I was taught not to take something that is not mine and could be returned to the owner. I was told by LU that PAYG cards are not like cash and is like cash. Haven't you ever found a coin in the street before? Did you ignore it?

The education shouldn't destroy people'f future. I did whatever I could to solve the problem. That was a mistake that happened in less than 1 minute and I think fi you want to educate somebody, you don't need to ruin his future to teach something to him. You need to give him a chance at least once. Even the drug dealers get conditional discharge. The witness lied about my card. I had my own card but he had written I didn't and he can't remember it after so many months. I didn't say the job is not nice and creative because of what happened to me. I always have thought like that. There is a book written by some people and the prosecutors have to follow that even if the conditions are different. What was the point that LU ruined my life? Why didn't they give me the chance to learn what they refer as education? I don;t believe they were fair on me. The first set of judges said this was a genuine mistake so we need to go to trial. That is why we went on trial. LU has opened a business. By the way, my charge wasn't theft by finding. My charge was sth else. Why do you make it up? why do you twist the facts to prove you are right? Everybody makes mistake and there should be a chance to learn by not with a dark future. You ...

Actually I have a question. If you went back to 30 years ago, would you still choose to be a prosecutor? It doesn't seem to be a nice and creative job to me!

Thanks Old CodJA

Hi HB, I would have stopped using he card as soon as I would have realised that wasn't a normal card. I told this in the courttoo. I talked with a few solicitors on phone and a few emails with a few more. But I didn't get a paid one. I didn't know that I was breaking the law. I know you say I broke it but it wasn't intentionally broken.

Hi Old- Cod, As ever, thank you so much for your information. The LU costs is 260 and the rest is fine and the other thing. I just said about the story on the court day. I didn't say about my opinion about the LU. I got this view when I went to the court and saw the other cases. If you get off the train in the wrong station, then you are in trouble. If you are in hurry and forget to touch in, touch out, you are in trouble, if you lose your card accidentally, you are in trouble. None of the signs says you will be prosecuted if you don't have a ticket. they just say you have to pay double the price of the ticket/ £20 which ever is greater. Nowhere on the LU, they say there are different types are cards so people have anough info about what is going on in the system. I think These signs are like this intentionally but I might be wrong. Let's not talk about this as this is just a personal opinion. I have seen people who do not work and come to the court and get the fine of almost nothing. If it is a fair system then the fine should be equal amount. They can have financial aid for their defence which is paid by a tax payer. When it comes to a tax payer, they should pay for everything and the fine is 5-6 times more than the other person who doesn't work! I intent to write to the magistrates to reconsider the fine. Is that possible? If I appeal to the crown court about the fine, what will happen? Will they put the prices up even more? What would you suggest? I don't think I will appeal against the decision as I am tired of this process and want to get on with my life but I still believe I made a mistake because of lack of awareness and I don't agree with the charge at all! Many thanks, Helena

Hi HB, I just saw your post. On the hearing day, the magistrates decided to go to trial because there was a different story from me and the witness. I went on trial recently and they charged me around £700. I told the story as it was. The witness didn't accept the I had shown my card to him and I was carrying my own card. Now, is there any chance that I can reduce the fine? if yes, should I write to the magistrate or the crown court? or is it better to just forget it? I believe this fine is extremely unfair. Because I am working and paying tax, my fine should be more than somebody who is not working and who is not paying anything back to the system! What a fair decision!!! London Underground has opened a business by prosecuting everybody no matter what they use to travel.

Hi Wtlh, I just had a chance to read your post again. It is a very useful post. I didn't have enough time at work to read the whole post. Thank you very much.

Thanks a lot wtlh. I 'll go to the court for the hearing and explain my story to see what happens. Will keep you updated.

Thanks Bazza, Loads of technical words!

Thanks a lot Old-CodJA

Thanks OC, Old-fashioned, Can you please answer my previous questions? Please see below: "I am not sure what happens in this hearing (the hearing is to clarify my plea)? If I plead guilty on the day, is it the last date and they decide the rest on the same day or will they have another date to hear the case/decide? Can you tell me what form the hearing will take? Will there be a magistrate, and will it be the same magistrate that will hear the case? Do I have to finalise my plea at the hearing, or will I have to enter a plea following the hearing? Do I need to write another mitigation letter for this hearing or for the case? Does it make any difference how to dress?"

Thanks Lookintoinfo, This time is the hearing and I might plead guilty as I don't have much time and money to put on this case. 6 months of stress is more than enough that I can deal with. I don't believe I deserve to be in this situation because of a mistake and I might come out as not guilty if I hire a good and expensive solicitor but I can't afford that. BTW, do you know what happens if the case goes to crown court? The costs,...? I was just reading on one of the websites that it is more likely to come out of crown courts as not guilty.

Thanks

Thanks Lookintoinfo, I am intending to the court but not sure what to expect. OC said there is something on top of the page that tells me what happens in the court but I can't find it. Probably I am looking at the wrong place. I am reading about magistrate's court process (in general) from other websites but need to know more specific details about similar cases.