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  1. Hello, I am new to this forum so I’m not sure but I’ll tell what happened first and I will really appreciate any help you can give me. First of all, I know it’s my mistake and I deeply regret this now. I saw this intagram page about 16+ Oyster cards for anyone (I’m 20) for £40 and contacted the guy and he set up and application for me and all. was having financial problems and I’m a student I was stupid enough to do something awfully regrettable like this. paid him applied for the card. got it used it for a while. got caught by a ticket officer got a letter from tfl asking me to write to them explaining why this incidence happened. I don’t know what to do. please help me out. This is my first time getting into trouble like this and I’m very regrettable and scared that I’ll be prosecuted. I’ll never ever do anything like this again. Please help me out. This is the letter I received from tfl. Please give me any advice you have on writing a reply to them. I have already started to draft a letter with my apologies and answering them honestly. But the letter they sent does not mention anything about fake photo card so should I tell them about it or just apologise for not having a valid card and offer to pay for any loses/fines. I am terrified about being prosecuted for this.
  2. Firstly I want to mention I am ashamed of what I did. I was using a 16+ oyster and got caught by a ticket inspector. It had my name, and photo, however, the inspector began quizzing me about my D.O.B. of course, I stuttered because I was panicking. I got it from a friend of a friend, someone I never met. I was stupid for doing it I know. And no excuse will absolve me of my wrongdoing. I was told I would receive a letter from TFL. I am so afraid I will get a criminal record. This is my first time doing something so silly. I saw a similar post about this from November however I don't know what action was eventually taken against the person. I am really worried, and I am afraid it will affect my career and academic prospects if I receive a criminal record. I am still yet to receive the letter from TFL. I want some guidance on how to respond. And whether anyone has been in a similar situation and what the outcome was. Will I have to show up to court? And if I do will I receive a conviction? I will have to plead guilty, and I plan to. Also, will how long I've used the oyster card affect whether or not I will receive a criminal conviction? What should I include in my response to them? Is there anything I should avoid writing. I would be so grateful for any guidance and advice. After some browsing on other forums, it is likely I will have to pay a fine. What else can I expect to happen? Should I ask for an out of court settlement?
  3. Hello, first of all I would like to say I'm really glad I found this forum. After looking through some of these recent posts, I've noticed that others have had invalid 16+ oyster cards made for them and also got into trouble with inspectors. My case however, seems to be slightly different. I am an 18-year old student currently in full time education. This means that I am entitled to a 16+ oyster card already, and eligible for free travel. However, I couldn't figure out how to make the account and actually get the oyster card. I've noticed a lot of people on social media getting these 16+ oyster cards. At first I assumed this was for people who didn't know how to set up the account themselves. There was one particular guy on Snapchat, who was advertising these 16+ oyster cards. He kept posting people using his 'service' and thanking him and since I didn't know how to do it myself I just decided to let him do it for me. I messaged him, and he said he will do it for £50. At first I was like what the hell, £50 just to set up an account? But since so many people used his service I thought it must have been a complicated process (which is a very stupid thing to assume now that I look back on it). But of course me being the stupid 18 year old, I thought to myself that I want to get an oyster card as soon as possible since I was tired of walking 1+ hours to get to college and the guy convinced me he will have everything ready for me within 15 minutes. I have recently started working my first job, and got my first couple pay checks I'm stupidly thinking "whatever I can afford the luxury of having this done for me". I send this guy a photo, my address, my full name and my date of birth. He sends me back log-in information and I pay for the £20 oyster card fee. Few days later my oyster card comes no problem. Now, I'm in my last year of college (finishing in 2019) but my oyster card expiry date said 2020. I message this guy on Snapchat saying why does it say the oyster card expires in 2020 when I'm finishing college in 2019. He says to me that on the system it will say I'm 17 years old, but because college is usually a 2 year course it will expire then. I was thinking that's really odd, I assumed the system would obviously say my actual date of birth. I should've noticed this is a red flag, but I had already received my oyster card I'm thinking that TFL obviously must have checked the account, and confirmed that I was eligible, otherwise I wouldn't have received the card. I just brushed it off without thinking much about it. Fast forward about 1-2 months of using the oyster card no problem, inspector comes on and I give him the card. He asks for my name and I point to the card and say my name. He