Bus Fare evasion Tfl - Legal Notice.

[s_alimran]

Hi All,

 

I have been in situation. In March 2015 my wife was travelling on the bus to drop my son to school.

By mistake she take my brother's weekly travel card and when she been inspected. The weekly travel card been retained by the officer.

Now we are in receipt of a Legal Notice for Single Justice Procedure.

 

they have given us 3 option:

1: Plead guilty i don't want to come to court

2: Not guilty i want to come to court

3: Please not guilty send me the date of my trial.

 

Summary of incident:

My wife was travelling along with my son (4 years old) to drop him off to school of 9th March. In hurry she took my brother's weekly travel card. As they are in same color wallet. Over and above the bus driver let her in without looking her pass as she usually travel at same time everyday, i assume he knows her by face. So she hasnt check her travel card at that time as well. Unfortunately an officer board in and start checking the passes; she handed over her pass without knowing that she has my brother's pass. The officer retain the pass.

 

We have received the letter to which she responded and tell the whole circumstances. Now we are receipt of letter from TFL under :

71B using a pass issued to another person.

and intending to fine upto £125.00 + fare cost of £1.50

 

As my wife is not employed and is housewife we are really worried about the cost and the criminal record against her name.

 

Can you please guide me through what shall i do to avoid both fine as its not an intentional mistake and criminal record against my wife name.

 

Your help is much appreciated.

 

Looking forward to hear back from you.

 

Kindest regards,

 

s_alimran

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG. I'm sorry you haven't had any replies so far. This could be because most of us know more about train ticket problems than buses. But I know that TfL take a hard line on fare evasion.

 

Can you tell us what sort of pass it was please?

 

I'm a bit confused about this letter giving you an amount of £125 for the fine, because only a court can fine you. Maybe someone will know about that.

 

You can continue to negotiate with TfL up to and including the court date. And you can meet the prosecutor on the day and ask if they will let you settle out of court.

 

A couple of other questions please. When is the court date? And what did your wife say when she wrote back to TfL.

 

My best, HB

[s_alimran]

Hi Honeybee,

 

thanks for your prompt reply.

 

I receive the charge sheet on which it stated that, "Application is being made for a £125 contribution towards teh cost of Transport for London. Further cost may be incurred if additional documentation is required or if the matter is not resolved by a single justice.

There will be an application for compensation of £1.5 in respect of the fare avoided"

 

Thats why i state the charge of £125.00

 

My Wife stated that by mistake she has taken my brother's weekly pass as they are same wallet which has been retained by officer. I have already send the form with "Plead Guilty option" with letter requesting not to put any criminal record against my wife's name.

 

I dont know whether its a best course of action but i think that i havent got any other option.

 

Please shed some light from your experiences what will be the out come. I mention in application that she is a housewife not in any employment. Please reduce the penalty/charges .

 

I hope i will get some positive response.

 

thanks,

 

s_alimran

[honeybee13]

Hello again.

 

Court procedures aren't really my subject, but I don't think asking for your wife not to have a criminal record is going to work. Please google to find information on 'mitigation' to try to explain why your wife did this. I hope that an honest mistake could be mitigation, but hopefully others will confirm this.

 

Please tell us when the court date is. I hope other people will be along to comment, but I think you should try ringing the person at TfL who wrote the letter to ask if they will allow your wife to reach an out of court settlement. You need to stress [if it's true] that this is an isolated incident and that she promises always to have the right ticket in future, plus that she wishes to apologise to TfL and the staff involved.

 

I also suggest that you all have different colour wallets or put your name on your own, because we and TfL hear this reason for fare evasion all the time. I have to say I don't understand why people say they keep these wallets in a pile by the door or wherever and manage to pick up the wrong one, but that's just me.

 

HB

[rambo]

Same old same old.........

[Ganymede]

Same old same old.........

 

I know, was thinking "ah this old chestnut again" myself.