Wrongfully accused of offence in the overground

[anotheruser]

Hi,

I am throwing this out there hoping someone might help. My gf got accused of evasion fare in the overground, something she did not commit. We have received a letter from TFL to plead guilty or not and are trying to write a letter.

We do not have the means to pay a solicitor at the moment, and the prospect of the offence being there forever is really worrying us.

Does anybody have tips on how to write something effective that will help us not be taken to court?

It is quite distressful and concerning, and embarrassing as we are not UK citizens.

Please see my draft below:


I am writing this email to plead not guilty of the offence I was accused of of fare evasion.

The incident happened in Sheperd's bush overground Station on [date]. This was not part of my daily commute from Long Lane (Bus 13) to Kew gardens (overground) via Finchley Road and Frognal as the service was disrupted by a signal failure on all of the Richmond segment which I usually take. The incident happened after I decided to take the overground from Finchley Road and Frognal to Sherperd's Bush in order to take a bus that would take me to Kew Gardens where I work.

As I looked for an alternative road and decided to go to Clapham Junction, I repeatedly tried to validate my contactless card on the card reader in Finchley Road and Frognal station, which did not seem to work. Since the train was coming and the signal failure had already delayed my journey, I decided to take it, thinking I would solve this at the end of my journey and explain my situation with no ill intent. As I arrived, I myself went to ask a member of the TFL staff to open the gate for me, explaining the situation.

However my interaction with the TFL staff member was not conclusive, if even appropriate. Even after extensive justification, I was asked my address and my height, with no forewarning that an offence was being reported, or without even the mention of a fine. The discussion felt thus humiliating and misleading and delayed me even further for work. I came to this agent with good faith, trying to do my due diligence and with no intention at all to evade the fare, and was met with instant suspicion and accusation.

I commute everyday from Long Lane in Finchley to Kew gardens, it is a long journey that I pay for everyday as you can check on my TFL account and for which I can provide extensive evidence. Moreover, the day of the offence, I reached the maximum fare on TFL services. I am genuinely sorry that this misunderstanding took place and I hope you will show good faith for the circumstances in which this offence was reported and not take this matter to court. I would like to reiterate that I did not have any intention on committing an offence, and was myself unaware of it. As a further show of good faith, I am ready pay this fare in full or the usual fine of 80£. I have lived in this country for 10 years and have never broken the law

 

[miklcct]

Did the Oyster reader show "closed" at that moment.

If all of the validators were switched off, you were then entitled to travel without a ticket because there would be no ticketing facilities available which accept the method of payment you intended to use (contactless PAYG).

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

I'm a bit confused about what actually happened. From what I can make out:

You arrived at Finchley Road & Frognal and travelled to Shepherds Bush
You tried to touch in on the validator at Finchley Road & Frognal but it didn't register (Finchley Road & Frognal doesn't have ticket barriers, only standalone validatord)
Upon arrival at Shepherds Bush you approached a member of staff and asked them to open the gateline. They did not like this and took your details
TfL have written to you asking for your version of events before deciding how to proceed

Have I go this correct? We need to know to be able ot offer the best advice.

Did you use your contactless card to try and exit at Shepherds Bush before approaching a member of staff? Had you have done so I would've expected the barriers to open, TfL in all probability would have autocompleted your journey or you alternatively if they could not do this you might have been charged a maximum fare.

Have you had any auto-corrected or incomplete journeys previously? If you have had a number of them your card might have been blocked which means it won't be accepted for payment on the TfL services?

 

[anotheruser]

Did the Oyster reader show "closed" at that moment.

If all of the validators were switched off, you were then entitled to travel without a ticket because there would be no ticketing facilities available which accept the method of payment you intended to use (contactless PAYG).

Apparently not because when she got to sheperds bush and the agent asked why she didn't tap, she said it didn't work and then they called the other station asking them to confirm and they said it was working. It might have been a failure from her card or something

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Mar 2023 ==

Welcome to the forum!

I'm a bit confused about what actually happened. From what I can make out:

You arrived at Finchley Road & Frognal and travelled to Shepherds Bush
You tried to touch in on the validator at Finchley Road & Frognal but it didn't register (Finchley Road & Frognal doesn't have ticket barriers, only standalone validatord)
Upon arrival at Shepherds Bush you approached a member of staff and asked them to open the gateline. They did not like this and took your details
TfL have written to you asking for your version of events before deciding how to proceed

Have I go this correct? We need to know to be able ot offer the best advice.

Did you use your contactless card to try and exit at Shepherds Bush before approaching a member of staff? Had you have done so I would've expected the barriers to open, TfL in all probability would have autocompleted your journey or you alternatively if they could not do this you might have been charged a maximum fare.

Have you had any auto-corrected or incomplete journeys previously? If you have had a number of them your card might have been blocked which means it won't be accepted for payment on the TfL services?

Hey that's correct. It's for my gf, originally she takes the overground to Richmond but there was a problem so she took it to clapham and the reader was not working for her (though thr staff said it did)
It was a contactless debit card and no she directly approached a member of staff to open the gate without touching, and yeah it would have been much simpler and she keeps beating herself up over that

 

[AlterEgo]

Was she read her rights and placed under caution? Was she asked any questions? What, if any, admissions did she make? This is really important.

 

[anotheruser]

Was she read her rights and placed under caution? Was she asked any questions? What, if any, admissions did she make? This is really important.

She wasn't told anything, she was not even offered to pay a fine. The only was the guy asking for her address and her height which we found very odd

 

[matt_world2004]

The agent at shepherds bush would not be able to tell if she tapped in or not , they can however see if the card would not validate.

 

[Starmill]

What does the online card statement say? Has the card been used for travel since these events, and was it accepted then?

 

[anotheruser]

The agent at shepherds bush would not be able to tell if she tapped in or not , they can however see if the card would not validate.

It validated later though for other travels

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Mar 2023 ==

What does the online card statement say? Has the card been used for travel since these events, and was it accepted then?

That travel was not counted but the other ones after that were

 

[WesternLancer]

For what it's worth they would have asked her height as they probably took a description of her, as a way of safeguarding against someone giving false name and address details or the details of a genuine person who was not the person they interviewed. This would be to prevent the person concerned trying to claim it was not them who was stopped. It will be routine part of what they do when they stop people to take a basic description (eg female, 5 foot 10 inches, dark hair sort of thing).

Obv this is not the key thing you need help with but thought it might explain.

 

[MikeWh]

Can you detail the journey history for that day from the statement? Did the reader at Finchley Road and Frognall do anything (red light, two beeps), or did it just ignore the touch? I want to make sure that it hadn't taken a touch and was rejecting repeated attempts.

Unfortunately, the rules say that you must touch in and out on every journey, even if you've reached a cap.