Court Summons for Fair Evasion

[drmac]

Hello all - I've been having a look over posts in this forum for about the last hour and there's a lot of useful stuff so thanks to everyone involved.

 

the situation;

it involves my girlfriend and happened about 4 months ago.

 

I wanted to post just to get a feel of things because at the moment I don't have all the exact details and she's worried.

 

She got the train from a station into London.

 

She bought a return ticket from a machine at the station that included a ‘zones 1-6 day travelcard’ (or whatever it's called).

 

However, she bought that ticket thinking that she had her 16-25 railcard with her.

When she got into London someone official asked to see her ticket and when she couldn't produce the railcard (because she'd left it at home)

he confiscated her ticket, took her details (which she gave) and told her she couldn't continue her journey and would have to go back.

 

She didn't have any money on her (only card) so he gave her a signed note to allow her make the journey back to the station that she had come from.

He must have made mention of the possibility of prosecution as I got a phone call at this point with her in floods of tears being worried about being sent to prison.

She made the journey back again without further problem.

 

This is where the plot thickens though

- when she got home and found her railcard it turned out that it had expired so it wouldn't have been valid even if she'd remembered it

(she has since bought a new railcard and continues to use it whenever we use the train).

 

She then received a letter a couple of months ago summoning her to court at the beginning of September.

 

She rang a solicitor on the strength of a friend’s referral and they weren't interested,

saying that it wasn't their area of expertise and she should contact someone local to the magistrates court.

 

She's now terrified that she's going to have a criminal record for fraud and lose her job.

This sounds unlikely to me but I have absolutely no experience of this sort situation so I can't offer any concrete advice.

 

Any thoughts on what I've said and how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sorry for the slightly hazy specifics

- she's just told me over the phone that she's due in court in a couple of weeks and doesn't have any idea what to do next.

I’ll get more from her asap and get them on here.

 

Cheers, drmac

[dx100uk]

what you have said here is good enough IMHO.

 

she REALLY needs to get her act together and PDQ

 

write a grovelling letter tomorrow

and send it off 1st class.

 

admit everything , but DON'T waffle,

 

offer to pay ALL costs and a resonable sum in respect to any equatalbe fine to avoid court.

 

sinsinctley explain that a criminal record will destroy her job & future career,

 

dx

[firstclassx]

Prison certainly isn't an option unless she is some sort of prolific serial fare evader.

 

If she already has a summons it might be a little late to arrange an out of court settlement, but definitely worth a try. My advice, is however, limited as present, as you haven't provided enough information so that I can review the situation:

 

1) What offence(s) is being charged? It will state on the summons. Usually Section 5(3a) Regulation of Railways or Railway Byelaw 18 (Railways Act 2005/Transport Act 2000).

2) What Train Operating Company is dealing with this? Hopefully not First Capital Connect or TfL.

3) Has she any previous history with fare evasion? Penalty Fares/Previous warnings etc?

4) A Train Operator won't issue a summons (usually) without first asking for her version of events. This would have been about a month before the summons arrived. What did she write in reply to that letter, or was it ignored?

5) What date is the hearing? (How near the beginning of September?).

6) How old is your daughter?

 

 

 

If you can answer those questions honestly as possible, me and other members will be able to offer more tailored advice.

[Old-CodJA]

The post by dx100uk is spot-on

 

It is clear that your daughter did not comply with the terms & conditions of Railcard issue tickets when purchasing the discounted ticket. These conditions make clear that the user of a discounted ticket must have their Railcard with them at the time of travel and must ensure that it is in-date before claiming the discount. If the traveller does not comply, the terms & conditions accepted when the Railcard is purchased say the traveller "will be treated as if no ticket is held".

 

It is likely that she will have been charged that she 'did offer an invalid ticket with intention to avoid a correct rail fare contrary to Section 5.3.a of The Regulation of Railways Act [1889]'

 

It is clear that she is over 18 years of age otherwise she would not have received a Summons to Magistrates Court. Your daughter must deal with this herself and quickly. (Obviously you may assist her in writing, but any letter must be signed by her.)

