Being taken to Court for Fare Evasion! PLEASE HELP!

[Old-CodJA]

can anyone else provide further advice?

 

Thanks

 

You have still not told us what you have been charged with, if you do, perhaps people can help you further.

[missylow]

Sorry - the charge is:

 

Entering a train for the purpose of travelling without a valid ticket

 

Is there any further info you need?

 

Thanks everyone

[missylow]

It says contrary to Bye Law 18 (1) of the Railway Byelaws made under section 219 of the Transport Act 2000 by the Strategic Rail Authority and confirmed under schedule 20 of the Transport Act 2000 by the Secretary of State for Transport on 22 June 2005.

 

I have already entered a not guilty plea, but my arrainment isn't until 7th Aug. If I'm going to be found guilty anyway I may as well change my plea & pay fewer costs.

 

In addition, I was wondering if anyone knows how long this prosecution lasts for on record? Will I always have a criminal record now?

 

Thanks

[Old-CodJA]

This is the 'strict liability' offence. It is the less serious of the two charges referred to earlier, but is usually the easiest for the rail company to prove

 

You are not being charged with intent to avoid a fare, so on what basis are you pleading 'not guilty' ?

 

Were you there?

Did you have a ticket?

 

If you were there and did not produce a valid ticket when asked, it would seem that the main elements of the offence as charged are proven unless there are strong mitigating circumstances

 

You would not be guilty of an offence under this legislation if you can show that either;

 

1) there were no facilities available for you to get a ticket before boarding the train

or,

2) that an authorised person gave you permission to board the train and pay at the earliest opportunity

[missylow]

What about if I thought I had beeped in? Sometimes you think your Oyster card has beeped and it hasn't. I said this at the time and it's stated in the official witness statement that I said I thought I had beeped in. Would this count or is it worth arguing? I'm wondering if I should just change to guilty now?

 

Thanks

[Old-CodJA]

That is mitigation, it is not a defence.

 

You can argue the point, but it is your responsibility to check and the machines give both audible and visual warnings.

[missylow]

Thanks - you have been really helpful with all this! Really appreciate it!

 

I'm guessing your advice would be to just change to a guilty plea now? I've read previous posts where there have been mitigating circumstances & it looks like they rarely get taken into account. They asked me before sending a summons whether I would like to say anything & I wrote a long letter & they didn't even acknowledge it.

 

Do you know how long the criminal record lasts and if it will affect my job prospects?

[missylow]

Just an update guys - I rang LOROL & explained the situation & they have given me an out of court settlement as there was nothing 'untoward' in my statement.

 

This was certainly a learning curve for me - I'll be triple checking that I have beeped in in future & I'm £182 down, but - most importantly I won't have a criminal conviction, which is all that really and truly was worrying me.

 

If anyone else is in the same situation - call them ASAP & ask to speak to the prosecutions manager! The guy I spoke was was absolutely lovely and really helpful. Was done within minutes and cheque is winging its way to LOROL as I type.

 

Thanks for all the advice - if it wasn't for this forum I would have simply been terrified and pleaded guilty by writing and then both had a criminal record AND had to pay costs of £104 plus the missed £7 fare anyway. What a relief

 

Good luck to all of you!

[idioticmistake]

Hi all, and congratulations on a good result missylow. I have been following a few threads on here recently as I made a stupid mistake last week and am fully expecting to receive a letter followed by a summons from South West trains in the near future for fare evasion. Assuming this does happen I think I have enough information from the posts I have already read to write back to them and to know to plead guilty if it gets to that stage. However, I have a couple of questions for those of you in the know which may seem silly, but I'd be grateful if you could answer them for me nonetheless.

 

Firstly, I realise I made a stupid mistake, I am panicking about it let alone being extremely embarrassed and, as he is struggling with having recently lost my Mum, I don't want my Dad to have to worry about this or to find out what an idiot I've been so my first question is to those of you who have received (or issued!) letters from prosecutions depts and/or court summons - is it obvious from the outside of the envelopes when the post arrives, or from having to sign for them or anything that this is what they are, or are they plain and unidentifiable from the outside?

 

Secondly, after reading several relevant posts I am unclear on whether prosecutions for fare evasion are private prosecutions brought by the rail company (in which case I guess you'd need to argue in correspondence why it would not be in their interests to bring it to court) or are they public, in which case you'd argue that it was not in the public interest?

 

Any information you can give me would be most gratefully received.

 

Thanks.

