Misuse of my Freedom Pass by my 18 old Child - **SETTLED BY WARNING LETTER**

[busybean]

Hi members,

Any advice and guidance would be much appreciated. I have taken the time to read about 20 misuse of Freedom pass cases as well as other guidance online, and will continue to do so. In the interest of time (we need submit the reply to a SJP notice by tomorrow (5th) and the late hour (I need to care for my young children in the morning- I kindly ask for some initial thoughts

Incident

My child who just not long turned 19 was stopped at Paddington and admitted to using my freedom pass. They answered honestly, didn’t understand he was being interviewed under caution, from memory they was told no further action was going to be taken. They said they had no money.

Circumstances

My 19 old child has autism (verbal). They attends a residential state school, so only in London occasionally. On this occasion my 13 year old was in hospital with severe asthma and was very poorly (he was an inpatient for 8 days and on bed rest for several weeks after. My 19 year old hears me being cautious about money and explained that they didn’t want to spend any unnecessary money, so took the Freedom pass - I was under a lot of stress at the hospital at the time, and the family very worried with my 13 year old being so unwell. I am a single parent of 4 children, 2 of whom are registered disabled- my 19 year old is not - long and complicated story- but applied for PIP a long while back and haven’t managed to sort out paperwork- as I said,  complicated and stressful circumstances and limited resources means I can only deal with a few emergencies and situations at a time.

On the 19th June, I wrote on my 19 year olds behalf the below, followed by a further email stating from 19 year old, giving permission to act on their behalf both from the same email.

Dear TFL,

I am hoping someone on this email maybe able to assist us.

First, please excuse the delay in contacting you, I am a single parent of 4 children 2 of whom have special needs and disabilities, when you initially wrote to me, my 13 year was an inpatient in hospital with serious asthma (his lung capacity ranges from 60-90% generally) at that time, it dropped to 20-30% and he was very unwell and spent 2 weeks in hospital and 3 weeks at home recovering before being able to return to school.

I myself have a support worker and I am dealing with a number of other difficulties, so honestly me not getting in touch was partly me burring my head in the sand, but honestly having no real capacity to deal with it. I also have a 16 year old who has been having a very difficult time with exam, recent eye sight loss and a horrible time mentally including self-harm. Its been a horrible difficult year but things are getting better.

xxxx, my eldest child is Autistic, they wouldn’t normally travel on public transport, I would normally drive them to and from school, however as I mentioned my son was in hospital. Unfortunately it was a very stressful time and I had told xxxx to take my Oyster card from my draw but they misunderstood and took the Freedom pass. I am guessing they didn’t want to add any further worry plus we was all very worried about his brother who as I said was on a high dependency unit.

They had to get back from school and I wasn’t reachable, we are very sorry, is there anything that can be done at this stage, as the idea of court is a lot for xx to take on and is likely going to have a massive impact on their mental state, after recovering from a very difficult episode last year. Let alone the stress on my mental state.

I can provide evidence of everything mentioned here, but due to the sensitivity of information I just wanted to first reach out and make sure this was the right email/department to discuss with.

I do appreciate how serious the matter is and I promise under normal circumstances this wouldn’t have happened. I kindly ask if there is anything that can be done to avoid this matter going to court, because its going to take a lot of resources to prepare them for something like this and honestly I don’t know much I can handle on an already full plate. Sorry, I don’t mean to have gone into detail but I am just hoping for a solution if it all possible, I would be deeply grateful.

Kind regards

XXXX, Mother to XXXX

We have received no reply.

Their letters

1. Jan 23: Information request letter - I didn’t respond, I was dealing with a lot at the time- still am.

2. June 23: SJP Notice

MY QUESTIONS.

1. I am concerned they may add other journeys if we plead for an Out of court settlement/warning. No pattern can be detected, its sporadic use, at various stations from when I can't use my car, although the particular journey will show up occasionally (Again no specific pattern, as I use my car when I can.

2. If they have offered a SJP notice, do we tick guilty and say we want to go to court (I am confused by the advise on here) to have an opportunity to speak to prosecution and try and settle?

