Is it right for me to receive a fine of £120?

What if the whole ordeal of trying to erase it off/getting a discount takes too much time and you'd end up with something more serious than a £120 fine?

That's a risk I wouldn't take tbh.

Yeah, you could throw out desperate and probably unsuccessful lies, or you could finally take some responsibility and pay the fine.

I don't know how you've got to this point without working out that the way that you solve this problem is to pay the fine.

Yes, but i don't see the point of fining me of £40 to begin with when i unintentially forgot my oyster card at home. Its not like i knew, what i was doing and got on the bus knowing i did not have an oyster card like some people do.

Will this work out? what if they track that they actually sent the letter to my address?

I want to know my rights regarding this matter.

I would probably say definitely not down to £40, but if they're nice, and it's not too long after the 21 days, they might keep it at £80 for you, rather than giving you a potentially even bigger fine.

For a letter to be tracked it must signed for.

I expect they receive 20 letters a day saying "I did not receive that letter", it's close to "the dog ate my homework" on the scale of things.
I am aware of that this is why i don't want to say stuff like that.


Why didn't you just get off the bus when you realised that you did not have your Oyster card?

I know, i should have, my parents blamed me for this.

Everything just happened so quick that day.

I doubt they have done anything they should not have done, so now you probably have to pay them the £120. If you want to try to get away with the original £40, then write them some letter about something that went wrong (not the letter not arriving) and here's the cheque for the original £40 fine. Then just hope they cannot be bothered to chase you any more.

Ultimately they can take you to court, I think you can get a criminal record, and you really don't want to go through all that for the sake of a few quid - believe me.

You should have tried pleading with the inspector when you were caught without one - say you're just 17, mum's been struggling to put food on the table ever since dad left and you're so stressed about school that you somehow misplaced your card and forgot that you didn't touch the reader when you entered because your mind's too fuzzy.

I get that i will probably have to pay the fine but since we get free travel through this 16-18 oyster card why should it have matered if i did not have my card? is only for identity purpose and i don't even look my age tbh.

Its one of them London buses where you could go through the back and touch in with the reader.

I got on one of them buses through the second door and touched my oyster card pouch on the reader but it did not work so, i just decided to stay on the bus but unfortunatelly for me, the ticket inspecter boarded on the bus shortly after i got on it.

That's the rules, right? Do you want to go to court and argue about it?

I had them try to give me a penalty fare a few years ago, completely different circumstances. In the end they dropped it, because I kept knocking it back to them illustrating that I thought it was more their fault than mine (not enough staff, not enough signage...). They eventually dropped it.

You're past the point you can do that, so now make up a good excuse for not responding previously and pay the £40 (don't offer to pay, actually pay). They may well just leave it at that - you've been "punished", they have some money.

Ok well that's clear fare evasion, you're in the wrong, pony up.