asks for my age/date of birth. I was born in the year 2000. I say my actual date of birth, but remember that the guy said on the system it will say I'm 17. said "10th of May, two thousand-----and one" I added the "one" at the end thinking that it will say I'm 17 on the system so it would make more sense. Inspector says okay, and it was my stop approaching I let him know that it's my stop and he nodded his head. I got off and that was that. Didn't think anything about it at the time. Fast forward again about 3 weeks, my oyster card stops working. I didn't for a second think that the inspector thing and my card stopping was related at all, in fact I had already forgotten about him by that time. i'm wondering why my card stopped working. I'm talking to my friend at college later that day and I asked him if he's got a 16+ oyster card. He says yes. I ask is it working? He says Yeah. So I ask how did he get the oyster card. He said he made an account on TFL, printed out a form, got it stamped and signed by the college and sent it to the post office. I was like "oooh damn I didn't do that, that's why it got stopped". now I'm annoyed that my oyster card is not working when I paid £50 for it, especially now that I know how to set it up myself and the guy never gave me a form to give to the college. I look for this guy's Snapchat that got me the oyster card, and it seems that he deleted it. I'm really annoyed now but oh well, I guess it's a lesson learned I thought to myself. I had about 6 more months at college by then I just decided to start walking again so that I didn't have to pay another £20 fee. Now here's the ice breaker. About 1 month after this I received a letter. Boom - I have been summoned to court for the use of a 16+ oyster card that I was not entitled to. It says that the inspector which questioned me asked for my date of birth, and I gave him the wrong one in order to make the card appear valid. It then says when asked for my name and address I got off the bus without providing them?? This came as an absolute shock to me. I gave my name, I was definitely never asked for my address. I gave that date of birth thinking that's what it will say on the system. With the letter, came attached a print screen of my account details (which I haven't seen before). My date of birth was completely wrong. Wrong day, wrong month, wrong year. And now it appears that I have to be at court and pay a fine of about £400, plus a potential criminal record? I tell my dad the whole scenario because he has handled cases before. He gets a bit angry thinking why I didn't ask him to help me make the account, but I recently turned 18 and just wanted to do stuff without asking anything of my parents. he says I need to actually get a legitimate 16+ oyster card ASAP, to prove that I'm entitled to one. So I did, and it just arrived yesterday. I wouldn't really be worried about this that much since I wasn't aware of doing something wrong, I was just really stupid to see it. But it seems that even if you do something like this wrong mistakenly, you're still at fault so I'm a little scared. I've never been in trouble with the law before and had no idea what I was doing was illegal. What makes it even worse is the fact that the letter says that I got off the bus when asked for my name and address without giving them. But this is false, I did give my name and I was certainly NEVER asked for my address. But I'm guessing that they will take the word of an experienced inspector than a dumb 18-year old boy? Should I be worried? Should I expect to have to pay the fine and/or get a criminal record? Court is supposed to be 6th of March, I'd like to settle out of court but if that's not possible, I'll plead not guilty because I was not aware of doing something wrong. I do admit and take responsibility for being stupid and not realising that the Snapchat guy saying "it will say you are 17 on the system" is dodgy and doesn't make sense. But that was when I received my oyster card, and I thought that as long as you receive one from TFL they would have checked the account and confirmed it eligible. Should I contact TFL asap and explain everything as I have here? I just need advice on this situation and how to approach this. Please note that I am an 18-year old who knows nothing about law. I would've never in a million years thought I'd have to go to court during my lifetime, considering my extremely boring lifestyle. But now that I'm here this all feels surreal and I'm filled with anxiety. Advice is greatly appreciated, and I apologise for the long read.
  4. i got the letter today informing me that tfl intend to prosecute and i can either plead guilty and not come to court , plead not guilty and come to court or plead not guilty and attend a trial. They have charged me with the following: On (date), you 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. The situation was that when i tapped my oyster card at a station without a ticket barrier, I didn't realise the red light flashed and the sound played differently, and I rushed onto the waiting train. I arrived at my destination and I realised I had insufficient funds on my oyster card when I was unable to exit. It was a genuine mistake, with no deliberate intent to evade the fares, but TfL are still intending to prosecute. I'm a regular commuter and a university student, with a pristine oyster card history, so I am worried about what to do now. Any help or guidance, or sharing of experiences will be greatly appreciated.