[missylow]

When I got my letter it was from London Overground & there was nothing distinguishing about the outside of the letter to say it was a summons or anything - I doubt SW trains would do anything different - but someone else may need to help you there! I certainly didn't need to sign for it - and I can' imagine you'd need to.

 

Honestly - the VERY first thing I would do is call the number for SW trains (Prosecutions Dept) and ask to speak to the Prosecutions Manager. It can be daunting, so write out what you want to say. Sound upset, apologetic & let them know that it's a first offense (assuming it is). Then ask them if you can settle the matter by paying the penalty fare and the admin charges. I guess it depends on what your 'stupid mistake' was though - if it was something similar to mine - i.e. thinking you'd beeped in then I'm sure they will agree to let you settle.

 

Good luck! Just so you know, I wish I had called the prosecutions manager straight off! Would have saved my self ages of worry!

[idioticmistake]

Thanks for the info and advice. Unfortunately my mistake was rather more stupid than yours. I idiotically said that I had got on closer than I had when trying to buy a ticket from an inspector. I immediately regretted doing so and when it was queried admitted the truth. As you suspected it's a first offense and I completely regret it, but I can't see them being overly lenient as it is a pretty obvious case of fare evasion. I have been advised that it is always better to write as that way you have a copy of what you've said etc but I guess I would have nothing to lose by giving them a call, perhaps after an initial letter.

 

Thanks again.

[dx100uk]

well done missy !

 

dx

[Old-CodJA]

Yes, well done,

 

I'm glad that it worked out OK and it's worth remembering that the £182 that you are paying, is probably around what the fine would have been in addition to the costs, victim surcharge, compensation and conviction record that would have gone with it.

[missylow]

I totally agree Old-CodJA - I think I would have ended up paying near enough the same amount AND had a criminal record. I think the whole thing just scares the life out of you!

 

idioticmistake - personally with LOROL they were crap at responding to written correspondance - but SW may be completely different! So I guess it's worth writing to them. In addition I think hopefully they should understand that you were just terrified and didn't intend to lie about where you got on (maybe say you normally get on at that station or something and it was the first thing that popped into your head - which clearly it was!). It's a very scary and embarrassing thing being interviewed by the inspector in front of everyone. If you explain that you were terrified and that it's a first offence, they may understand. After all - I guess they are human too!

 

Let us know how it goes

[SRPO]

Deleted.

Edited September 23, 2009 by SRPO

[missylow]

Dont be daft!

 

aww.. I was trying to be nice LOL

[K123]

Hi,

 

I am due to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty on 7th August for fare evasion. I was travelling with an Oyster card in zone 8 and only had zones 1 and 2 on my card. I thought I had beeped in but hadn't (I did have enough on my Oyster card on pre-pay). I explained this to the guard, but he read me my rights and gave me a formal interview on the train.

 

He asked me to pay the £50 penalty charge (which in hindsight I wish I had done!) but I explained I didn't have that amount on me. Incidentally he asked me to sign the interview which I did pretty much without reading it as I was scared, intimidated and embarrassed. I have been sent a transcript and the guard has written that he asked me to pay the FARE not the penalty fare and that I said I didn't have that amount on me which of course doesn't look great!

 

Also, he informed me that because I had zones 1 & 2 on my card I would not have to pay the full fare when I went through the barriers at Euston as Euston is in zone 1. I told him I wasn't aware of this and to be honest didn't think it was a huge issue if I didn't beep in as I would be charged the full fare when i went through the barriers at Euston. I didn't realise this would be avoided and got a zone 1 & 2 because I use the buses and the tubes in these zones and felt it was a cheaper way to use the underground.

 

I am unsure whether to just plead guilty and take the £100 fine now rather than going to court. I know that there have certainly been other occasions where I have forgotton having checked my usage of my oyster card online to beep in and I assume this isn't going to help my case.

 

What are the chances of me being found not guilty if I try to go to court? I am not great at arguing and don't have enough money really to pay for a solicitor as I am a Masters student. I have never had any form of conviction or warning in my life. I am 28 and work for the NHS - I am really worried that this conviction will show up on a CRB form as a conviction for dishonesty and that it will affect the rest of my career, which involves working with vulnerable children and adults with disabilities.

 

Please can someone give me sound advice as to what I should do here. I would be really grateful. I know I have been incredibly stupid.

 

Thanks

 

wah did u do?

[joliehunter]

My son followed this advice and it paid off - many thanks to Old CodJA now I can sleep at night

[Old-CodJA]

Glad it worked out OK. Well done