Hi there.

I'm absolutely gutted I got this through for such a stupid mistake.

I have just received a Single Justice Procedure notice and panicking greatly.

It says I have 21 days to plead guilty or not guilty.

That you on [DATE OF OFFENCE] did enter a compulsory ticket area without having with you a valid ticket. 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.

On [DATE OF OFFENCE] I attempted to travel from home station to work. At 7:55am he produced a TfL 60+ London Free travel Pass, that did not belong to him. He was not entitled to use the pass and it was invalid for travel. He stated it belonged to his father and admitted it was not the first occasion he had used it.

They want £225 + £4.90.

The summary statement has plenty of inaccuracies including my and and address that he said he confirmed ITAL but couldn't have as I gave him my driving license. That I walked away from the station when I re-entered with my bank card. Also, that he confirmed everything with me but didn't as the statement provided did not match the conversation or my details.

Obviously I'm incredibly sorry and was a very stupid mistake.

When I go out with my parents, I hold their oyster card so they don't have to rummage through their wallet or bag. On this occasion, I didn't give it back to him and mistakenly was then using for what I thought was a couple of weeks.

As this was back in July, I called up several times to try and sort it and even my dad called up to get his oyster card back and they said nothing was logged against the card.

I'll be gutted if i get a conviction as I'm in the process of looking for a property, will be visiting friends in America next year, was very stressed at the time due to work and a kidney condition getting worse and after the event receiving mental support for anxiety.

I'm worried this will affect all of the above and negatively affect my mental health after just making progress.

Any help on the best way to approach settling out of court would be appreciated.

I'm happy to pay costs as I was incorrectly using it for what I think was a couple of weeks but a criminal conviction will hurt me in many ways.

Thanks for reading.

You mean they are offering to settle OOC for for £225?

No. Application is being made for a £225 contribution towards costs of TfL.

I presume this is what I would have to pay if it goes to court.

read this thread and follow the advice.

particularly the letter format

You were mistakenly using the wrong card?

I’m going to go out on a limb here, and guess that you are:

a) suffering from an incredibly rare form of colour blindness?, or

b) The freedom pass had been removed from its original wallet and put in a different one, such that you were able to confuse it with your Oyster card?

What colour wallet were they each in?

Hi.

The way most people here have settled out of court has been to show contrition and speak to the casehandler on the phone to ask to be allowed to settle.

If you've told them the excuse we see on so many threads about mixing up the wallets, I suspect they think you aren't telling the truth and haven't learned enough of a lesson. Have they already asked you for your version of events?

All I can think of is to continue to talk to them, unless someone has another suggestion.

HB

Hi, I fully appreciate it sounds like the typical excuse but it was a genuine mistake.

The wallet I usually carry is an Amazon treasure truck style Oyster card wallet (I know). Neither of my parents carry their oyster card in it's original wallet. When we travel together, I look after the respective parents card in my wallet so I can get easily get it for them without any fuss at the gates. On this occasion, I completely forgot to give back to my dad hence why it was still in my wallet. On a normal day I would have remembered to give it back but I forgot and it was in my wallet when I went to work.

I didn't notice as I have a whole bunch of cards in there (around 8) so didn't think it was my dad's oyster card letting through but one of my many bank cards or my normal oyster card. The inspector stopped me and when he said I had a card I shouldn't have, I emptied my cards and there it was. I was very apologetic and told the truth it was likely I had it for a couple of weeks as I wasn't exactly sure when we last went out as I was under pressure. I didn't carry that wallet every day but didn't want to sound like I was mistaking excuses and I wasn't sure exactly how many times it'd been used if at all before but like I said I just wanted to be honest. When I saw it, I knew it was only my responsibility to ensure it wasn't in there so I'm no way claiming it's not my fault.

There was a lot going on in my life a few weeks before this happened which is why I wasn't paying much attention to see if the card was in there. Work was particularly stressful, an on-going kidney condition had suddenly gotten worse and was suffering from anxiety to the point in August I was diagnosed and received treatment.