  5. Two weeks ago I boarded a bus at around 8:00am in London. I got off the bus a few stops later to head into a local Tesco store to buy my lunch for the day. I then walked back to the bus stop that I got off at and waited for the next bus to take me to work. The next bus arrived at 8:30am. It was one of those buses where passengers can board the bus on either the front, middle or back door. I boarded the bus from the back door. I sat downstairs and minded my own business, staring through the window and browsing on my phone. A few minutes later, I heard a bus ticket inspector saying "tickets please" and that was when I was made aware that a ticket inspector was on board the bus. I got out my oyster card ready for him to scan it with the card reader. When he placed his card reader against my card, he asked me to take out my oyster card from the cardholder. I thought the reason why he wanted me to take out my card from the cardholder was because the cardholder was preventing his card reader from checking whether I had tapped in. However, when he then said "it appears you haven't tapped in for this journey", I realised to my horror that I had in fact forgotten to tap in when I boarded this bus, so I told him that I forgot to. then got out a small note pad and asked me to write down my name, address and date of birth, to which he used it to confirm that the card really does belong to me and he asked me to show him an ID that has my name on it and where did I board this bus and which stop I was planning to get off at. He then told me that he was going to issue me a penalty fare of £40 for not tapping in. I said to him that if you look at my journey history you will be able to see that I had previously boarded a bus at 8:00am and that if you look at the time now you can see that it's 8:35am, which means that under the Hopper Fare scheme, I would not have been charged for this journey anyway because I boarded this bus within the hour and hence I was not intentionally fare dodging. However, he said "you still need to tap in anyway" and proceeded to issue me with a penalty fare. He then handed me the bus penalty fare notice and asked me how I would like to settle it. I asked him “what options do I have?” He said that I need to pay £40 for the penalty. Because I needed to get off the next stop and I was late for work, I asked if I can pay later. He then said that if I don't pay now, it would be £80. However, having had a careful read through the notice, I realised that he omitted saying that if you don't pay within 21 days, then the penalty would go up to £80, it will be £40 if you pay within 21 days, so I thought there was some deliberate scaremongering on his part. When I got back home from work that day, I had a careful read through the penalty notice slip and read that I have a right to appeal against it. I decided to appeal on the grounds that I boarded a previous bus at 8:00am and how under the Hopper Fare scheme, I wouldn't have been charged anything for this second bus that I got on at 8:30am because I boarded it within the hour. i logged onto my oyster card account to get a screenshot of my journey history for that day to go with the appeal claim so that they can see that I did get on a bus at 8:00am in the hopes that they would be lenient about it and therefore waive the fee. However, I was very shocked to see that there was no record of me getting on the first bus at 8:00am! All the other trains and buses that I got on for that day were there apart from this 8:00am record of me getting on a bus. I definitely remember tapping in for this journey and hearing a beep and seeing the green light because I got on it from the front door and there was a bit of a hold up because there was a passenger in front of me in the queue who asked the driver whether this was the bus that goes to so and so. This had me suspecting whether the bus ticket inspector may have deleted this particular bus journey history from my account so that I don't stand a chance from getting a successful appeal. T he more I think back to it, the more I suspect that he had something to do with it. He kept hold of my oyster card throughout the journey and didn't give it back to me until I told him that I was getting off at the next stop. And during that time, I was not sitting facing him, he was standing behind me, so I suspect that he might have had a check through my journey history and used his card reader to delete this 8:00am bus journey history or colluded with the person on the phone who was checking to confirm my details to have it deleted off the system. Maybe it's just simply a case of coincidence - that it turns out there was a technical fault with the yellow oyster card reader on the first bus which meant that it didn't make a record of me tapping in. Otherwise, it sure is very sinister and sly of them to do this - they can make money out of innocent people. it makes me wonder if these inspectors have a quota to fill or an incentive or a commission awarded for catching fare dodgers? I'm wondering if there's anyone here who has been through a similar situation as me – I would like to hear your experience, and does anyone here know whether it's possible that your journey history can be deleted by an oyster card reader used by a ticket inspector?
  6. Hi everyone, Please could I ask for your kind help with my response to the upcoming Tfl letter I am very worried about going court and getting a criminal record I was stopped by a Tfl inspector for using my husband's discounted student oyster photocard yesterday. Here is the situation: I have my own standard oyster card with monthly pass and my husband (aged 25) has his own discounted student oyster photo card with monthly pass (both zone 1-2). On 17 May my monthly pass expired (there is balance) which I forgot to renew on 18th morning I took my husband's card (his is on monthly pass) and asked him to buy the monthly pass on my card for me as he has more time during the day. He bought the monthly pass on my card immediately on that day however we forgot to swop when we came home in the evening on 19th I continued to use his card and got caught by the inspector on the bus. I told the inspector that it was a mistake. My concern is in order to avoid court and criminal records, I don't know if I should simply explain it is a mistake with no detailed explanation or if I should tell the whole story as above. I am worried that the case worker would think I am trying to evade bus fares by using my husband’s pass - from the look of my oyster card history I started to use his the day when my own pass expired but actually we spent the same amount of money if I had used my own pay as you go balance. As we use our own card separately with monthly pass I was not aware of the serious consequences, I didn't expect to be in such panic and the daunting thought of a possible criminal record. This is the first time I have been stopped by an inspector and I have not committed any other offences/crimes before. I would not say that I have NEVER used my husband's discounted oyster for convenience before this happened but my card was covered by a travel pass at the same time, which means we never thought of taking advantage of TfL. Could you please point me in the right direction? I am willing to pay reasonable costs and I don't want to go to court or get a criminal record which will severely affect the life we are building in UK. My husband and I have only been here for 3 years and as English is not our primary language we are not sure about the wording / style that can help us stay out of this. Your help is much appreciated…
  7. Hi guys, I'm having an issue over my student oystercard usage. I received an email on the 8th of November stating that i would need to interview at a southwest trains station with regard to "several incomplete journeys" with relation to my oystercard. Admittedly there does appear to be instances, based on my oystercard transcript showing me tapping my oystercard in at one station and not tapping out. I have never been approached by a ticket inspector etc without a valid ticket, and i have never intentionally travelled without a valid ticket. My question is can i be prosecuted based on my oyster card transcript alone, I remember a couple of occasions were i have tapped in and not gone through because I instead decided to return home. It is also possible someone else may have used my oystercard without my knowledge. I have spoken to a lawyer who has spoken to the swt prosecutor and he has said there were gaps with no recorded oyster card validation or ticket purchase, he also said if i did not attend the interview that he (the prosecutor) would apply for a consideration for prosecution under bye law 18.1. thanks for your thoughts in advance. First time posting so if this is the wrong place etc let me know and sorry!
