London Overground fine - taken to court..help required. - ** SETTLED OUT OF COURT **

[Tom154]

Evening all.

 

My first post so apologies if i'm breaching any newbie rules or anything, but here goes:

 

Today i was contacted by my niece who was caught for not having an ticket on a stretch of London Overground back in December.

 

She basically didnt pay the £80 fine on the spot, and didnt respond to two reminders she was sent over the next couple of months.

 

A few weeks ago, she was sent a letter calling her to a date at Magistrates court, which is at the end of June.

 

On one of the pages, marked "acknowledgements and notice of plea", it outlines her options of pleading. Clearly the sensible option is for her to plead guilty and let the court sit in her absence.

 

However, is there any benefit (and time for that matter) in her trying to settle directly with London Overground before the date of the hearing by offering to pay the fare, their costs of £125, and perhaps a fixed amount of , lets say, £50 ? She is on a 16 hour contract with her employer, so her regular wage wouldn't be substantial enough to make a huge offer to them.

 

With just over three weeks to the court date, would there be time for her to attempt settlement before she has to let the court know of her intentions ?

 

I've made her aware of the bone headedness of the whole situation she has got herself into, but i'd like to see she makes the right choice as to how to bring the thing to a conclusion.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tom

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG. I expect the forum guys will be along later with advice for you.

 

I think you've summed up the situation your niece has got herself into, apart from a picky comment from me that she hasn't had a fine yet because she hasn't been to court yet.

 

In answer to your question about negotiating, yes I would say it's well worth trying, but I think it would be worth waiting for the transport guys' input before writing. I'm not sure where you got your figure of £125 from, have London Overground mentioned that please? If not, the guys might be able to give you an idea of what to say so that they might settle before the court date.

 

My best, HB

Edited June 6, 2014 by honeybee13
Spelling. :(

[Tom154]

Thanks for the reply HB..

 

Apologies - yes the scan of the letter she sent me mentions a penalty fare of £80 rather than a fine.

 

The £125 comes from a sentence towards the end of a page headed statement of facts where it ends with :

 

' The fare outstanding is £4.50, and this is claimed together with the sum of £125.00 towards the prosecution'

 

Thanks again for the prompt reply.

 

Tom

[honeybee13]

You're welcome.

 

Thank you for the extra information, I hope it will help the forum guys to advise you. As it's the weekend, they may not be along immediately, but if don't start getting replies tomorrow I will send out a couple of requests for help.

 

HB

[Old-CodJA]

If this started with a Penalty Fare and the figure quoted is £80 it suggests to me that your daughter had ignored more than one notice.

 

 

That being the case, even if minded to do so, the prosecutor is unlikely to settle for a figure that is less than their costs application to the Court plus any outstanding fares. It might help to get an idea of the likelihood of settlement if we knew what area she was travelling in. Specifics aren't necessary, but the line would be helpful as LOROL do handle some work for another TOC within the remit of their parent company family..

[Tom154]

Thanks for the reply Old-Codja..She's definitely ignored two notices to pay from what she has told me - i havent seen copies of those letters though.

 

And she was travelling between Shoreditch High Street and New Cross Gate at the time..

 

Thanks Tom

[Old-CodJA]

That's definitely LOROL territory.

 

She might consider very quickly sending a recorded delivery letter asking the TOC to consider accepting the fare due and all of the costs that have been reasonably incurred by them in bringing this case as an alternative to prosecution. If she has no previous 'record' of any kind she might state this and give an unmitigated apology and assurance not to travel without a valid ticket in future.

 

If they agree she saves herself an almost certain criminal conviction.

 

The TOC do not have to accept that offer, but will generally consider such an approach seriously.

[rebel11]

Hi Tom154

 

In post 18 is an example, but different circumstances, amend (change everything that does not apply) and add to make it relevant to your niece's specific circumstances.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?387031-Lost-weekly-travel-card

[Tom154]

Just as an update folks - letter was sent off to the Prosecutions Dept at LOROL last week, which they acknowledged same day asking for us to contact them by telephone.

 

One phone call later, they accepted settlement for the sum of £140..which was less than we actually offered to pay in total. Quite a result in my opinion - no criminal record. Court date cancelled. And i'll be honest, a very straightforward, pleasant experience with Lorol and their prosecutions dept. Very surprised all in all.

 

Thanks to everyone that contributed on here.

 

Tom

[honeybee13]

Hello Tom. That's great news, well done. And thank you for coming back to tell us.

 

I'll amend your thread title.

 

HB

[gigs]

Interesting, glad it worked out better than expected.

 

Quite surprising since from the many posts in this forum involving ppl trying to just pay a fine instead of getting convicted of anything. I always thought they where quite happy to prosecute and shy away from letting ppl just pay a fine in a quick and efficient manner (as in your case) once the ball starts rolling (multiple ignored notices).

[Tom154]

Interesting, glad it worked out better than expected.

 

Quite surprising since from the many posts in this forum involving ppl trying to just pay a fine instead of getting convicted of anything. I always thought they where quite happy to prosecute and shy away from letting ppl just pay a fine in a quick and efficient manner (as in your case) once the ball starts rolling (multiple ignored notices).

 

I'll admit i was very surprised that they accepted, and so quickly too. Maybe it was my skills at letter writing