WHEN are people of this country going to wake up to the fact that it is not legal for a private citizen (or company) to impose fines or penalties on a citizen without a court hearing?

I refer in this instance to the letter (May 5) by Mrs A Butler.

Surely, if a person boards a train without a ticket for reasons other than purposeful fraud and willingly pays when challenged by a ticket collector, he may have broken a company rule but he certainly has broken no law, in fact it makes the ticket collector's role rather superfluous!

It's the same with private security companies who have a nasty habit of issuing tickets to motorists, fines that have no real legal standing and would not hold up in a real court of law.

I have in the past accused this Government of making up laws as they go along, laws that suit them at the time, which have no bearing on actual British law.

This is what is happening in this country today and people should be made aware of their legal rights and not be afraid to challenge what they see as illegal demands for cash when they fall foul of employees of private companies.

This letter is not intended to encourage lawbreakers to challenge British laws but to protect the innocent or cases of petty misdemeanours from exorbitant and illegal fines from private companies.

L A O'BEE, Lordswood, Southampton.