  8. Before I narrate the incident I'd like to declare that I have realized my mistake and I'm really ashamed of whatever I have done. So please provide provide honest and truthful information. I was scheduled to have an interview for a job. I was running late and was wearing my brother's trousers as this is my first job interview (I do not have formal clothes). as soon as I entered the rail station I checked my pockets and couldn't find my oyster and thought I had left my oyster card at home. However, my brother's oyster was in the trouser and just so that I make it on time for my first interview, I decided to use his and as soon as I touched the oyster (for tfl london underground tube) one of the staff member called and said show me your card. I remained calm and showed him upon seeing his picture he knew it wasn't mine so he took all the details and asked me why have I got his card and not mine I said I was in a rush and by mistake I took his card. He was very adamant and very strict so he asked me to write my name and sign a piece of blank paper. He noted all the details such as house address, my appearance as well:|. He said we'll investigate further and check where it has been used to cross check which is completely fine because this is the first time I actually used his oyster and got caught straightaway He did mention that I was using my brother oyster to avoid fare and I said no. I left and walked out of the station, while on my way back I randomly opened my bag to see if I had kept my oyster in there. Surprisingly enough it was in my bag. By the time I got back to the station, the inspector was gone and since I was getting late for my interview I did not decide to do anything. What I want to know is that what are the consequences of this?? I know it is my mistake and because of my carelessness I could get into serious trouble. I have been looking online and it says that for some cases, a person can be fined upto a £1000 and a criminal record:sad: I am in so much stress because it is a matter of education and employment-it could be over due to this wrong decision I made. A criminal record is the last I need because I am in 2nd year of my university doing a health-science course (NHS) and can affect my studies. What is the possible outcome? the inspector did not give me any paper or form. I'm 19 and it is my first offence. How long do they take to get back to you? Will I just be fined or will I have to go court? Anything that I can to prevent them taking this case to a courrt? Any help will be much appreciated
  9. Thank you to all who contributed to this forum. I have worked my way through as many post as I can, and it has helped me to calm down since getting cautioned by an inspector on the tube. It was very distressing for me and really affected my day to day activities for the first 48 hours or so. The letter that I had been expecting came today and one thing that struck me was how it does not ask me to comment on the incident. It merely asked me to fill out the form on the reverse side. It reads: 1. If you deny committing an offence, please explain why. Please note, xxx fare evasion offences are ones of strict liability. This means that a mistake or accident is not a defence. The fact you were on a ttt service without a valid ticket or pass is normally sufficient for a conviction. 2. If you accept committing an offence, please provide any exceptional reasons, including evidence, as to why ttt should not proceed with a prosecution. The whole episode was quite distressing when the inspector came. I wasn't expecting anything wrong and quite happily produced my card. Earlier that morning, I couldn't find my normal oyster card (which has a photo) and having emptied my bag, dug up another oyster card, I then picked up a friend's card (not photocard) on the table by mistake (which I realised only on hindsight) , which had a young person railcard loaded on it. However it strangely contained also another discount, but we do not know what it was (because my friend had asked me before what discounts are available). In any case, when asked about the discounts on the card, I panicked because it was only then I realised I took the wrong card and I acted as if the card was my own, and told them there's a young person railcard and possibly another thing. The inspector then asked if I had any photo ID to prove the second discount, but I didn't even know what discount was on it I was even asked by a different inspector how much I paid for that card. So they suspected me of fare evasion because of the second discount and then interviewed me under caution, and I told them everything I knew about that card, but I acted as if the card belonged to me (I still don't know why I did that). I am an international and so I'm very worried about losing my visa. My normal oyster should contain details of my travel history and the frequency of topping up, but I'm now not even sure if I have accidentally picked up my friend's oyster card by mistake on the days I could not find my normal oyster card (I don't travel on the tube every day). My friend says he doesn't think the card is registered as he doesn't have any log in details to check that card. The fact is that the card I used that day was invalid so I can't choose option 1. But what should I write?
