Fare evasion Please HELP!!

[Grotesque]

I'll happily apologise if I'm wrong and will also happily donate £100 to a Charity of your choice

 

BLIMEY!!! -a whole hours' wages???

[Grotesque]

One more query if I am convicted :S how long will this be on my criminal record - is there any chance that I can avoid a criminal record even if I am prosecuted??Thanks again

 

YES -if you are prosecuted and found 'Not guilty' or the case is dropped;

NO -if you are prosecuted and found 'Guilty'.

[Grotesque]

Yes they are not similar situations. And the results may well be the same. But more likely to be different!

[Grotesque]

Apologies if my reply seemed disconcertingly vague....

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...did you offer him a 'GOOD' drink ...it's all part of the procedure you know

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...Is today's right answer!!!! If you had it would have constituted Attempted Bribery, thus enabling you to worry about the whole thing even more....

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No way. LOL. It's all taken in the spirit with which it's intended!!!

Edited July 4, 2012 by Grotesque

[Grotesque]

Apologies, I thought you had already been advised pretty thoroughly. O/C's posts (26, 28, 33 I think especially) pretty much summmarise the posistion. Let's re-cap.

 

1. You altered a ticket thus demonstrating intent to defraud the railway company, regardless of the amount of the loss to company, this is a statutory offence under various legislation.
   
2. The Inspector has written a report which he will submit to his Prosecutions Dept. Incidentally, that's why an Inspector when asked on what's going to happen following a report will often- and in all honesty! -reply, "I don't know" or, "the railway will write to you", because that's the case. The Inspector is merely an expert witness; he does NOT make the decision to prosecute, and that's all he can honestly say (disingenuously, perhaps) once he submits a report.
   
3. The Prosecutions Dept. will consider his report and if they feel that you were guilty of what you have been reported for, will write to you on the matter, possibly mentionning a potential charge at this point. THIS IS THE STAGE YOU ARE AT. Post #2 above made a good point about writing a letter, but you can't do that until someone has written to you (so you'll have an office contact, reference numbers, etc). Do nothing until then. And for Crippen's sake, stop panicking. You will NOT be charged under the Forgery, Fraud, or Counterfeiting Acts* (they're for people who laser-copy Gold cards etc). Likewise you will NOT get a thousand pound fine or a year in stir or whatever some other posters have suggested (not wrongly, but you generally need not worry about maximum sentences for a first offence).**
   

At the end of the day, you can't do anything now. Don't worry about phoning them; if the Inspector hasn't even made out his report (supposedly) then they won''t even know who you are; and hey! -what if he forgets? Phenomenally unlikely, but never impossible.

When they write toyou, that's when we'll know where we stand; the ball will be in your (our!) court (Npi) and we can go from there.

Bear in mind, things can be settled on the steps of the court- I've seen wads change hands, so it's never too late, until it is, of course. But remember the Prosecutor is human- his job description is to maximise the efficiency of the company's revenue protectorate, NOT to destroy lives. Somethings will never be settled administratively, and your case may unfortunately be one such, but if they can get the money / costs etc they feel due, and that you have been deterred from repeating such an act, they might feel it's worth freeing up some court time for a more deserving case (e.g., the aforementioned Gold card laser copier!!! lol).

Come back with a letter bro. Keep calm....

 

*Obviously that's my opinion, not the CAG's, and personal rather than legal...

**Ditto

[Grotesque]

 

...temporarily of course!

Edited July 4, 2012 by Grotesque

[Grotesque]

It could be worse mate. Lot of other people done far worse and got away with it

 

Still in with a chance yet.

All the best.

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Hope you reported that PM, OC... thus justifying HB's sig... lol

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Ssd, have a look at my post here. No too cases are the same oof course but might give you the gist. I gotta go so can't reply with the depth you deserve at the mo

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?357071-FCC-intent-to-prosecute&p=3900665&viewfull=1#post3900665

[Grotesque]

Well, they don't record phone calls (for the purposes of evidence) or take extemporaneous notes during them, which means that the apology you make to whoever answers the phone might not get passed on to whoever's dealing with your case. Why not put the same in writing? That way, it all goes in the same folder and is evidence rather than hearsay tht you showed contrition. That's the way forward.

Good luck!

[Grotesque]

Thought i would also include that the guy i phoned did say we dnt like takin ppl to court and thts not really what we usually plan all the time as long as i can reply back to the letter we can further decide once we recieve it?

 

Wot O/C sez.

 

See, he would have been speaking 'off the record', so wouldn't want it advertised. It could stop similiar offers being made in the future...