Seriously Unfair Court Action- Help Needed

E22osT

I have recently been summoned to court. This was without the offer to pay a penalty fine as was promised me on that day (since then I have spoken to the Revenues Prosecutor who just stated that "they need to stop saying that cos we don't always do that"...)

My case has gone for hearing, this is after I was advised that I do not need to attend the first date if I intend to plead not guilty and want witnesses etc to be called. The original court summons contained a statement which was incorrect. They wanted to paint the picture of a real fare evader so stated that that I had been approached during my journey, asked to produce my ticket which I was unable to do. I refused to provide my details and after strong questioning and cautioning I admitted that I did not have money to pay for my fare. This is entirely untrue and upon discussion with the Revenues prosecutor he alluded to the fact that my case may have been sent to court because of the seriousness of this statement. So my response to the court summons was that I was not guilty and I would like further evidence submitted.

Fortunately on the day of the incident a British Transport police officer assisted and his statement states what really happened. Although I have been told that I cannot get access to this until the court proceedings have finished. The court would need to request for it, is this correct?

Basically I was caught out because I wanted to change from buying weekly travelcards as I usually do to buying monthly. I arrived at wood street station and went to the ticket machine to get a monthly pass on my oyster. The machine did not give me the option of a monthly and I did not understand why. There was no one at the ticket office to assist me and I was concerned that there was something wrong with the machine. I have been able to buy tickets at Liverpool Street station in the past when the machine had not given me my railcard discount so I thought it would be ok to buy my monthly travelcard at Liverpool Street.

So I arrive and confidently walk up to one of the men manning the station and ask to buy a monthly travelcard explaining that for some reason I was unable to do so at the machine (I later discovered that this was due to the fact that your oyster card needs to be registered at a station before you can buy monthly passes). He then decided he would not give me my ticket but instead would give me a fine. I thought this was entirely unfair but he refused to budge. I explained to him that the only reason why I made this mistake was because I usually buy weekly as I am a temp and my contract can be terminated on a weeks notice. The budget was tight this month so I had sought some kind of assurance from work that I would be there at least a month and decided I would buy a monthly to save a few £££. So you can imagine my disappointment, shock, anger etc etc at being issued with a fine. He still refused to budge quoting the byelaws and so on, he also called wood street, or said he called Wood street and was told that they had been open all morning. He and his colleagues later claimed they called Wood Street 3 times, this suggests to me that they did not get through the first time when they reported back to me that they said they had. However according to them that makes no difference anyway as there was a machine available which was in working order. Why they chose to call 3 times I don't know, but all I know is there was no one there at the time I was and I was concerned there was something wrong with the machine.

I then explained that though I felt it was unfair if he is insisting of fining me then ok... but I could not pay the fine that day as I would then not have enough to pay for my monthly travelcard. I also asked to speak to someone else as I thought he was being unfair.

Basically to cut the long story short I was distressed, I was even wailing (embarassingly I cry when I am deeply frustrated) so events from then on are unclear, however I am pretty sure that the way it was left was that I would not be fined that day and would be written to and requested to pay the fine later. I then insisted that someone comes with me to buy my monthly as I got the feeling they did not believe me otherwise there is no way they should be fining me for not being able to register my oyster and get my ticket before the journey as there was no one in the ticket office (although saying that I'm not sure wood street would even have the forms) anyway the British Transport Police officer went with me and they explained to us why I had been unable to buy my ticket.

Basically I was waiting to hear from them re the £20 fine which I would attempt to appeal and pay if not. Instead this has gone to court. It is seriously upsetting, I don't want this issue to cost me anymore. Even the £20 seemed unfair but I can just about accept that, but court is too much.

Please help, any advice would be appreciated.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

First off its not a fine - its a penalty fare. You have travelled without a ticket for your journey so are liable to this. THOUGH if there was no one at wood street then this mayhelp your case a little.

The best advice I can give you is to cut down on your post and take it with just the details to this FORUM where you will get the best advice available to you.

A lot of the information here is misleading and can lead you to think differently to what is actually the case as there are some serious fare evaders on here who think they know how to cheat the system.


Good luck

Stigy

If what you say is correct, you need to contact the court and state that you were incorrectly advised as to the procedings, as it's obviously been heard in your absence when you didn't want it to be. I assume you didn't return your plea? As if you did, you'd either have needed to attend, or put it in writing?

The first correspondence is never a court summons, as there's always paperwoirk sent by the train company or prosecuting body before this happens, therefore it would be evident straight away that it wasn't a Penalty Fare matter (should have been told at the time really, but this sometimes gets forgotten about...). If this is the case, it would appears some paperwork has gone missing in the post or something.

Please be aware that a company is never obliged to issue a Penalty Fare, and can report straight for summons.

E22osT

Thank you have done so.... Wasnt able to cut it down and I see I have confused everyone... :-( ... I must say this is all very stressful!

The thing is he said he would issue me with the £20, and I explained that I couldn';t pay that that day as I needed the money to buy my monthly. That's what I don't understand. How it went from £20 to court just because I'm broke.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

It went to court because you obviously didnt pay the £20. Take the advice yorkie has mentioned over there and offer them a settlement.