Caught Fare Evading

[trainguyb124]

Hi,

I shall spare the backstory as it is probably somewhat obvious. Long story short I was caught fare evading. It was a complete mistake on my part and utter stupidity, I am fully aware of this. It is my first and only time committing any offence. This was with TfL. I have read on this forum their tendency to settle in-court as opposed to out-of-court. Can someone please verify how true this is? Is there no situation in which I will just be fined £X amount and move on?

Any help greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Welcome to the forum.

As you say, TfL's usual approach is to go to court. But in recent weeks there's been some evidence that they are now prepared to consider out of court settlements. We haven't seen enough yet to know if this really is the case, or whether it applies across the board or only to one-time offences.

So it may be worth trying for an out of court settlement. That means that when you write back to them, you will want to make it clear that you will not do it again, that you are sorry and that you would like to settle for the fares you didn't pay and the cost of TfL's investigation. If you have browsed this forum you may have seen the excellent advice that @Hadders gives: essentially follow that. There's no guarantee that TfL will agree to settle - but it may be worth a try.

As I say, we don't have much evidence of what TfL are doing at the moment, so if you can share what the result of your case is, that will help us to advise other people who are in the same position as you are.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum.

We really need to know more about the circumstances of your case before we can advise. Historically TfL did not offer out of court settlements but recent evidence suggests they have started to do so but it very much depends on the circumstances.