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Fake details to a ticket insperctor?

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Olvax

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Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and I'm actually here to ask a question on behalf of a friend who's worries about incriminating themselves and so asked me to do it.

My friend travelled on the tube this morning but her oyster card (with a fair amount of credit) didn't work, she tried it twice, checked the balance and tried it again, it still didn't work. As she was in a hurry, she rushed through the big barriers behind someone else. Scared she was going to be fined, she did the same thing at the other end and was cornered by ticket inspectors. They checked her oyster card and found no attempted validation and said there was no way this could be wrong and she was lying. Admitting she was in the wrong, but annoyed about being called a liar, she gave fake information and as far as she can tell walked away free, however, as I write this, she sits in front me shaking like a leaf, cradling large gin and wondering weather their going to track her down. She had the fine and the details and so is capable of paying it, but her situation doesn't make it an easy thing to do right now.
She gave her real first name but fake last name, and a fake address, however, the fake address is on her mums road and flustered she gave her mums name. They also have the name of the place she was born.
I've offered to help her pay the fine if need be, she wants advice. Pay the fine and let it be done, or let it be and see what happens. will they track her down?
 
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cdonnigan

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Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and I'm actually here to ask a question on behalf of a friend who's worries about incriminating themselves and so asked me to do it.

My friend travelled on the tube this morning but her oyster card (with a fair amount of credit) didn't work, she tried it twice, checked the balance and tried it again, it still didn't work. As she was in a hurry, she rushed through the big barriers behind someone else. Scared she was going to be fined, she did the same thing at the other end and was cornered by ticket inspectors. They checked her oyster card and found no attempted validation and said there was no way this could be wrong and she was lying. Admitting she was in the wrong, but annoyed about being called a liar, she gave fake information and as far as she can tell walked away free, however, as I write this, she sits in front me shaking like a leaf, cradling large gin and wondering weather their going to track her down. She had the fine and the details and so is capable of paying it, but her situation doesn't make it an easy thing to do right now.
She gave her real first name but fake last name, and a fake address, however, the fake address is on her mums road and flustered she gave her mums name. They also have the name of the place she was born.
I've offered to help her pay the fine if need be, she wants advice. Pay the fine and let it be done, or let it be and see what happens. will they track her down?

They will have the correct details from checking her oyster card wont they so will be able to trace it to her anyway regardless of details given.
 

Mike395

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They will have the correct details from checking her oyster card wont they so will be able to trace it to her anyway regardless of details given.

Unless there's a discount applied, or the card is registered (see below on the second point) TfL can't do this.

In addition, an Oyster card with no discount loaded is transferable, regardless of whether it is registered - so the registered owner is not necessarily the person using the card.
 

Olvax

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It's an unregistered Oyster card, they did the full check at the time and printed the history and there's no address or information on there.
 

scarby

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She cannot have been fined - only a court can issue a fine.

Was she issued with a Penalty Fare, but declined to pay on the spot? If she pays the Penalty Fare for the sum detailed in the notice/ticket which should have been give to her, that should be the end of the matter.
 

Flamingo

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If they track her down due to a non-payment of the PF it'll be a trip to court. I can't see a prosecutions department accepting an offer to settle with that obvious an attempt to avoid payment.
 

Mojo

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Was she issued with a Penalty Fare, but declined to pay on the spot? If she pays the Penalty Fare for the sum detailed in the notice/ticket which should have been give to her, that should be the end of the matter.
No; it sounds to me like the details were taken and a report made for prosecution. This is standard procedure (but like anything does not always happen) when someone doubles through the ticket gates as it is often easy to prove intent here. I also get this from the fact that the Inspectors noted the place of birth.
 

Stigy

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If she was given a Penalty Fare Notice (she'll have been given a copy of this), I suggest she pays it. If paid that'll be the end of it and a lucky escape. If she was reported for the offence, it could be a different matter if TfL does a bit of detective work, and it'll almost certainly be a trip to the Magistrates' Court.

