Please help,
I regularly commute into a main station and I know there are ticket barriers once I leave the train so I always buy at the station before I board, or on the train.
On one occassion the ticket inspector didnt come round (this is a rareity on my train - we always get an inspector round) and I didnt give it much thought as I approached the barrier at my destination - I intended to ask if I could pay there.
I have never done anything wrong before & when the guard asked me for my ticket I panicked and instead told him I had left it on the train, the only reason I can give for lying is that I didnt want to look stupid in front of the line of commuters watching behind me. Within an hour of getting into work I had gone on line and bought a return ticket, to cover the cost of the fare I missed.
I have just received my letter asking for my side of the story - I am soooo scared of being taken to court, I just want to write a very appologetic letter telling them that I know I was stupid and should have just said I didnt have a ticket instead of lying about leaving one on the train.
I want to know, if I ask to settle out of court, and offer a reasonable sum, would they be prepared to take the offer, especially with it being a first offence? I also work in the medical profession and need an advanced CRB check for applying for jobs, so you see why I am so scared about getting a criminal record.
Thanks for any help, please dont be nasty to me, I didnt set out to not pay, I just thought they might give me a warning about not losing tickets.
I regularly commute into a main station and I know there are ticket barriers once I leave the train so I always buy at the station before I board, or on the train.
On one occassion the ticket inspector didnt come round (this is a rareity on my train - we always get an inspector round) and I didnt give it much thought as I approached the barrier at my destination - I intended to ask if I could pay there.
I have never done anything wrong before & when the guard asked me for my ticket I panicked and instead told him I had left it on the train, the only reason I can give for lying is that I didnt want to look stupid in front of the line of commuters watching behind me. Within an hour of getting into work I had gone on line and bought a return ticket, to cover the cost of the fare I missed.
I have just received my letter asking for my side of the story - I am soooo scared of being taken to court, I just want to write a very appologetic letter telling them that I know I was stupid and should have just said I didnt have a ticket instead of lying about leaving one on the train.
I want to know, if I ask to settle out of court, and offer a reasonable sum, would they be prepared to take the offer, especially with it being a first offence? I also work in the medical profession and need an advanced CRB check for applying for jobs, so you see why I am so scared about getting a criminal record.
Thanks for any help, please dont be nasty to me, I didnt set out to not pay, I just thought they might give me a warning about not losing tickets.