Hmm, I'm don't think my corraspondents implicate me anymore. I wonder if they were marked without prejudice is there anyting stopping me submitting them as evidence, in good faith to the court, should it come to that?

TOC Letter #1: [ATTACH=CONFIG]60598[/ATTACH] My Reply: To be honest re-reading that I could have been a bit more savvy in my response. But this is all new to me TOC Letter #2: [ATTACH=CONFIG]60597[/ATTACH] I am composing another letter in response to this. My angle will try to convince them I was not intending to avoid costs. Due to circumstances I mixed up my place of work with the origin of travel. It would seem they need to prove that I deliberatbly wanted to claim a shorter journey (true?). This I believe I am not guilty of. I am guilty of not haveing a ticket. I did try to buy a ticket, I did also try to correct my mistake there and then, and I did offer to buy a ticket at the correct fare. I was also advised NOT to buy a ticket post signing of statment. Would a request for an out of court settlement be advised? Would it be seen as admission of guilt? I'd appriciate experienced users to comment please. Many thanks.

If I had pre-planned evasion for a journey that was going to put the company out hundreds of pounds then it would be just to make a conviction. However I didn't preplan anything. I really wanted the Llandaff station office to be open I just screwed up when I misclaimed my origin. My mind was on the beerfest and the fact my usual journy to cardiff central is from Cathays as I work there. So I feel the prospect of a criminal record for this lack of concetration is very unjust. Anyway as you say I hope some rail expert migh be able to advise on the best course of action.

Thanks for the response, so are you saying it's written in stone and my ass is grass? There should be a way of appealing to the humanity in these companies. Can anyone suggest the best way in doing this? I'm already convinced my MP needs lobbying. The heavy handed wording of communications from the collectin agency and the real threat of criminal conviction on a case like this seems terribly unreasonable and unjust.

Dear forum users, I hope I can gain some useful advise here as I can't afford proper legal advice. Story goes: I took a train from Llandaff to Cardiff Central (3 stops £3.60) for the local beer festival. Spirits were high and my mind wasn't on the ball. The ticket office was closed at Llandaff so usual run of business is buy on the train or at Cardiff Central. This train the conductor went back into his cabin and so I could not buy a ticket. When I got to Cardiff Central I asked where can we get a ticket bacause there was no ticket office open. Was directed to unpaid fairs desk. This is where I did things wrong big time. I claimed I came from Cathays. 1 stop after Llandaff. 60p cheaper. My normal run to work is Llandaff>Cathays. I claimed ticket office was closed. They called the station, station said they been open all day. During call I realised I wasn't thinking straight and said I came from Llandaff, but still ticket office was closed. I offered to pay the full fair but the officer said it was pointless as I was going to have to pay twice. So I didn't. This was all taken down in a statement and I had to sign it. Letter came few weeks later, I responded giving my story of events, apologised firmly stating that I had every intentiont to buy a ticket but put my hands up for confusing Llandaff and Cathays stop. I also offered to pay the full fair and wished not to waste anymore of their time. I'm a regular user of the service and always pay. I still have a Llandaff>Cathays rtn ticket for that day. I hold my hands up, I've done wrong I've been informed I must respond to the threat of court proceedings within two weeks before it progresses. I've no criminal record and I don't want to get one because of a stupid fib and 60p. Am I being paradoid or is what I did that serious? Any adivse on how to proceed would be much appreciated.