HI I’m writing this deeply apologise for failing to produce a valid oyster pass it’s the first time anything like this has happened to me and I can assure its the last time this will happen. This happened because it was a mistake made by me accidently taking my mum’s oyster card without knowing it. On the 4th of November I had a very important exam and assessment I could not afford to miss so when I left the house I took my original oyster that I use to go to college but when I swiped it at my local bus 31 that I take to my college it said I had not enough money in so I was told to get off the bus, I was in shock because my mum told me she had filled the oyster card up for me. Because I was running out of time and I was scared and stressed that I would miss my exam and because of my personal economic difficulties I had no money on me to fill up my card by myself therefore I ran back to my house to ask my mum if she could borrow me some money but when I came home I found out that my mum was not home but there was a Oyster card on the table that I took thinking this is a normal oyster and because I have 2 oyster cards that my mum fills up for me I was pretty sure this is just a normal oyster card that I can use. When I arrived at the bus to swipe my card it said 70p deducted and this is where I realised this is my mums discounted card and at this point I panicked and the bus had only gone 1 stop before the ticket inspector came and took my mums card and said that I will be contacted by TFL. I’m very sorry and I know it’s very stupid of me to do this but I panicked and it was a genuine and human error that I used my mums card please try to understand. I please would kindly ask to pay any administrative charges and penalty fine and any other charges associated with this. Please try to understand that a criminal record would ruin my entire carrier I spent my whole life building up my carrier and I recently became 20 and I’m about to go to university to study law to progress to become a lawyer but a criminal record would bar me for life to fulfil my achievement and became a lawyer. I have never had any problems with the government or police or done anything illegal and right now felling very desperate that I may get a criminal record that would bar me from becoming a lawyer. Again I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience I may have caused you.

I have written a letter its on the back of the letter TFL send me it says if I got anything to say about this incident and it has a form of my DOB name etc and says write any comments and this is the area where I wrote the whole story. maybe I could copy baste the response here ? since I wrote it in my computer before im writing it on the actual space on the letter.

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Hi every one I saw this wonderful website and that many other people had similar issue to me I thought it would be good to post my issue here for advice. on Tuesday 4th November I was stopped by a inspector on bus 31 because I was using my mum's 50% discount oyster but this was a total mistake of me accidentally taking it because I though it was mine since my mum have health problems she tell me to fill up the card and she takes out the photocard when she fills up the card. I was going to college for a exam and I thought I had money in my oyster when I went on bus it said no money and I was told get off I ran back to home to ask my mum for money she was not home I saw a oyster on the table I was really sure this was my oyster card because I have 2 cards that my mum occasionally top up for me when I got on the bus and swiped it it said 70p taken and I figured out it was mum card and bus had gone 1 stop before inspector stopped me and took my details and took the card and told 10 days I get letter. I have received a TFL letter 3 days after the incident saying date time I was reported and that legal proceedings may be taken against me and if I have anything to say and I have written a 500 world explanation of my mistake of taking this card and im about to post it today or tomorrow reading some post and seeing the internet I see that TFL most the time prosecute people and they end up with a criminal record. I heard you can settle outside court if they accept but what does that mean ? does the money have to be paid at that point or is it monthly instalment or some type of agreement I have no job no money and my parents have no money too im really scared of what may happen. I recently became 20 and I been in UK for about 5 years I also don't have a single Pence in my bank Im really scared if out of court settlement mean i give ££££ handed cash to the them and they will drop it. All this happened because of the pressure and stress I had because of my very important exam and at the end I missed it but I im more worried about this case with TFL. I have also read TFL points to prosecute and points to not prosecute and TfL will have regard to the following factors against prosecution and it seems Point b and e is in favour of me however im not sure about e. The points that may lead to a prosecution from what I read mostly is G because I have paid for the service but with a discounted card so it cant be F wich is still not acceptable and point E im not sure because I don't know if that area is a high loss. b) Where it appears that there has been a genuine mistake of fact by the alleged offender. e) Where, owing to circumstances beyond the offender’s control, commission of the offence was unavoidable. Points that they can prosecute me g) The offender has unlawfully used or transferred a Freedom pass, Staff Pass or other concessionary passes or travel documents issued to named holders. f) The offender has failed to pay for the service or failed to have sufficient Oyster card credit before boarding a relevant service e) The offence occurred in an area or on a service known to occasion high revenue loss to TfL.