Prosecution: appeal after court - Ticket Evasion

[Old-CodJA]

Before I add more detail I just want to point out that I am only asking if people in this forum can help. If you can't help, it's OK, but please don't fill this thread with finger waving remarks.

 

I guess if you are asking for help it may not be a good idea to tell people what you want them to write, that attitude is likely to see many people who might have something useful to offer deciding that you'd best make your own way through this.

 

It is frequently the case that pointing out where the OP went wrong will highlight the areas that might need attention if you are to succeed in achieving your aims.

 

To add more detail that has been asked, here's a bit more. It had been raining hard that morning, so I decided not to ride into work.

 

I understand that you are providing detail, but the weather isn't relevant to the charge or judgment.

 

When I walked through the open gates in the station I had already waited up to 3minutes, which at the time I believed was the maximum you had to wait before the buying the ticket on the train. I understand now that this rule varies for different train companies.

 

Yes, there are variations, but charter comitments are only a set of aims. They are what the TOC aims to achieve and are not legally binding. They do not overrule the National Railways Byelaws (2005), the National Rail Conditions of Carriage and other legislation. You cannot use a defence of too long a queue if you didn't have means to pay anyway.

 

Because I had my bicycle with me I stood with my bike and waited for the conductor. By the time he was in my carriage he went straight to the intercom to call in the stop.

 

It is always the travellers responsibility to seek an opportunity to declare their journey and to pay the fare due, it is not for rail staff to seek out those who have not paid.

 

I got off the train and walked up to the ticket inspector at the gate. I looked in my bag and found that I had forgotten my wallet. I told the ticket inspector why I didn't have my ticket. I offered to have a colleague come to pay the ticket and fine but the Ticket Inspector wouldn't accept. I told him my details and then he asked again for my wallet to provide my details.

 

Already addressed in earlier posts. It is the travellers responsuibility to check before travelling. I understand that we all make mistakes at times, but this is mitigation, not a defence.

 

He didn't believe I didn't have my wallet and searched my bag.

 

Did the inspector physically search your bag and are you saying that he did so without your consent? If so, why did you not make a complaint at the time. All station barrier lines are covered by CCTV

 

[Then he said I was unable to give my details, and pay for my travel so I had to be prosecuted. He sent me to the Rail Policeman and then I had to sign a statement.

 

If you signed a statement made out by a British Transport Police Officer at the time you will have been cautioned in accordance with The Police & Criminal Evidence Act (1984) and the notes will have been read aloud to you whilst you were being allowed to see what was written down. At the end of that procedure you would be asked if you agreed with the notes and would have been given an opportunity to sign them

 

Your signature indicates only that you have agreed that the notes are a true record of your conversation with the officer making out the statement, whether a Railway Inspector or a Police Officer. Both have exactly the same role to play in this scenario.

 

[ I later found that I should have been told that I did not need to sign anything without a solicitor.

 

Not true, you could have refused to sign and this would have been witnessed by both the Inspector and Police Officer. There is no necessity to have a solicitor present, many thousands of such contemporaneous statements are taken every month

 

I also found that discretion should be applied to people who are clearly not ticket evading.

 

Discretion is exactly that. You had no ticket and could not pay. The fare is due there and then. You failed to pay the fare on demand. It appears that the inspector and Police Officer seem to have agreed that making a report was justified and they were at liberty to do so. It has been ruled that a person cannot give what they do not have. Despite having no ticket and no means you had made the journey. The fare is due there and then. Your fare had been avoided by default. You may have had grounds to challenge the assertion that you intended avoiding the fare, but you did not respond to the Summons despite knowing that you were required to do so. It was the Court you ignored at that point, not the rail company

 

I was sent a letter from the Southeastern Protection Office asking me to verify the statement. Oddly, they addressed the letter with an odd spelling mistake though my witness statement had my details correct. I wrote a long reply with the full version of events and asking to pay the ticket and fine. I did not hear back.

 

You have clearly accepted that you were the traveller and that you had not paid. That letter will be on file with the TOC and would be made available to the Court.

 

I have found documents that state southeastern should have made provisions for an appeal before prosecution in there Penalty Fare Scheme documentation.

 

Where a traveller is found on train, or having travelled without valid ticket and without the means to pay the fare there and then, a Penalty Fare is never the correct procedure. Penalty fares rules are irrelevant in this case, you were not issued with a Penalty Fare Notice and it would have been wrong of the inspector to do so.

 

I was then sent a Court Summons.

 

The correct procedure has therefore been followed.

 

When I received the court verdict, I wrote to the Southeastern Protection Office, marked urgent as I wanted to apply a court appeal within the 21days. I did not heard back from two letters.

 

Why write to the rail company? It was the Court who convicted you and any appeal can only be considered by the Court process. It was up to you to contact the Court who sent you the verdict and demand for payment.

 

I then contacted Southeastern Customer Relations, I have been given the run around ever since, more than 6months after the court verdict.

 

The rail company cannot alter what has been done, you were Summonsed, you did not acknowledge the authority of the Court and you have suffered the consequences of your own actions. That is not the TOCs fault.

 

The only information I have been able to find has been on forums and it has taken a lot of effort, piecing together fragments of hearsay and documents, to really understand what I had been charged with and understanding my rights.

 

This is why I only want sensible help in this thread, as the information will stand as a history for other victims of the section 130 of the Railways Act 1993 to understand what is happening to them and what options they have available if they are in a similar situation.

 

There is no legal precedent in this case and no likelihood of one being set either. Many hundreds (if not thousands) of similar appeals have been heard and disposed of in the past. You were charged under Section 5 of The Regulation of Railways Act (1889).

 

To succeed you will have to have real grounds to challenge the conviction and on the basis that you intended to travel, but had neither means to pay or a valid ticket to produce on demand, you don't have grounds to challenge the process followed by the TOC

Edited November 21, 2012 by Old-CodJA