I was reading your post,

i might have made things really worse.

I kind of ended up running away from the inspector who had my card which is linked to my real address.

I'm literally scared to death now and it's stressing me out, 

i need to know if they're going to try prosecute me for fraud and whether i need to get solicitors ready.

Is “kind of ended up running away” like “mistakenly used a fake card”?

You know what you’ve done. Respondents here need to know what you’ve done to be able to offer reliable advice. Trying to minimise what you’ve done (to yourself, to CAG’ers), and especially to TfL won’t help you.

one thing that MIGHT help : are you 18 or over, or under 18?

it's definitely my fault and I understand my situation.

I think it would probably be best to get a solicitor as I've dug a deep hole for myself.

I bought this 16+ oyster card online.

I ended up getting caught by a ticket inspector gave him the wrong address (even though my card is registered to my address) and ran away.

I ended up feeling really regretful and stupid,

i should have just complied with the inspector instead i made things ten times worse for myself.

I found another inspector and i told him the truth with what happened and he took my details down and i recieved a letter to explain the incident.

I'm 22 years old and i'm in my final year of university,

i think it's most likely that'll get prosecuted considering i used the card for a while.

I'm just wondering if there's a slither of a chance that getting some good solicitors would be able to help me.

By the way am i incriminating myself by posting on here?

We don't normally suggest using a solicitor for fare evasion cases. See what happens and we'll tell you if we think you need one.

Tell us more about buying this card, how did you find the people selling it? It seems to me that they could be breaking some rules.

HB

By the way am i incriminating myself by posting on here?

How?.

How will they trace you more than they already can by your address?.

I think you have more to worry about (being daft enough to buy a fake card, being daft enough to run away leaving a trail of evidence behind when caught) than worrying about posting anonymously on an advice website.

Time to get your priorities straight.

I don't think a solicitor is a good idea at this stage. I don't think a solicitor will likely be needed later.

You are bang to rights for a Byelaw 17 prosecution.

A S5 RRA 1889 prosecution isn't ever a guarantee for them (having to prove intent and so on), but I doubt they'd have trouble making their case for 2 counts of that

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/52-53/57/section/5

(2 counts : the intent to avoid fare, and the false address, as 5(3)a and 5(3)c).

Even a fraud offence wouldn't be too much of a push, if they were sufficiently miffed to pursue that.

I doubt a solicitor will alter that. I doubt a solicitor will make them less likely to prosecute than the advice offered her.

Whilst people should ALWAYS have the option of professional legal advice, and use of a solicitor should never be taken to imply guilt, just what do you want a solicitor to achieve? "Not guilty" isn't a likely outcome here, and use of a solicitor may lead TfL to think "If they can afford a solicitor now they've been caught, why didn't they just pay their fare?"

It was someone who my friend used and told me about,

I don't really know the person we just spoke online and i transferred the money to his account.

I didn't do anything for the application everything was done by him and I just received the card.

I used the card for about a year.

I'm sorry about my last few messages,

I'm just so worried that I'm gonna get prosecuted and get a criminal record,

i thought if I get a solicitor to help me write the letter than i could probably convince tfl to give the fine for full amount of £1000 plus any extra costs.

I don't know it's wishful thinking at this point.

Also, forgot to mention I received the later from tfl asking about to explain the incident.

What (EXACTLY, but redacting times / dates / places/ names) does it say?

(Does it mention what offences they are considering or just refers to an incident).

At least you now know they know your name and address .....

I gave them my right address after running away

I turned myself in to an rpi officer who took my details down.

The letter doesn't mention any offences,

it just says you were reported for failing to produce a valid ticket, pass or photo card for your journey.

Similar to other tfl letters where it says I do not have to reply to this letter but it may harm my defense in court if I don't mention something.

you sure it says you do not have to reply?

sadly as you knowingly bought this and knowingly knew it was fake

you have for 1 year purposefully committed fraud.

high jump time, I cant see you escaping this without getting a criminal record.

not get an OOC settlement.

I good solicitor is not going to help any really, just a greater waste of money on top of what is going to be a very large fine.

thread title updated

I uploaded a pdf of the letter.

initial letter.pdf

the std letter with the std line

please return the info required [your pleading letter!!!]

so you've not bothered to respond and beg!! literally

like the letter examples on most recent threads here in this forum.

dx

and what date was the letter please...…………..you've masked that out...…..

I seriously really appreciate your help dx100uk and i thank you for taking the time to respond to my posts. #

However, you have jumped to the conclusion that I've not been bothered to reply.

I received the letter on friday, it said i have within 10 days to respond and prepare a letter to respond back with.