  10. Hi all, been browsing this site regarding appeals for forgetting my railcard but haven't seen anything regarding a railcard on Oyster (apologies if this has been covered). Travelled from Shenfield to East Croydon on my Oyster today from where I was planning on buying a ticket to Brighton to complete my journey. I'd been in a massive rush to catch my train as I only found out at about 7am that I was meant to be at university at 10 rather than 11 which got me hurrying, I didn't have time to buy a paper ticket I thought I'd use my Oyster which had my railcard added to it. Unfortunately, I hadn't realised I'd left my railcard in my old wallet (birthday recently, received a new compact one and had moved a few 'essentials' to it but forgot that) and an inspector on the train to East Croydon fined me £20 for not carrying the railcard, which I paid on the spot. At the time I asked him if I could appeal it and if I'd have any chance of being successful, he said I might have a bit of luck. I'll be sending a copy of my railcard as proof that I do possess one (and in any case, don't you actually have to have one to put it on your Oyster, as opposed to a paper ticket which you can buy without it being physically present?) Does anyone have any experience as to whether I might have any chance of success here? I'd really rather not pay the fine, it was a genuine honest mistake which I have explained in my appeal letter. Thanks all!
  11. Hi there, I thought I should write this post on Consumer Action Group as some of the threads on this forum provided me with some valuable advice when I first got caught about three weeks ago using my partner's student oyster card on Transport for London. The case has now been settled out of court and I thought I should share my experience with others who may now be in a similar position. I had been using my student's oyster card for about 8 months buying weekly travelcards with the occasional use of top-up (when the travelcard was not valid for those zones or when the travelcard had expired for that week) before I was caught in early June 2015 by a revenue inspection officer. I was asked various questions about intention to use and how long I had been using it for, to which I combined both fact and fiction (I was under duress and, like so many others, I had no idea what the potential repercussions could be). I was then cautioned ("You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence") to which she proceeded to ask more questions (such as 'do you have another oyster card? 'do you have any money to get home?', 'who buys the travelcards..?' etc) before I said goodbye and walked away (remember that once you are cautioned you have the RIGHT to respond 'no comment' and to walk away until you have the opportunity to seek legal representation). Luckily, my revenue inspection officer was extremely amiable and told me I could walk away if I wanted to, so do bare this in mind if this happens to you. I was then sent a letter about three days later from the Special Investigations Team asking me to attend an interview for 'historical offences' and 'irregular usage' of the student oyster card and another letter a couple of days later form the Area 10 Investigations Team asking me to make any comments about the incident, otherwise known as a 'Verification Letter'. In both letters it was said that if I failed to respond it may result in the case being progressed by the Prosecutions Team. I had read somewhere online that if you are asked to attend an interview, it was seen that your case was more 'serious'. So, when I received the first letter, I started to panic, and decided to ring various solicitors to inquire about legal representation. Of the two I spoke to, [removed], I tried a third solicitor to get a different opinion from the two others who, although seemed incredibly efficient, also seemed quite impersonal [removed], (Do bare in mind also that these costs would have been on top of any additional monies I would have had to pay to Tfl for fare evasion discrepancies and the admin fees involved in handling my case file, mounting up to a cost of over £1000 in total, a sum I wanted to lower as much as possible). I then spoke to someone at [removed], who gave me some invaluable and incredibly helpful advice about dealing with Tfl (all for which he did for for free, about 20 mins of his time over the phone). He told me that many individuals at Tfl were incredibly reasonable [he gave me the direct phone number of the head of the prosecutions team] and if I failed to get through to ring the number on the letter and find out which member of the investigations team was handling my case and ask whether it would be possible to arrange an informal settlement. I was incredibly anxious about doing this (just because i wasn't sure what to say, whether I would be giving them more information than needed, whether it was even possible or not etc), but his confidence and reassurance gave me the vote of confidence I needed (hence, why I am now sharing this with all of you, to know that you can do the same), and also that he wouldn't be able to take on my case legally anyway as he was so busy. I then spent the following morning finding out who was in charge of my case, to which I finally got hold of someone [removed], and said that I wanted to arrange in an informal settlement with regards to my case, that I was incredibly sorry for my actions, and that I had been incredibly anxious about the incident and its potential outcome (a guilty verdict would have resulted in me losing my job). He responded really reasonably, telling me that he understood that people become incredibly nervous about the potential outcomes to their case and he didn't want anyone to ever lose any sleep over it). He said that I should respond to the verification letter by email providing details of how often I had used the oystercard and for how long for. He stressed that it was important for me to be as honest and upfront as possible, because