Caught by an Inspector - HELP/advice needed

gareth9358

Hi All,

I am writing on behalf of my girlfriend. Yesterday she was caught on the train with the wrong zone monthly oyster on a mainline train in london. The inspector continued to caution her and ask her some questions regarding her ticket. She felt that honesty was the best policy and continued to tell him that that her ticket was always wrong (zone 1&2 only - when traveling in zone 3 too).

He said to her that the worst case scenario would be prosecution and jail which has scared her to the core. She is to embark on a 3 year training course for nursing and doesnt want this to affect this.

The inspector did not give her any fine there and then nor any receipt or paper work, just said she would be contacted and he advised her to respond and not to ignore it.

I advised her the best thing to do would be to write to National Rail / ICRAS (the company who deal with fines etc) before any letter or action has been issued and explain her situation and express her deepest apologese and offer to pay any fine they deemed fit and/or and back payments if this could be settled without going to court.

She understands she is in the wrong, and all she wants is to pay it back or pay a fine and sort it all out without going as far as court as to not affect her future career which she begins in January.


If anyone could give us some advice we would be gateful. Maybe who we should talk to, and what the usual process is.

Looking on various websites i am getting mixed views on the process. some say a fine will come through the door, others say a summons.


Regards

G

Quentin

Await any official correspondence and take it from there.

It's too soon to start a defence now!

(Don't suppose she is the only nursing student to get caught without a train ticket, so doubt she will get struck off!)

thorsoak

It it was a one off, and your g/f had inadvertantly overstepped her zone, I might have sympathy.

I've had too many years of paying my exorbitant fares to and from work to have any compassion for someone, whomsoever it might be, who has been making the same journey, day after day, week after week, and who has been subsidised by me and the other fare-paying travellers.

gareth9358

Thanks for the replies. We have already posted a letter of apology as we are sure this is not going to be dropped like smaller ticket offenses. We wanted to preempt any consideration of court with an offer to pay a fine.

Any more advice would be useful, high horses are not thorsoak.

G

sniper005

There may be a fine to pay if this goes all the way but prison??? What a crock of poo!
Don`t pre empt any court action by offering to pay a fine before its imposed. Wait for any summons, attend court and offer your mitigation.
The Inspector may not even have submitted a report yet.

photome

No sympathy from me either BUT Dont do anything until you get anything official

See that may be to late, why send a letter of apology before anything official, I guess they may just bin the letter if they the inspector hasnt filed a report

diable

A letter of apology can be taken as an admission of guilt.

Stigy

sniper005 wrote: »

There may be a fine to pay if this goes all the way but prison??? What a crock of poo!
Don`t pre empt any court action by offering to pay a fine before its imposed. Wait for any summons, attend court and offer your mitigation.
The Inspector may not even have submitted a report yet.

The potential is actually there for a custodial sentence, but this is only if the offender has been caught for the same offence (in this care a 5.3(a)). Prisons are too packed for it to be a routine for first offences etc, and it will often never come to that, regardless of the offender's persistance! Only recordable offences can lead to custodial sentences, and 5.3(a) (where intention to avoid payment is ascertained) Regulation of Railways Act offences are recordable.

Diable, what's wrong with an admission of guilt? I think she coughed to everything anyway, so she's bang to rights!

diable

Stigy wrote: »

The potential is actually there for a custodial sentence, but this is only if the offender has been caught for the same offence (in this care a 5.3(a)). Prisons are too packed for it to be a routine for first offences etc, and it will often never come to that, regardless of the offender's persistance! Only recordable offences can lead to custodial sentences, and 5.3(a) (where intention to avoid payment is ascertained) Regulation of Railways Act offences are recordable.

Diable, what's wrong with an admission of guilt? I think she coughed to everything anyway, so she's bang to rights!

They can levy any fine now and she won't have a leg to stand on.

Hammyman

gareth9358 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. We have already posted a letter of apology as we are sure this is not going to be dropped like smaller ticket offenses.

She's committed a criminal offence and has admitted to doing it for some time. Its unlikely and it could be months before you hear anything about a court action. If she goes to court she will have a criminal record and will be required to declare the conviction on any job application asking for it until spent and it'll show in a CRB check

taffy056

Its only a criminal offence if a court says it is, train companies don't have authority to issue one even if they say they do, really you should not have sent anything to them until they wrote to you, I would have thought that the person she spoke would have to issue some kind of paperwork to her for this, so if he didn't issue anything that could be used as a technical mistake ??