Tfl fare evasion

I have been asked by a few people about my experience with fare evasion so I’ll give a a brief overview. I was caught by chiltern an evading a fare and was given an intended prosecution letter, the same happened to my friend recently. I will say I was highly anxious about this, but my advice would be not to worry… as long as you respond to the letter and show you are highly apologetic asking to settle outside of court you’ll be fine! I mentioned how a criminal charge would look very bad for future job prospects. I received an offer of £300 which I had to pay, my friend received an offer of £70. Once you pay that it’ll all go away. I received no criminal charge thank god.

How many offences did you commit? was it just the one? in my letter it says i may have avoided the correct fee up to 77 times. am i screwed or what?

How many offences did you commit? was it just the one? in my letter it says i may have avoided the correct fee up to 77 times. am i screwed or what?

I have been asked by a few people about my experience with fare evasion so I’ll give a a brief overview. I was caught by chiltern an evading a fare and was given an intended prosecution letter, the same happened to my friend recently. I will say I was highly anxious about this, but my advice would be not to worry… as long as you respond to the letter and show you are highly apologetic asking to settle outside of court you’ll be fine! I mentioned how a criminal charge would look very bad for future job prospects. I received an offer of £300 which I had to pay, my friend received an offer of £70. Once you pay that it’ll all go away. I received no criminal charge thank god.

Hey annii. Thanks for this as I’ve been extremely anxious about this and it has settled my anxiety a bit. How long did the letter take to come,

Hi!

Just wanted to try give a bit of assurance.

Without knowing the details of the case it’s hard to comment, but the general process is as follows:

Following the incident, the train operating company (TOC) has exactly 6 months within which they can initiate legal proceedings. This means the letter can take up to 6 months to arrive.

When it does arrive, you will be asked to respond with your version of events. It is important to highlight that there are two possible outcomes:

1) The TOC agrees to settle the matter out of court. This will involve you paying a sum of money to the TOC (normally the full single fare for the journey + any admin costs the TOC has incurred in investigating the matter. In total, this normally adds up to the full fare + roughly £100).

2) The TOC proceeds with a prosecution in the magistrates court. In this instance, you will be given a Single Justice Procedure Notice (SJPN) and asked to plead either guilty or not guilty (an early guilty plea reduces the fine amount by 33%).

Option 1 is practically always cheaper than option 2 and is the more desirable one. To maximise the chance of getting option 1, it is important to respond to the letter sent from the TOC in an apologetic and constructive manner. Apologise for your mistake, briefly outline what you have learned and what you will change going forward, and offer to pay any outstanding costs and admin fees.

I advise you to post a thread on the website below. This forum is home to a number of experts who specialise in and study rail fares and contract law and are best placed to offer you assistance:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/forums/disputes-prosecutions.152/

If you need any help or clarification on anything at all, feel free to ask and I’ll try my best to answer as well as I can!

I have been asked by a few people about my experience with fare evasion so I’ll give a a brief overview. I was caught by chiltern an evading a fare and was given an intended prosecution letter, the same happened to my friend recently. I will say I was highly anxious about this, but my advice would be not to worry… as long as you respond to the letter and show you are highly apologetic asking to settle outside of court you’ll be fine! I mentioned how a criminal charge would look very bad for future job prospects. I received an offer of £300 which I had to pay, my friend received an offer of £70. Once you pay that it’ll all go away. I received no criminal charge thank god.

How many offences did you commit? was it just the one? in my letter it says i may have avoided the correct fee up to 77 times. am i screwed or what?