they were able to investigation quite a lot of information about my journey history (remember they have whole teams investigating each case in detail), and to provide any serial numbers of any other oyster cards I had been using at the time. I then emailed him with all the details, being completely honest about how long I had been using it for, stressing my apology and my anxiety and my willingness to repay any costs. Just over a week later, I received an email from another member of the SIT team saying that I that they had agreed to an informal settlement and gave me a sum I had to repay within the next 14 days. This has all been paid and settled now, and I am extremely thankful that I did not incur the additional costs of solicitors' fees, or have to go through the trouble of attending an interview (which I think would be have been quite a scary experience). The point of writing this really is to not only realise that there are reasonable and helpful people out there [removed], but for others who are in a similar position to realise that Tfl can be reasonable and amiable people, who's intention is not necessarily to prosecute members of the public, but to regain costs that they have lost by you evading the full fare. The main thing is that Tfl want people to be compliant and honest, which I am thankful I have now done (there is always an element of skepticism of giving too much information anyway). So, the main tips are: 1) Do not be afraid to ring and speak to someone over the phone (thankfully we do not yet live in a age where everything is so drenched in bureaucracy that we are unable to talk to another human being) and 2) respond promptly to both the verification letter/or interview letter (or whatever you receive), and do not ignore it and think it will go away (for your sake as much as anybody's - I know I lost a fair bit of sleep just about the idea of being prosecuted, however remote it may have actually been). If you do have any questions about my case or anything else, please reply to this thread and I will try to answer them (I can only really talk about my experience, not about fare evasion on London buses, other train lines etc, though I do assume the process may be similar). Hope that has been a useful and (hopefully) inspiring thread. Thanks, Wilson
  12. Hi I'm new to this and have been reading some similar situations and would like some help and advice. My situation: I picked up my partner's student oyster by accident one morning in a hurry thinking it was my oyster as both had same wallet. I used it on a bus then had to change bus due to nature of journey. I then noticed that it wasn't mine and had a fumble in my pocket to see if mine was there which it was. When the bus came, I got on and don't know what possessed me but of course I did the studpid thing and touched in with his card. Towards the end of my journey one of those ticket officers came on board and asked to check my ticket so I touched his card on the machine. Then she asked to see the photocard and not knowing what to say I said it didn't have a photo! But of course I showed the card and it had his photo. I told her it was my partner's but I had my own discounted card and showed it to her, and told her his card was a yearly pass. Next I received a letter from TFL stating that legal proceedings may be taken against me and if I had any comments to make. in an attempt to salvage his card as he needed it I wrote to TFL apologising that I had made a mistake and am sorry. However I mentioned that I didn't realised I was using it which was a lie but it was an attempt to get his card returned. As this is the first time something like this happened I didn't know that the card wouldn't be returned regardless. Now I have received a court summons for October 2nd. Alleged offence: being a passenger on a public service vehicle operated on behalf of London bus services being used for the carriage of passengers at separate fares, did use in relation to the journey a ticket which had been issued for use by another person on terms that it is not transferable. Contrary to regulation 7(1)(b) of the public service vehicles regulations 1990 si no. 1020 and section 25(3) of the public passenger vehicles act 1981. I do intend to plead guilty but weren't sure if its better to go and the same if absent. Then I started searching the internet for some help and came across this site and read about settling out of court. Could someone please help and advise and tell me if I will be able to settle out of court and how to do it? Any comments and advice will be much appreciated.
  13. I applied for 18+ Oyster Photocard after being told by a member of staff that I am eligible since I am on a part-time course lasting over 14 weeks. After making the application, and it being rejected, I have found that I have to be in receipt of an NHS grant or receiving financial help from my education establishment. I have attached the webpage that I went through to make my application. I have also included the part of the terms and conditions that is relevant to me. My argument is that the webpage does not state any requirements for NHS funding, it only requires for the course to be eligible. Another argument is that the terms and conditions are confusing, namely the bullet points after either. Correct me if I'm wrong but after an either statement, and cannot be used. Such as: either A and (B or C), in this case A should not have come after either and should have been with the original set of bullet points either (A and B) or C, then in which was A and B do not need to be separate statements but could have been in the same bullet point. I understand this can be confusing and I might not have a valid argument, but any help is much appreciated. I don't see why someone in receipt of grants and financial help gets to reap the benefits of this scheme but not someone like me who is working hard to put myself through education, barely earning £8,000, most of which goes towards tuitions.
