Rogers that she pay the single ticket fare and it could be deducted from the £440.90 on purchase of the Flexi pass.

After agreeing to do this, Ms Hannah-Rogers was then told she would need to travel to London Bridge to top up the Flexi pass via her ‘The Key’ card as “they could not do it at St Pancras”. The Key smartcard is an alternative to paper tickets, that Southeastern says “makes it quicker and easier to travel”.

“I had already been held up by an hour at this point and I had a training session planned which I was delivering at 9am for 250 people,” she added.

“I asked whether I could go through the barrier and sort out the ticket when I have access to my emails.

“I was told that I could not be let through the barrier and I questioned whether I was being detained.

“However, I was told that was not the case, but no one would tell me how I could leave the station.”

At this point, Ms Hannah-Rogers felt she had “no other choice than to accept the fine”.

She added: “I was issued with a £142.10 fine in order to be allowed off the station property.

“In the words of one of the staff members, I was told ‘you are free to go’ as he opened the barrier.”

Since receiving the fine, Ms Hannah-Rogers has attempted to appeal on two separate occasions but has not been successful.

In response to her first appeal, she was told “as the train company has provided proof that the opportunity for your Flexi season ticket purchase existed, I'm afraid it is the conclusion of penalty services that the penalty fare notice should stand”.

They added: “Although the mitigation mentioned on appeal has been taken into consideration, there is no evidence to support the discretion guidelines having been breached by the authorised collector at the time of issue.

“Having taken into consideration all the points raised to date, we regret to advise that your appeal has been unsuccessful.

“It is your right to re-appeal this decision.”

Ms Hannah-Rogers has now submitted a second appeal and is awaiting a response.

She believes the whole ordeal would have been avoided had the ticket office been open.

Recent proposals to shut ticket offices at 1,000 stations across the country have now been scrapped.

Southeastern has apologised for the inconvenience caused by the one at Folkestone Central being shut when Ms Hannah-Rogers arrived at the station.

A Southeastern spokesperson said: “We’re really clear that wherever possible, you must purchase a ticket before boarding a train. A penalty fare isn’t a fine, but rather a reminder to our passengers that they must buy a ticket before boarding a train.

“It’s the responsibility of every passenger to buy a ticket to travel before they do so and where we supply the facilities to do this.

“Unfortunately our ticket office at Folkestone Central was closed at that time – we’re sorry for the inconvenience that caused.

“However, as the letter outlined, Southeastern has explained that the opportunity to buy a ticket existed – when our member of staff asked the customer if she wanted to buy a ticket she declined as this wasn’t convenient, and said she would pay the penalty fare instead.”

The spokesperson said it was not possible for the member of staff to sell a Flexi pass on the train – but Ms Rogers could have purchased a single ticket on her phone.

A Flexi ticket is only offered on The Key in conjunction with the customer’s smartphone, they added.

A BTP spokesperson said: “The high visibility presence of our officers on the network is not to intimidate anyone, but to provide reassurance to passengers that we are there to assist them and deter crime.”