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TFL - fare evasion, help plz


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Dear Sir,

 

Last week I was travelling from west drayton (west london) to shepherd bush station

 

I was caught by the Revenue Inspector at the shepherd bush station as I stupidly used my tesco club card to touch out instead of oyster card as both were in the same pocket.

 

I also forgot to touch in at west drayton as I was getting late and ran to board the train as there are no barriers.

 

I apologized the inspector and then I showed him my oyster card,

he looked at the history and found out the last time I used the card was 6 months back.

 

I told him that I mainly work from home and don't come to city too often.

He then grilled me for 15 mins,

took all the notes about name,

contact number and address where the oyster card is registered etc,

 

read out my rights,

get the notes signed by me and let me go out without giving me any penalty fare.

 

He said they will communicate further and I will get copy of these notes as well.

 

Later on I realized that my oyster card was registered at the OLD address

(moved to new address 6 months back)

wondering when they will write to me, it will go to the old address.

 

I then called TFL customer service and got my address updated and explained them the whole situation.

They advised me that if I was caught then I should have received the penalty fare there n then

and if they let me go out without PF there is nothing to worry and I should simply ignore the incident,

which I don't think is a great advice.

 

Now I did bit of googling and really worried after seeing so many people have been criminally prosecuted due to fare evasion by TFL. I have not received any communication from the TFL as yet.

 

Please advice me

 

1. What are my options about the above incident and how can I avoid criminal conviction and do out of court settlement as Criminal record will severely affect my current career and any future job prospects as I work in financial sector?

 

This is the first time that this has happened to me and I am extremely stressed about the whole situation.

I could not sleep, eat and work properly from last one week.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Many Thanks.

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you await their letter they have 6mts.

 

I doubt you'll here anything

 

you wont get a criminal record for a one off mistake

 

unless ofcourse this is not the only time?

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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well its a procedural matter in a way

but even if you do

you simply grovel

 

 

you say TFL, do you mean all rail companies

ie you've not done nowt stupid like this before...

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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good you'll be ok

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

He then grilled me for 15 mins,

took all the notes about name,

contact number and address where the oyster card is registered etc,

 

read out my rights,

get the notes signed by me and let me go out without giving me any penalty fare.

 

He said they will communicate further and I will get copy of these notes as well.

 

Later on I realized that my oyster card was registered at the OLD address

(moved to new address 6 months back)

wondering when they will write to me, it will go to the old address.

 

I then called TFL customer service and got my address updated and explained them the whole situation.

They advised me that if I was caught then I should have received the penalty fare there n then

and if they let me go out without PF there is nothing to worry and I should simply ignore the incident,

which I don't think is a great advice.

 

Now I did bit of googling and really worried after seeing so many people have been criminally prosecuted due to fare evasion by TFL. I have not received any communication from the TFL as yet.

 

Up to TfL if they prosecute. It sounds like the Revenue staff member has made a report to the Prosecutions office, so "They advised me that if I was caught then I should have received the penalty fare there n then and if they let me go out without PF there is nothing to worry and I should simply ignore the incident" doesn't sound valid to me. If the Revenue staff believe there has been an attempt to evade a fare (rather than just an honest mistake) they shouldn't issue a PF.

 

Why didn't you say "ohh, My Oyster is registered to X address, but I forgot to update it, and my address now is Y"?

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Thanks, that's such a relief.

 

Just wondering does TFL has got access to data of all other rail companies too?

 

Why? Have you been stopped before?.

If so, who by, and what was the outcome?.

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Up to TfL if they prosecute. It sounds like the Revenue staff member has made a report to the Prosecutions office, so "They advised me that if I was caught then I should have received the penalty fare there n then and if they let me go out without PF there is nothing to worry and I should simply ignore the incident" doesn't sound valid to me. If the Revenue staff believe there has been an attempt to evade a fare (rather than just an honest mistake) they shouldn't issue a PF.

 

Why didn't you say "ohh, My Oyster is registered to X address, but I forgot to update it, and my address now is Y"?

 

yes,

I should have said that

but I was very worried and confused when they were interviewing me.

 

 

I realized my mistake afterwards and went to the same tube station in lunch time and asked them how can I get in touch with these revenue inspector to tell them the address where I live now.

 

 

Station staff advised to contact TFL and get the address updated which I did the same evening.

 

Why? Have you been stopped before?.

If so, who by, and what was the outcome?.

 

No

I was never been stopped before by any rail companies.

 

 

It was just for the information that do various rail companies share their data between themselves or not?

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No

I was never been stopped before by any rail companies.

 

 

It was just for the information that do various rail companies share their data between themselves or not?

 

Play it safe and assume they do. Ensure that in future you have a valid ticket before traveling (or one of the statutory defences).

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"one of the statutory defences" what do you mean by that?

 

There are statutory defences to one of the 2 possible charges you might face.

 

There is a 'strict liability' Byelaw offence (where they don't have to prove you intended to avoid your fare, merely show you didn't produce your ticket on demand) .

There are reasons allowable by the Byelaw that mean you have a defence from such a prosecution.

 

They'll also investigate if you try to retrospectively claim one of the defences : so, they'll check if the ticket office was open, and check if all the ticket machines were out of order as well .....

 

Usually, the Revenue staff will ask questions during the interview to allow you to bring these up while being questioned ..... did you mention any reasons for not having a ticket other than "I also forgot to touch in at west drayton as I was getting late and ran to board the train as there are no barriers."?

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Are you under 18?

 

That letter makes it clear they are considering prosecution.

If you are 18 or over : you need to persuade them not to prosecute.

Have a look at the many many threads on CAG for an idea of what to say, but

1) Don't lie : if you get caught in a lie you may 'blow' any chance of avoiding prosecution.

2) Use the other threads as a guide on what to say & how to say it, but make it your own words. If it doesn't "ring true" or looks like a copy of a reply they've seen many times : less chance of avoiding prosecution.

3) When you have a draft, post it up for comment. It can be "fine tuned" but still kept original / your own words.

4) Expect to be asked to pay a hefty sum if they agree an "administrative settlement" to avoid prosecution.

It'll still be better than getting found guilty in court.....

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no, why ?

 

Default under 18 is "find alternative to prosecution", but there is no such default for adults.

All is not lost, but it's easier if someone is under 18 : you grovel while noting their prosecution policy......

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why didn't you say you'd already got the letter when you posted first?

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Are you under 18?

 

That letter makes it clear they are considering prosecution.

If you are 18 or over : you need to persuade them not to prosecute.

Have a look at the many many threads on CAG for an idea of what to say, but

1) Don't lie : if you get caught in a lie you may 'blow' any chance of avoiding prosecution.

2) Use the other threads as a guide on what to say & how to say it, but make it your own words. If it doesn't "ring true" or looks like a copy of a reply they've seen many times : less chance of avoiding prosecution.

3) When you have a draft, post it up for comment. It can be "fine tuned" but still kept original / your own words.

4) Expect to be asked to pay a hefty sum if they agree an "administrative settlement" to avoid prosecution.

It'll still be better than getting found guilty in court.....

 

Sure, I will draft a letter in my own words and come back here for proof reading.

 

Many thanks.

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simply to the point grovelling letter

DONT waffle

keep it short

 

 

offer to pay any reasonable administration fees in equivalence to a fine

to keep your name clean

and retain future employment possibilities

 

 

dx

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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Share on other sites

I just received now, i.e. Just went downstairs and saw the post in letterbox. I did not check the post in the morning.
...:lol:

as bad as me!!

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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Share on other sites

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