  14. Hi have a similar issue i want to discuss but i can not seem to make a thread.
  15. Dear all, Some little advice please. I've read other people's threads on the same subject but cannot find all the information I seek. In January, I was caught with my g/f's student oyster card. I did only do it a handful of times but will not try and justify my actions. When I first received a letter from TFL, I wrote back with a full apology, an offer to pay fines and assoc. costs and explaining how I have never had been in trouble with the law before and how negatively this could affect my future career prospects. I have received a mag. court summons this morning for the 20th of May. From what I've read on here, I think I'm going to write to the prosecutor from TFL requesting a settlement out of court and hope for the best. My questions to you are: if I end up pleading guilty, how serious will the charge be? Will it be a CCJ? Will future employers see it when applying for a new job? I'm due to visit the US at the end of the year, will this stop me entering? Also, I hear about people getting out of things on technicalities... They have noted in the summons that I was stopped at Acton Town station... When in fact I was nowhere near there. Would a wily solicitor get me off on something like that?? Thanks in advance
  16. Hi All, Like all those before me, I'd like to say this site has been very useful. I was stopped/caught using an oyster nominee card I found - I have used it for a few weeks. To start off with, I know I am in the wrong - much like a few people here, my reasoning behind this was financial (or lack of finances) driven. To be more specific, I have been without an income for a couple of months and at the same time have been paying medical bills (Cancer) for my dad. I have started a new job, and getting a (criminal) record would not only be detrimental but actually stop me getting any future employment in my role (note I have just started a career/working life). Note also: this is my first mistake. I don't know what to do - and even though money is extremely tight - I am considering getting a (payday) loan so I can get/talk to a solicitor. I received the 1st letter giving me 10days to present my case/supporting comments etc. What should I do? In the worse case and I do get a record - is it a "full" criminal record or a "civil" record? (i seem to recall someone writing here there is a difference...) how long would this last/does it get erased? Many thanks for any help/advice
  17. Hi, I stupidly walked away from a ticket inspector after being caught without tapping in on the London overground. I think in doing this I have made what was a £40 fixed penalty into a serious problem with the possibility of a criminal record, something I really can't have. I left the inspector with my Oyster card which is not registered but I have paid for with my debit card. Can tfl get this information and use it to prosecute? I am guessing they can, but wanted to check. In the case that they can what is the best course of action, to contact tfl and fess up and ask to pay the fine/costs and see if this willingness to right my wrong will prevent prosecution. Or should I wait for the inevitable letter of prosecution and try to settle out of court then? Many thanks for your help! RR
  18. Hello, Yesterday, my father took my 18+ oyster by mistake and was stopped by an RPI during his journey. At first, my father said it was his but admitted it was mine when asked again. He gave his details and went on his way. I will be asking for more details about the questions posed from him later but for now, I'm well aware of the consequences and am seeking advice from you guys. What can be considered helpful to prove my father's lack of intent? No letters have arrived yet, but I'm making sure to be proactive and collect evidence of non-habitual misuse of the service. I'm looking for avenues of legal aid, so when I draft a letter this weekend, I can get a professional opinion. Unfortunately, I haven't found any free solicitor services that can deal with Fare Evasion. If any of you know one such organisation or service, please let me know.
  19. Howdy, I recently recieved a Penalty Fare notice on a London bus for apparently not having an Oyster card. What had happened was I tapped on, but later on in the journey my wallet was stolen without me being aware. The ticket inspector went ahead and gave a Penalty Notice. Since this is a 16+ Oyster Photocard it shouldn't be hard to prove that I actually did tap on. The can just find my name and the corresponding card and dates and journey. In any case, I appealed as soon as I got home but now I have gotten a letter saying the following: Now, I did not recieve any letter prior to this telling me any information was needed or that my appeal was rejected. My e-mail address is also on record and I received nothing there. I am attempting to call them, however I haven't managed to get through as of yet. It's clear they are just after my money, and not even bothered to verify facts. I'm sure if this was a matter of the court I would win, but obviously that isn't something that I want the bother of. Does anyone have any advice regarding this? Thank you!
  20. Help Please, Was caught on 3rd of October with my sister in law discounted oyster card , at the time i didn't know it was discounted card. she wasn't using it anymore cause they issued her freedom bus pass. The day i borrowed the card, i couldn't find my card which is discounted as well from the job center so i had to borrow. when i explained to the inspector he didn't believe me and took my details anyway. 4 weeks later i received a letter to explain what happen and replied with sincere apology followed the explanation and told them that am unemployed. Today i received a letter to appear in court 2 months from today. I have 3 options 1.Guilty - Don't attend the court 2. Guilty - Attend the court 3. Not Guilty - Intend to call witness What should i do? Do i need legal representation? Will i get criminal record for this? Do i call tfl or write to them to settle the case? Any advice and information is appreciated.