So that's my side of the story.

Can I please get advice on:

If I should plead guilty using the supplied papers. If so, what should I write as my plea?

The letter states no address to contact TfL so not sure how to best contact them?

I've been drafting a letter that explains my situation, what should it include?

Thanks for reading and the help so far.

an example letter is here:

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?483691-Notice-of-intention-to-prosecute-Thameslink-changed-CArNet-Ticket-date-Please-help-**SETTLED**&p=5085175#post5085175

I would put a VERY brief summary of your main issues yes.

You were mistakenly using the wrong card?

I’m going to go out on a limb here, and guess that you are:

a) suffering from an incredibly rare form of colour blindness?, or

b) The freedom pass had been removed from its original wallet and put in a different one, such that you were able to confuse it with your Oyster card?

 

What colour wallet were they each in?

Hi, I fully appreciate it sounds like the typical excuse but it was a genuine mistake.

 

The wallet I usually carry is an Amazon treasure truck style Oyster card wallet (I know). Neither of my parents carry their oyster card in it's original wallet. When we travel together, I look after the respective parents card in my wallet so I can get easily get it for them without any fuss at the gates. On this occasion, I completely forgot to give back to my dad hence why it was still in my wallet. On a normal day I would have remembered to give it back but I forgot and it was in my wallet when I went to work.

 

I didn't notice as I have a whole bunch of cards in there (around 8) so didn't think it was my dad's oyster card letting through but one of my many bank cards or my normal oyster card.

Well, I wasn’t far off the mark!

The difficulty you face is that TfL have heard that story (or similar) so many times : how will you persuade them yours is the genuine occurrence?

I've put together a letter and hoping it's as clear as possible. It's a little long but thought I'd try and include as much detail as possible to start with.

Also, I've not sent back the forms yet. Should I plead guilty now and should I say I want to go to court?

Thanks for reading.

I am writing to you regarding the incident that happened on the [DATE] as I believe there were extenuating circumstances which may go some way to explaining why this incident occurred. I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise about this happening. Friends and family know me as a trustworthy and honest person and I’m deeply ashamed and upset this has happened. I fully understand the seriousness of this situation and hope you would have some leniency as a criminal record would affect my health and well being significantly.

Around the time this incident happened, I was going through a very difficult time. I had broken up with my girlfriend, an existing kidney condition had worsened and I was experiencing high levels of anxiety that was later diagnosed and treated.

When I travel with my parents, I carry their pass on behalf of them which they find helpful in busy situations. This is what I was referring to when answering the question ‘How long have you had the pass?’ as noted in the case summary. I would never knowingly use my parent’s pass. On this occasion, due to my anxiety levels at the time, I had completely forgotten to give the card back to my dad. I usually carry an oyster card style wallet that contains numerous cards. I knew it was unorganised but would have never thought this would be the outcome of it.

On the [DATE] I entered the station as I normally do by tapping my wallet on to the reader. After being stopped by the Revenue Protection Inspector, I emptied my wallet and was mortified I was carrying my father’s pass. I explained to the Revenue Protection Inspector that it was careless of me to not check I had given it back and admitted my mistake and apologised. As demonstrated in the summary of our conversation, I was co-operative, truthful and respectful. After our conversation, I re-entered the station with the card I’d intended to use and shook his hand.

Since the incident, I’ve become worried about my health both mentally and physically. I was referred for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy due to the impact the stress has had on my wellbeing. Also, the constant stress and anxiety increases my blood pressure which is at detriment to my kidney condition. I avoid [THE STATION WHERE INCIDENT HAPPENED] station due to the shame and anxiety I now feel.

I have since finished my initial therapy and have been set the goal to go beyond viewings, and commit to buying my first property. A criminal conviction will make achieving this life goal difficult.

