Misuse of Freedom Pass

[muuan]

Good evening all . Looking for advice how to handle this situation. Last Saturday I have been caught using my mom's +60 card at a Tube station. They took the card from me and asked who's card it is . I told them that it is my mother's , they asked me if I know that I should not be using it and I said yes . They asked me how many times I used it , I told them that is the first time. They asked me if my mum used the card and I said yes . They scanned the card and told me that they can check the CCTV and find out if I used it more. They asked me again if I used it more than once , I said yes. They took my details.
I have been using the card long enough to be really worried from ending with criminal record. This is my first offense and I believed you can get away just with fine.
Today I received the attached letter. I red few posts here and I don't know how to reply to the letter , should I ask more details of the accusations or just admitting .
I know I am guilty, but I don't want to make my situation worst.
Please someone who went through this or have more knowledge and experience for advice.

 

[30907]

In this case the offence is obvious, so I am not sure there is anything to be gained by asking for more information. Other members may disagree.

You attempted to travel on (date) without a valid ticket by using a Freedom Pass that wasn't yours. No need to admit to more than that.

A likely outcome is that you will be taken to court and fined for an offence under TfL Byelaws - this will not get you a criminal record.

There are several relevant current threads!

 

[furlong]

They are likely to be investigating the history of the travel using that card to see how many occasions they think you might have used it.
They might send you a list of all the occasions they suspect, or invite you to an interview to try to reach an agreement.
If you do agree a list with them, they typically only prosecute for the one offence when they caught you but ask the court to take all the rest into account and to order you to pay compensation for all the unpaid fares.
If you don't co-operate, they have to look at the evidence they can obtain and may prosecute for multiple offences if they think the evidence would be strong enough to persuade the court of your guilt, and if they succeed you could end up with multiple convictions.

But this is serious territory where you ought to get a solicitor to help you to navigate your way through this situation as you could be facing considerable costs, compensation, a fine and one or more criminal convictions.
And if your mum knew what you were doing, then she could also be in trouble over this.

 

[muuan]

Thank you for your replies . I know I am guilty as charged . I can't argue about it . Does anyone has experience with the Fare evasion solicitors , does it worth it or my case is lost battle.

 

[JBuchananGB]

You should take down the second page form the forum, because it shows the case number.

 

[30907]

Thank you for your replies . I know I am guilty as charged . I can't argue about it . Does anyone has experience with the Fare evasion solicitors , does it worth it or my case is lost battle.

I would say that's premature at this stage.

 

[furlong]

There's nothing particularly technical involving fares here - just find a local criminal defence solicitor and they often offer a short initial consultation free of charge while they work out what services it would be appropriate to offer.
You have a fine line to tread here to avoid incriminating yourself any further (or getting your mum into trouble) while at the same time trying to minimise the consequences for you and this generally requires some level of co-operation. Solicitors are experts at navigating their way through these situations, knowing just how much to say and how much not to say.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

TfL take misuse of Freedon Passes very seriously and it is unusual for them to offer out of court settlements for this sort of thing, especially if there is repeated misuse.

TfL have you bang to rights so there's nothing to be gained by not replying to their letter or asking for more information, that will just antagonise them. I suggest writing a short, concise letter in which you might want to mention the following:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter

Once you get a reply to the letter from TfL you can then decide next steps. They might decide to offer a settlement (although I do think this is unlkely). More likely is that they decide to prosecute you in ther Magistrates Court. At that point we will know what legislation they are going to prosecute you under and can advise what the likely outcome is.

Feel free to post a draft of your reply in this thread and forum members will be happy to proof read it.