 

Depending upon what your daughter did, or wrote, when she received the rail company verification letter, it is not too late to ask the Prosecution department to consider an administrative disposal.

 

If your daughter has no previous convictions, or warnings for a similar matter, she might write directly to the prosecutors' office with a full apology for her 'uncharacteristic lapse of attention' and explain that any conviction is likely to have a 'profound and disproportionate effect on her continued employment and future career prospects'.

 

She should 'apologise to the company and staff concerned' and should give a 'sincere undertaking not to repeat the offence'. She should offer 'to pay the full fare due and all of the reasonable costs that have been incurred by the rail company in order to be allowed to be resolve this matter without Court action'

 

(She will need to be ready to pay the full amount, likely to be a minimum of around £150 plus any fares in full and by return if the company agree.)

 

Get this letter written as soon as possible, signed and dated by your daughter and posted by signed for delivery to the office from which the Summons was sent.

 

She should send a second letter addressed to the Legal Advisor at the Court concerned and ask for the case to be adjourned to a later date whilst, advising that she has written to the prosecution and is waiting for the Rail Company to consider her submission.

Edited August 22, 2012 by Old-CodJA

[drmac]

Hi, I'm the girlfriend using drmac's login.

I bought the ticket with what I thought was a valid railcard, only when I got to London did I discover with the inspector that it had expired. Both the expired Young Person's railcard and the ticket were confiscated and I filled in a form of events. I then receieved a letter for my statement, which I sent back within the time. A while ago now I recieved a summons for travel fraud on 5th September by First Capital Connect. It states Section 12(3)(a) of the Magistrates Court Act 1980.

What does that mean? Am I going to get a record?

 

I'm afraid I've buried my head in the sand, please help!

 

In reply to firstclassx:

 

• Section 12(3)(a) of the Magistrates Court Act 1980 is the charge
  
• First Capital Connect
  
• No previous history
  
• I replied with as statement as per their request, then got a letter telling me I was going to get a summonds. I seeked advice from a legal advise line and they said to wait for the summonds then they could advise more, but all they said was that their advise doesn't cover it and to find a solicitor.
  
• Hearing is on the 5th September
  
• I'm 25
  

The post by dx100uk is spot-on

 

It is clear that your daughter did not comply with the terms & conditions of Railcard issue tickets when purchasing the discounted ticket. These conditions make clear that the user of a discounted ticket must have their Railcard with them at the time of travel and must ensure that it is in-date before claiming the discount. If the traveller does not comply, the terms & conditions accepted when the Railcard is purchased say the traveller "will be treated as if no ticket is held".

 

It is likely that she will have been charged that she 'did offer an invalid ticket with intention to avoid a correct rail fare contrary to Section 5.3.a of The Regulation of Railways Act [1889]'

 

It is clear that she is over 18 years of age otherwise she would not have received a Summons to Magistrates Court. Your daughter must deal with this herself and quickly. (Obviously you may assist her in writing, but any letter must be signed by her.)

 

Depending upon what your daughter did, or wrote, when she received the rail company verification letter, it is not too late to ask the Prosecution department to consider an administrative disposal.

 

If your daughter has no previous convictions, or warnings for a similar matter, she might write directly to the prosecutors' office with a full apology for her 'uncharacteristic lapse of attention' and explain that any conviction is likely to have a 'profound and disproportionate effect on her continued employment and future career prospects'.

 

She should 'apologise to the company and staff concerned' and should give a 'sincere undertaking not to repeat the offence'. She should offer 'to pay the full fare due and all of the reasonable costs that have been incurred by the rail company in order to be allowed to be resolve this matter without Court action'

 

(She will need to be ready to pay the full amount, likely to be a minimum of around £150 plus any fares in full and by return if the company agree.)

 

Get this letter written as soon as possible, signed and dated by your daughter and posted by signed for delivery to the office from which the Summons was sent.

