Lest there be any misunderstanding, it was on 23rd JULY that I received the e-mail stating:-
As I have contacted our Fares and Pricing Manager to confirm that your tickets were correct, he has advised me that he will get your Penalty Fare Notice withdrawn immediately
So imagine my surprise when on 6th AUGUST I received the "Notice Of Intention To Prosecute" letter.
So there must be a bit of incompetence at FCC (no surprise there then) in that Customer Services are not talking to Prosecutions.
Alternatively G***n has deliberately falsified the facts of the case when he realised his mistakes, both with regard to the Zone 3/4 boundary and the validity of my tickets under Condition 19(a) of the NRCoC.
I have written to FCC Prosecutions enclosing a copy of the St Albans to Zones 4 -6 ticket, and the current position is that I am awaiting their reply.
I have also complained vigorously the FCC Customer Services and I am also awaiting their reply.
There is also CCTV at St Albans, and a computerised record is created when a paper season ticket is put through the barrier. I shall demand that these are produced as evidence if the case goes to court.
Of course the CCTV may show that I did have the ticket with me. As there are automatic ticket barriers at St Albans, how else was I supposed to have got on to the platform?
The last piece of evidence in my favour is that I was travelling to St Albans for work purposes, and the season tickets were paid for by my employer. I can produce evidence and witnesses to this effect. So even if I had forgotten the St Albans to Zone 4-6 ticket, I could have just bought a single ticket from St Albans to Hendon and claimed it on expenses.
I can also produce character witnesses, including a former magistrate and a vicar, to speak in my favour.
Considering the evidence, I do expect FCC Prosecutions to drop the case as in order to secure a conviction, it will be necessary for G***n (and his colleague who was with him) to perjure themselves in court. Whatever they have told their own bosses, they will know what the truth was, and they will be aware of the implications of lying in court.
I will demand an apology though, and also a (small) amount of compensation for the time, inconvenience and stress this has caused.