& plan

To write again with evidence this time, detailing the steps I have taken to educate my 19 year old and how upset and sorry for they are (2 letters one from both of us) and what has and will be done to stop this from ever happening again.

Any advice or pointers would be much appreciated, as well as answers to those 2 questions.

TFL Charge Redacted.pdf

[busybean]

Thanks BankFodder, not taken as harsh - its the truth - please others dont be frozen or in my case - get something to them.

Do you think they would add other transactions at this stage? I am concerned they are going to look into the transactions and then having to go and prove they wasnt him.

also, should we tick guilty and attend at court?

Truthly and sadly, he wasnt told he was being cautioned, nor that they suspect he has commited an offence, nor did they read back on what they said or ask if he or anything like that. I am taking a full account of what actually happened, as best as he can remember.

 

[busybean]

Thanks all

Going through things with him in much more detail, showing him videos of caution etc, he thinks they could have given him a caution, he certainly wasnt asked some of the last questions on the witness statement.

However he admits he cant recall the whole conversation, what he took away, they understood his circumstances (needing to get back from school with no money) and he was told the worst that was going to happen was a warning and me needing to apply for a freedom pass,

he was going to mark it down as something- not to cause further trouble for him.  I agree, not going to make a point of this.

•  yes, we are going to submit online by tomorrow- likely tomorrow.
• Going to email a hand written letter of authorisation for me to communicate on his behalf. Going to include an apology letter from him and a circumstances letter from me, along with ASD evidence and hospital discharge.
• Will submit guilty and attend in court.
• Not going to reference possible transactions- cause I dont think there has been.
• Should we include TFL transaction before and after- to show he has always paid his fair?

This is first time he has ever been stopped by any authority and genuinely didnt understand how serious this was.

He was trying to help me out.

[busybean]

thats my dyslexia showing up - I love when people show me mistakes, it helps me be more careful.

 

Also, Yep I will add about paying costs etc..

[busybean]

Hi all,

I just wanted to update with good news.

Only a warning held on file to be used against him, if it happens again in the next 12 months.

Thanks all for your input and the platform.

I attach their formal reply as sent by post. No email was received.

We also submitted his plea of guilty, attend in court with details of the circumstances of the fare evasion, online on the day of the deadline.

Followed up with a details email to TFL with evidence of everything referenced (autism, still a dependant child (child benefit) and hospitalisation of my other son that day).

The letter was dated the 10th July, we emailed on the 5th July (also entered plea on the 5th).

In case helpful to anyone else.

thanks again

TfL letter:

i refer to an incident which occurred at Victoria station on Friday 20th January 2023, which resulted in you being reported to Transport for London Enforcement team for an alleged offence.

Travelling on the Railway without having paid the fare for your journey is an offence punishable on conviction by a fine of up to a maximum of £1 ,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 52 weeks.

Despite there being sufficient evidence available to bring a prosecution against you, i have taken into consideration all the facts of this case and the public interest and have decided on this occasion, and without creating a precedent, to dispose of this Matter by of a warning.

Although this warning is not a criminal conviction, Transport for London will retain a record and it will be taken into account in any decision to bring a criminal prosecution against you, Should you be reported for a similar offence within the next 12 months.
Your Sincerely

Tfl reply.pdf

[busybean]

Thanks again, donation just made.

I have so many unresolved issues that I wasnt in a physical or mental space to manage, things are really improving for my familly, still a daily challenge but we keep going.

I hope to be back on here to deal with those where I get stuck.

I am only in this position, thanks to an amazing special needs school for my son.

Its really easy for things to spiral out of control when hit with even one difficult thing. I was hit with many.

This site is amazing, but it can still be a challenge to access when you have little bandwidth to cope with anything additional on top of an already full plate.

Thank you to all those making a difference to others.

[busybean]

dx100uk - wow, what an achievement the difference consistent and safe support makes to a child and young person life is priceless. I hope we can get to a place in our society where those roles are financially viable to enable the right people to take up such critical and important roles.