I was stopped by TFL for using another person's freedom pass on the Tube. I have been using it for couple of months. I want to know if they will go into their system to get more information on my travel history. If so, will I be prosecuted for just the day I was stopped for the offence or for previous offences as well. I really need help with this.
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Fare evasion (TFL)
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Haywain
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Without any doubt at all.
While it may feel like persecution, what will actually happen is that TfL will prosecute you. They will prosecute a single offence but may well ask the court to take however many other offences it is into consideration - if they do this you will be required to attend the court hearing to admit those offences.
Islineclear3_1
Established Member
How did you obtain the freedom pass? Whose pass was it?
Posts on here suggest that misuse of freedom passes are taken very seriously
Posts on here suggest that misuse of freedom passes are taken very seriously
Haywain
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I don't think these matter in the slightest. TfL will prosecute regardless.
Welcome to the forum!
Transport for London take misuse of Freedom Passes very seriously and a prosecution under the TfL Bylaws is the usual outcome. TfL don't need to research your travel history (although they probably will) because one occasion of misuse is sufficient to prosecute and they have caught you red handed.
As for what happens next TfL will send you a Verification Letter, normally within a couple of weeks. The letter will ask you to confirm or deny the incident and ask you to give any mitigating circumstances which you would like them to take into account when deciding how to proceed.
I suggest you mention the following in your reply:
- 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 TfL's administrative costs in dealing with the matter
TfL generally do not offer out of court settlements although in some very limited circumstances they have been known to issue a final warning instead of prosecution. Prosecutions are normally done through what is called a Single Justice Procedure Notice. This means that if you plead guilty it is not necessary to attend court in person (unless you choose to do), you simply return the form to the court with any mitigation you want them to tae into account and they will write to you with the details of the fine you have to pay.
If you are prosecuted and plead guilty (or are found guilty by the court) then you will have to pay:
- A fine based on your income (normally discounted by a third if you plead guilty at the earlist opportunity
- A surcharge of 40% of the value of the fine
- A contribution towards TfL's costs
- Compensation for the fares avoided
If you are found guilty then this is a criminal conviction. If you are prosecuted under the TfL Bylaws (which is what normally happens) then the conviction isn't normally recorded on the Police National Computer and won't normally appear on Basic DBS checks although we always advise people to be honest when asked if they have a conviction.
Here's a link to TfL's Revenue Enforcement & Prosecutions Policy which you might find worth reading:
Transport for London take misuse of Freedom Passes very seriously and a prosecution under the TfL Bylaws is the usual outcome. TfL don't need to research your travel history (although they probably will) because one occasion of misuse is sufficient to prosecute and they have caught you red handed.
As for what happens next TfL will send you a Verification Letter, normally within a couple of weeks. The letter will ask you to confirm or deny the incident and ask you to give any mitigating circumstances which you would like them to take into account when deciding how to proceed.
I suggest you mention the following in your reply:
- 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 TfL's administrative costs in dealing with the matter
TfL generally do not offer out of court settlements although in some very limited circumstances they have been known to issue a final warning instead of prosecution. Prosecutions are normally done through what is called a Single Justice Procedure Notice. This means that if you plead guilty it is not necessary to attend court in person (unless you choose to do), you simply return the form to the court with any mitigation you want them to tae into account and they will write to you with the details of the fine you have to pay.
If you are prosecuted and plead guilty (or are found guilty by the court) then you will have to pay:
- A fine based on your income (normally discounted by a third if you plead guilty at the earlist opportunity
- A surcharge of 40% of the value of the fine
- A contribution towards TfL's costs
- Compensation for the fares avoided
If you are found guilty then this is a criminal conviction. If you are prosecuted under the TfL Bylaws (which is what normally happens) then the conviction isn't normally recorded on the Police National Computer and won't normally appear on Basic DBS checks although we always advise people to be honest when asked if they have a conviction.
Here's a link to TfL's Revenue Enforcement & Prosecutions Policy which you might find worth reading:
Thanks for the detailed response. My son was administered at the hospital for 2 weeks and was on my way to the hospital which was really stressing me out. I was really confused when stopped by the officer. I really wasn't concentrating on some of the questions been asked by the officer. (Transport police) but i remember he asked if i was working and i said yes i am. But i haven't been working for some time now. At that point I didn't know the offense was serious I thought I was just going to get a fine.
- will that be considered as a lie In court.
- will the court ask for payslip or any prove of work
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Thanks for the reply
Not to be rude, but that is your problem not TfL's. Don't expect that to sway their decision one way or another. They've heard every sob story under the sun.
No. You can correct that mistake when you reply to the verification letter.
In other words "I thought I would get away with it", which is how TfL sees it from their perspective.
Yes. This would be the time to present any evidence of receipt of out of work benefits. If you don't, they will assume an income of £440 per-week to base the fine on.
I am sorry to hear about your son. The issue is how being 'stressed' about this affected your judgement about buying the correct ticket for your journey. To have any chance of successfully using this as mitigation you would have to demonstrate this with satisfactory medical proof from a Medical Expert in relevent field. See section 8.2 of the document I linked to in my earlier reply.
If you are prosecuted the court will send you a form which you have to fill in giving details of your income which is used when calculating the fine, assuming you're found guilty.
I can see this perhaps being seen as adequate mitigation for buying the wrong ticket once (eg. I don't normally travel into Zone 1 but...), I suspect it will be less likely to be accepted as a reason for using someone else's Freedom Pass on the tube "for a couple of months".
Indeed - if the son had been in hospital for 2 weeks, that has absolutely no bearing on why the pass was misused for a considerable period before the hospitalisation.
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