Recent content by twalcott

Just wanted to thank everyone for your advice. I got away with a fine of £79.90 in the end.

Should I DM you?

It's a prosecutions email address. I will email them and wait a couple of days. Thanks!

Should I call them, email them or write a letter? A letter is slower but less open to interpretation and word-twisting but a call would definitely be quicker but without a written record.

"Dear Mr. XYZ, We refer to a travel irregularity reported to this department by a member of our Revenue Protection team. We understand you had a ticket for your journey on Monday XXth March 2016 purchased with a 16-25 railcard, but did not have with you the railcard needed to validate the...

Hello again, I finally received new correspondance from the rail company - they got my name wrong which I guess doesn't exempt me from anything I assume. I was expecting a notice of prosecution all this time, and now I get this badly folded, badly printed letterhead asking to provide them a...

You are correct. Solicitor didn't tell me to admit anything. I didn't admit to doing anything to the officer either. Definitely wouldn't be wise to admit in the statement I presume.

Couldn't afford to put down a deposit right now. Plus as long as I am on trial period, moving is out of the question as there are much more job opportunities in London in case this fails.

I'm not trying to pass off as a victim or find excuses. It's about showing true motives – not seem like a guy who ripped off the rail company just for the sake of it. When travelling at peak time on first journey, I realised this was financially unsustainable (yes I know, TOC won't care)...

The consensus seems to me that using the professional circumstances as an argument is useful only when being prosecuted. I won't mention it. I suspect the TOC will think I'm using that as an excuse to avoid prosecution too conspicuously. On the other hand, should I try and explain (very...

Should I mention the nature of my job and how a criminal conviction could make me lose my job and future career prospects? It seems like a valid argument, used by many people in the same situation.

^No problem. I'll come back once I have received the notice of prosecution and have drafted my statement. Apologies for the digression.

However, TOC has no evidence of other offences. And there is actually nothing that suggests that the behaviour is a prolonged habit, because it isn't. My line of defence is that I only very recently started this new job (less than one week). That's very helpful, thank you.

No I didn't pay for advice. Not been caught before, and didn't tell officer about previous times. So this is definitely a first time offence. Ok I shall not emphasise on this on letter then, but I respectfully disagree. It's wrong but I did what I had to do to earn my living. It was either...

Hello everyone, I ran into some trouble recently: I started my journey from London Blackfriars to Brighton - I travelled with a discounted ticket from London Blackfriars to Brighton, knowing that I am not entitled to a discount: I don't have a railcard and I am above 25. I know it's bad...