 

She should send a second letter addressed to the Legal Advisor at the Court concerned and ask for the case to be adjourned to a later date whilst, advising that she has written to the prosecution and is waiting for the Rail Company to consider her submission.

[firstclassx]

Magistrate's Court Act 1980 isn't the offence she's facing though.

 

That's just administrative/procedural legislation relating to the service of various documents.

 

It will either say:

 

Contrary to Section 5(3a) Regulation of Railways Act 1889 or;

 

Contrary to Railway Byelaw 18, as confirmed by S219 Transport Act 2000

 

(or words to that effect)

 

£300 should be enough to settle out of court, do you have access to that? I doubt FCC will go for anything less simply because the court will award them more than £150 if they win.

 

What did you write in your letter to them? Did you admit everything and apologise? Did you go to a self service machine?

 

First Capital Connect are really hammering the prosecutions at the moment. They only have 1 year left on the franchise so are maximizing their revenue streams in every way possible.

Edited August 22, 2012 by firstclassx

[drmac]

Sorry, it says ' contrary to byelaw 18(1) of the Railway Byelaws made under Section 219 of the Transport Act 2000, as confirmed by schedule 20 of the transport Act 2000'.

 

I said:

 

During my time as a student I was given a young persons railcard by Natwest Bank. I've since graduated and when I subsequently bought a ticket to travel from Harlington to St. Pancras on 14th April 2012, I assumed that railcard was still valid. However, upon inspection of the railcard by a Revenue Protection Inspector at St. Pancras, he informed me that the railcard was no longer valid.

I explained to the Inspector that I had not intended to commit fraud and I answered his questions (to complete a form) honestly and accurately, stressing that I had thought that the railcard was still valid.

After completeing the form and having my ticket and railcard confiscated, I was so distraught that I returned home immediately and searched for a valid railcard. When this could not be found I contacted Natwest Bank, who advised that they had provided me with a railcard for 5 years, but it had expired in 2011 with no automatic renewal.

In summary, I am very sorry for this mistake and I stress I had not intended to commit fraud. This arose from a genuine misunderstanding on my part, as I believed the railcard was valid. Now that I am no longer a student, i work locally and very rarely travel by train anymore, so was unaware that me railcard had expired.

 

It was a self service machine as no one was there, and there were no inspectors on the train only at the end of the line.

[Old-CodJA]

Sorry, it says ' contrary to byelaw 18(1) of the Railway Byelaws made under Section 219 of the Transport Act 2000, as confirmed by schedule 20 of the transport Act 2000'.

 

I said:

 

During my time as a student I was given a young persons railcard by Natwest Bank. I've since graduated and when I subsequently bought a ticket to travel from Harlington to St. Pancras on 14th April 2012, I assumed that railcard was still valid. However, upon inspection of the railcard by a Revenue Protection Inspector at St. Pancras, he informed me that the railcard was no longer valid.

I explained to the Inspector that I had not intended to commit fraud and I answered his questions (to complete a form) honestly and accurately, stressing that I had thought that the railcard was still valid.

After completeing the form and having my ticket and railcard confiscated, I was so distraught that I returned home immediately and searched for a valid railcard. When this could not be found I contacted Natwest Bank, who advised that they had provided me with a railcard for 5 years, but it had expired in 2011 with no automatic renewal.

In summary, I am very sorry for this mistake and I stress I had not intended to commit fraud. This arose from a genuine misunderstanding on my part, as I believed the railcard was valid. Now that I am no longer a student, i work locally and very rarely travel by train anymore, so was unaware that me railcard had expired.

 

It was a self service machine as no one was there, and there were no inspectors on the train only at the end of the line.

 

 

 

I understand why you have written what you have, but it has to be said that 'ignorance' is not a defence. It is up to the person claiming a discount to ensure that they are entitled to do so.

 

That means checking that your railcard is valid every time that you intend to use it and ensuring that you are carrying it with you when you make the journey.