To be honest, with an unregistered Oyster Card, unless they delve in to who's name she gave and then put two and two together, I can't see them bothering.
 
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Fare-Cop

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To be honest, with an unregistered Oyster Card, unless they delve in to who's name she gave and then put two and two together, I can't see them bothering.


I agree, except that, if she is a regular commuter, using the same route daily, she may well be spotted again & recognised by the same inspector in the near future and may be asked another question or two....
 

edwin_m

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Can an unregistered Oyster card be "flagged" on the system so it alerts somebody when it is used again?
 

Manchester77

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Can an unregistered Oyster card be "flagged" on the system so it alerts somebody when it is used again?

On the BBC series the tube one of the episodes showed revenue protection officers using Oyster to track a user and intercepting them at their end station so I'd imagine they can in this case too
 
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jon0844

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There's certainly a good chance of being spotted again, so she maybe needs to avoid going to those stations again for a while. They'll have the journey history too, so will know roughly when she goes through each station if it's a regular commute.
 

jon0844

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Yes, but they could still see where the person comes from and goes to, and when, so it doesn't matter if she gets a new Oyster. She'll still look the same, unless she plans to wear a disguise to avoid being spotted by the person(s) she gave fake details to.
 

Olvax

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That's was her second to last shot a that job, and the next one comes long before the payment deadline. Here's another point I didn't realise to, it wasn't her unregistered Oyster card. She found it on the floor outside a station she rarely uses, and decided to keep it as its impossible to track the owner of an unregistered one. The previous travel in the card is pretty erratic, and this was the first time she'd used it.
 

island

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So you're saying she has also committed the offence of theft by finding?
 

jon0844

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If you found an Oyster card, how would you know it was unregistered?

It now seems to me that the Oyster, with quite a lot of credit, stopped working perhaps because it WAS registered and was eventually cut off.
 

island

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Presenting an Oyster card to a POM will tell you whether it was registered or not, as far as I remember. If not, one can still determine this by attempting to buy a monthly Travelcard, which will not work if the card is unregistered.
 

Olvax

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She held the card up to a ticket machine and it said unregistered. If she handed it in tfl would have just kept the money. Hardly seems fair to me. Keeping it is hardly theft
 

jon0844

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Doesn't TfL take the money and give it to charity? A better use of money that isn't yours (hers) than finding it had a load of money on it and then using it to travel.

How serious a crime? Not sure how you could grade it, but it's certainly immoral.
 

Deerfold

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She held the card up to a ticket machine and it said unregistered. If she handed it in tfl would have just kept the money. Hardly seems fair to me. Keeping it is hardly theft

Not fair for TfL to keep it, but fine for your friend to?
 

blue sabre

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She held the card up to a ticket machine and it said unregistered. If she handed it in tfl would have just kept the money. Hardly seems fair to me. Keeping it is hardly theft
If a registered Oyster was reported lost, how would it display when presented to the machine?
 

island

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Probably something to the effect that the presenter should seek assistance from staff.
 

jon0844

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I'd prefer to think a siren goes off and robotic hands come out to grab the person, but suspect you're right.
 

blue sabre

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Probably something to the effect that the presenter should seek assistance from staff.

So it wouldn't just tell you it was unregistered then? Could the 'seek assistance' message be the reason the oyster cardcdidn't initially work then?
 
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455driver

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Keeping it is hardly theft

So if 'your friend' saw a wallet with a load of cash in it they would pick it up and spend the money would they?

Whats the difference between that and finding an oyster card!
 

island

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If a registered Oyster was reported lost, how would it display when presented to the machine?

Probably something to the effect that the presenter should seek assistance from staff.

So it wouldn't just tell you it was unregistered then? Could the 'seek assistance' message be the reason the oyster cardcdidn't initially work then?

Why would the machine tell you that a hotlisted, registered Oyster card was unregistered? I am totally confused.
 
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