Whilst awaiting this letter, I telephoned numerous times to try to progress this situation and want nothing more than to resolve this and pay the avoided fare and any incurred costs that my actions have caused immediately.

I hope this letter helps highlight to you that I am sorry and that this was a one off honest mistake. I would appreciate your consideration and sincerely hope that you can take this into account when deliberating on next steps regarding this case.

Far too much waffle

What needs cutting down in my letter and what should I do in the meantime?

I want to be proactive and try my best to resolve this but not sure what to do now.

You had 10days?

Accept their offer ..end of. Please tell me how i can pay this to avoid this damaging my future.

Sorry if I’ve been unclear but there is no offer. I have received a Single Justice Procedure and nothing else. I now have 7 days to plead guilty or not guilty.

If there was an offer to pay I would have straight away. I’d like to try and settle this without going to court and avoid a conviction.

So are your choices plead guilty and don't attend court, plead guilty and attend or not guilty? Normal forum advice is to attend if you can to show the court that you're sorry and to try and mitigate any penalty.

When do you have to reply by?

HB

I have 21 days from the 21/11 so the 12/12.

Yes those are my only choices.

Sorry you are reading the letter wrong. WRITE very very sorry etc offer to pay that sum plus anything else in admin etc to keep a clean record. Above I gave an example letter adapt that but make it no longer

OK, I'll re-write the letter to make it shorter.

Who shall I send it to as I only have an email address? I may have missed other letters as the address is incorrect.

Shall I send off the forms to plead guilty and attend court in the meantime?

Thank you.

What is your court date?

HB

There's no mention of a court date in the pack.

See this thread there is a scan of the tfl letter like yours with the address

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?490442-Caught-using-father-s-freedom-pass(1-Viewing)-nbsp

This is the front of the letter I received.

All of it in pdf please

Read upload

Sorry about that, it's now in PDF format.

I've included all the pages that are specific to me.

The other pages are the continued plea pages, statement of assets and a TfL FAQ.

Again, thank you so much for helping.

Letter.pdf

I've cut it down some more. Could someone take another look please?

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise about this happening. Friends and family know me as a trustworthy and honest person and I’m deeply ashamed and upset this has happened, as is my father.

At the time of this incident happened, I was going through a very difficult time. An existing kidney condition had worsened and I was experiencing high levels of anxiety that was later diagnosed and treated. I’m finding it very difficult to deal with the fact I could end up with a criminal conviction and this is continuing to add stress as well as increasing my blood pressure which I worry may be affecting my kidney condition.

When I travel with my parents, I carry their pass on behalf of them which they find helpful in busy situations. This is what I was referring to when answering the question ‘How long have you had the pass?’ as noted in the case summary. I would never knowingly use my parent’s pass.

On this occasion, I had completely forgotten to give the card back to my father. I usually carry an oyster card style wallet that contains numerous cards and was mortified I was carrying my father’s pass. As I re-entered the station, I was very shaken and nervous and still feel like that today which is why I avoid using this station. I now always ensure I take my card out of wallet for peace of mind that this will never happen again.

I am extremely sorry for what may appear to have been an attempt to avoid paying for my fare, but would like to stress that this was not intentional and was an honest one off mistake. I wish to apologise to the member of staff concerned and to TfL. I'm so sorry for my actions and the inconvenience caused to all involved. Having previously applied for jobs within TfL, it's a company I've always wanted to be a part which makes it's even harder to come to terms with this.

I’d be happy to have the opportunity to pay the avoided fare and any incurred costs that my actions have caused immediately as to avoid a criminal record so I can positively move forward from this incident. I’ve never been in trouble with the law and very sorry that my mistake has led to this. Not having a permanent reminder of this will help with my anxiety knowing my parents do not see me as a convicted criminal and protect my good name.

I would appreciate your consideration and sincerely hope that you can take this into account when deliberating on next steps regarding this case.