I'm seriously stressed at the moment and so i'm trying to get any advice i can get as the criminal conviction is stuck in my head and making not me not think straight.

that's great that why I asked

good a bit of time to consider your options.

the BEST policy is to come totally clean

the reply should be very brief

but get across your information.

then grovel for want of a different word.

don't forget we are here to help you, tell us everything if you already haven't

the smallest detail might get you some leniency out of them if its worded correctly at this stage.

what date is on it please

thanks dx, the date is 28th November.

I know this sounds like an excuse. However, I was at the GP on the day of when i was caught. I've been suffering from severe hair loss for the past 2 years and it's progressively gotten worse. I've had ongoing appointments with my gp and various blood tests to determine why i'm losing hair. My gp suggested taking tablets for the rest of my life or looking at hair transplants. Transplants are stupidly expensive and i thought about saving up money for one, which led me to the stupid drastic route of fare evasion combined with skipping meals to save money.

Before i ran away the inspector, he asked me how old i was and i gave a fake age which stupidly didn't even match the 16 to 18 age bracket of the oyster card. He told me that this has been an issue of people obtaining these 16+ oysters through social media and he asked me if that's where i got it which i replied yes. He asked me to write my name, d.o.b and my address. I only wrote my real name and the rest of the details were fake for some stupid reason, i don't know why i did that. I ran when he said he would get police involved if the details were'nt correct.

As soon as i had ran from the inspector, i had a realisation of what i had done. I called tfl in an attempt to "turn myself in". However, the woman on the phone instructed me to go to a station that was closest to me and turn myself in. I went to waterloo station and attempted hand myself in but they referred me to british transport police who then reffered me to my local police. It was just going around in circles, i ended up explaing what happened to an rpi officer at palastre offices, where he took down which bus the incident happened and all my details.

yes you are not alone, as you'll see here about these fake cards

your issue is if they can trace the number of times its been used ..that's what I deem to be the major issue.

ofcourse if they don't the numbers of times....

as for your hair loss GP etc etc , that's was not why you got the fake card and of no excuse..

but reference to mental/depression might again play its part should this appear less serious than what it could be

another good point for you is you handed yourself in.

there is a like thread here running now whereby several months of use of a card are TIC in the court docs

Would I be able to talk about financially supporting my family and family members who are dependent on me and a criminal record would affect me being able to provide for them once I graduate. Also, being stressed by both my financial difficulty and my health led me to make some stupid decisions.

Yes its in another like thread here already

Thanks dx, I've written the first draft of the letter. Would you be able to take a look at it and let me know what i have missed out and need to include.

"Dear Sir/Madam,

I cannot apologise enough for my actions in this case. Until this point, I have been a law-abiding citizen and very poor judgements have led me to what has happened. I am suffering from depression from both my financial worries and my health as I am currently experiencing severe hair loss from the stress of my situation. My mother is the sole income earner for the family, although she works part-time, she still supports me and my two younger siblings by herself. I assist her with any expenses despite being a student and not working myself. If this matter were to escalate further into court, a criminal conviction would be devastating for me as it would put at risk all the hard work that I have done so far and jeopardise the future I had envisioned of being able to help provide for my family and ease the burden off of my mother.

I have never done anything like this before in my entire life to receive a notice of prosecution. I made a severe and grave mistake and I will never ever do anything like this again. A criminal record would be extremely detrimental to my future employment prospects, I already suffer from anxiety and depression about being able to support those dependent on me. The shame that comes along with holding a criminal record as people will detest me let alone the deep hurt I will have caused to my family who will have lost all their trust in me including my younger siblings who look up to me. My hopes and dreams all being thrown aside due to my foolishness of making this mistake, it terrifies me to think about how I would be able to cope in such a situation.

I would truly be grateful if I was given a second chance. I have never been on the wrong side of the law so I ask you to allow me to correct my mistake. I ask you to give me a second chance, an opportunity to right my wrongs and use this experience to never ever do anything that is against the law. I was very foolish by jumping on the bandwagon following other people’s examples and have learnt my lesson the hard way. I did not realise the seriousness of my crime and rightly so should be punished for it. I am willing to cooperate with TFL and provide any information I have on the person behind the selling of these cards. If you will allow me to rectify my mistake then I would like to make an immediate payment to cover the full fare of all of my unpaid fares in addition to any other damage or administration costs I have caused.

I truly appreciate your consideration in this matter. "

Far too much waffle

S ingle sentence of 1/2 line for each para above

Dx

Is there anyway of deleting this thread?

why?

what the issue?

There's tons of stuff on twitter about people getting caught with these discount cards just search 16+ oyster. People are making memes and laughing about it. I want to avoid someone finding what i wrote and posting it on social media.

you are anon on cag

stop being silly.

all you letter needs is a wee bit of tweaking

what is your deadline?

I got a £300 fine and court summons. Just received it this morning.

urh?

you cant be fined before court

I gather that is what TfL are after in court yes?

whens the case and did you return their form before pleading guilty and will appear or not yet?