  21. Ok. This just happened literally 2 hours ago. I've been research about solutions for this matter but no hope. Please advice on these points below: 1. I'm a valid student, graduating in 2016 2. At the time of incident, the 18+ oyster card was not mine. It was my friend 3. I paid for the monthly travel which is 150/months MYSELF via my bank card (lucky me so that I can provide proof). 4. I've one expired 18+ oyster card, and one lost one. I've already report and pay 10 pounds fee to TFL since March (I think), and been phoned up multiple times to chase up but still nothing up until now. That can show I'm not trying to evade tube fare 5. The policy created to stop fare evasion which is reduce the TFL revenue but for my case, I've been constantly boost their revenue by 150 months. Just by different photos and names. 6. They said it's all about fair. What is fair if they took my only tool to travel. I have to travel all the way from Kingston to Hackney to work. If I try to be 'legal', it will take me 340 pounds/month. I'm entitled for a student discount as 150 months which is still a lot but I can live with that. I'm also have different living expenses to deal with. 7. If they put up a unreasonable penalty fares can I appeal??? 8. I'm still believe I'm not deserve being fined. 9. I have not receive any letter yet
  22. I am just wondering if anyone has heard of a company called Oyster Bay? I have just looked at my Experian credit report for the first time in a while and called them because only my credit card and one other thing which was there twice showed up. The guy on the phone was great and hopefully I should be able to see the full report tomorrow morning but we were talking about the account that appeared twice and he also mentioned another similar account from Oyster bay. He said it was a pay day loan. Now I did have some payday loans back in 2009 but I have never heard of these people and he couldn't find any info on his system about them. The balance is weird as well, he said in 2010 it was £214 which is an odd amount and in 2009 it was £188, he said it looked to him like two different accounts. I have googled it and cant find any trace of a company called Oyster Bay or Oysterbay or any other way I can think of to spell it.
  23. -- I just did something stupid....I found an oyster card on the floor a few days ago, it had around £1 left on it. I just got the money transferred to my existing oyster card/handed the card in so £6 including the £1 on it. What are my best options: I don't want a criminal record. Yes it was stupid: my rationale was just to give the money to charity because it's unlikely to get back to its owner, but I didn't realise how seriously TFL takes this kind of thing...which I have now found out.
  24. Just wondered if I could get out of prosecution after getting pulled up by RPOs from Southeastern for not having a tapped in Oyster card on Southeastern between 2 Oyster card stations. Rather brazenly I refused the offer of a penalty fare because I instead offered to go back to the station I got on and tap in, I told them I had no bank card or cash to pay the penalty fare. Therefore the RPOs started filling out a prosecution report and did a PACE interview. They ascertained I had £1.65 on my Oyster, the Oyster fare with my Railcard discount is £1.50, but they kept sticking to their line that the full adult single fare for a paper ticket is £4.00 so I had insufficient funds to pay my fare. I refused to admit intention to avoid the fare. I answered 'did you lie about having a bank card' with 'I refuse to answer that as you did not explain the context and implications of the penalty fare'. I answered 'do you admit if you hadn't been caught by us you would have avoided the fare' with 'no because there are barriers at the station I am leaving so I would have had to pay a non tap in fare.' Now I'm thinking of responding to the prosecution letter by restating that the RPOs are poorly informed on the Oyster fare with Railcard discount, and that I had not avoided paying the fare as I offered to go back to the station I got on the train at and the RPOs could have monitored this seeing as they got off the train with me at my destination, so were obviously prepared to invest the time to monitor the fare. I also planned to say my denial of having a bank card was on the basis that I was not under caution at that time and was entitled to negotiate on how to settle a civil debt in whatever way I like. I know there are a lot of risks with this approach, so I also wanted to get thoughts on what my chances are of offering to pay just a penalty fare and not a 3 figure out of court settlement or antagonising them enough for them to just prosecute.
  25. If you have an Oyster season ticket, you can also have funds for Pay as you go journeys outside your zones. An annual season ticket also acts as a 'gold card', giving 1/3 off train fares outside your zones (across SE England) after 10am on weekdays, and all day at weekends and bank holidays. After going outside my zones (1-3), I received an email from TFL saying I needed to get the discount 'activated' at a staffed Oyster sales point to get the discount when staying inside the Oyster area (going outside, you need to buy a paper ticket in advance). I did so, and complained to TFL. I also pointed out their adverts about Oyster charging the correct fare were therefore false. As they only keep records for six weeks, they also credited me £15 for past overcharging (I had asked for previous journeys to have the discount applied).
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