TFL Freedom pass misused

[Tenbagger]

Hello,

 I have received a letter to appear at Magistrates court for fare evasion on 15 counts.

'Contrary to Byelaw 17(1) of the Transport for London Railway Byelaws Made under paragraph 26 of Schedule 11 to the Greater London Authority Act 1999 and confirmed under section 67 of the Transport Act 1962'

I have been provided 2 options-
(1) Attend Court and enter your Guilty plea in person.
It states that a plea of guilty at first hearing in most instances will result in a reduced penalty. The court will inform you of the decision whilst you are present

If you plead guilty Transport of London will make an application to the Court for you to pay the amount of costs and compensation as stated on the requisition

(2) plead not guilty - This will result in a trial and I want to avoid this at all costs.

Further more the letter states 
' This requisition states the offences that it is said you have committed. You can plead GUILTY or NOT GUILTY.

 
Please see the attached file - it states on point 3 - You must attend court in person to confirm that you do not wish to be prosecuted for those offences and that you were the person who made those journeys.

Any advice on what steps to take next. I don't now want anything to appear on by criminal background checks and would just like to settle this as soon as possible without any damage to my record. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
 

 

 

requisition to attend Lavender Hill Magistrates Court november.pdf

[honeybee13]

Hello, welcome to CAG.

 

Have you tried contacting TfL and asking if they will allow you to reach an administrative settlement with them for the cost of the fares you didn't pay plus their expenses in dealing with this?

 

Best, HB

[Tenbagger]

Hello Honeybee,

No I have not. I wanted to figure what is the next best course of action to take. Do I directly contact TFL for a settlement or the solicitor who has sent me the requisition on behalf of TFL?

[honeybee13]

That's unusual, I thought TfL had their own team. When you say requisition, do you mean the court summons or something else please? If you can tell us who's involved, we can advise on who to write to.

 

Have a look on other Freedom Pass threads that went to court for what we call a grovelling letter to send them pleading to settle.

 

HB

 

 

[dx100uk]

Scan up the full letter please.

Sounds like a std SJP summons . With a TIC list.

 

I expect you have a sep list of the 15 offences , sign the ones that you agree are yours, send it back wanting to plead guilty in person for the offences.

 

Get a grovelling letter off to tfl wanting an OOC settlement.

You should have done that weeks ago.

 

 

[BazzaS]

Not SJP if required to attend court.

 

TfL usually write to the alleged offender first, did the OP receive any such letter asking for their side of events?

15 TIC’s (taken into consideration ‘s)…. May make it harder for the OP to seek an administrative settlement (‘out of court’), unless:

a) the OP can truthfully say it wasn’t them, and

b) there is a good reason why the OP hasn’t previously replied to TfL.

 

As ever, knowing the full background may influence the advice being offered.

[Tenbagger]

Hello I have provided the scanned letter below.

 

It would be helpful to know who to contact for an ooc settlement.

 

Truthfully I only used the card a few times, not all the stated 15 times (which is the total usage history of the card since issue).

 

However I am happy to pay the 15 fares and an administrative fine.

 

TFL did write to me to confirm my details. I truthfully provided the address, full name etc and sent that back.

 

When I was caught the TFL staff questioned me and and wrote it all down and made me sign it.

 

I was not in the right frame of mind when answering those questions as the TFL staff threatened to take me to the police if I did not answer him.

 

I just wanted to hand over the card and leave. 

 

 

[BazzaS]

Well, you haven’t said how many times it was you, and you haven’t said why you were using it / whose pass it was / how it came into your possession.

 

You “weren’t in the right frame of mind”when stopped? Are you saying you gave incorrect information?

 

You’ll also have to appear contrite when asking TfL for an OOC : up to now you appear more sorry that you got caught, than sorry you offended!

[dx100uk]

Need to see the original first letter you got from tfl please.

 

What date is the hearing too?

[Tenbagger]

When I was stopped I offered to pay the fine, but the TFL staff only wanted me to answer the questions and sign the paper at that time. The pass is my fathers and I have used it on 4 occassions. 

I agree I will have to express remorse to my letter to TFL. I am already very sorry about the incident and will definately never repeat it. My hearing date is in November.
Would the best course of action now be to write a letter adressed to the solicitor at TFL offering to pay the full fare for all 15 jouneys and the administrative cost, while expressing remorse and pleading sympathy?

I am not sure what other options I have. Is there someone else at TFL I can contact or is it the solicitor in the letter I need to address. 

[honeybee13]

Could you answer dx,'s question in post #9 please. 

 

HB

[Tenbagger]

I will find the original letter and attach when I get home tonight.
thanks

[Spiderboy]

Is this from TFL as well?

[dx100uk]

moved to the op's thread

 

yes it is.

11 hours ago, Tenbagger said:

It would be helpful to know who to contact for an ooc settlement.

the email address on the original letter.

 

post up your grovelling letter 1st mind.

 

 

[dx100uk]

docs now merged to post 1

[dx100uk]

well??