Am I overly worrying about prosecution?

[bonickel]

I don't Live in London, but almost every time I go (Essex to London), I would either buy a cheaper ticket than the required one, or I would bump through barriers. I knew that it was wrong but most people that I know did it, so I stupidly never saw it as the criminal act that it is. Recently, I've been seeing that TFL prosecute fare evaders and this has made me worried that it could potentially happen to me. I've been to London around 20 or so times and have been doing this for around 18 months maybe. The last time I did it was January this year. I don't want to be involved with the law so I will make sure that I won't participate in this again. But I'm concerned that maybe there's been a case already built against me. I don't travel to London regularly at all asides from a one week work experience programme I did. I have a friend who has done similar actions to me and got caught without a ticket. He was only issued a fine, but how come they didn't check through his travel history to see if he's a repeat offender like I hear that they do? I know that I am almost guaranteed to be fine as long as I stop, but I wanted to get the opinion of experts. Also, what if I genuinely lose or buy the wrong ticket in the future, and I get caught? Is there anyway that they can see my travel history and prosecute me for this? For context, I have recently turned 18 and all but one of my offences were when I was 17.

 

[Titfield]

It is impossible to answer your question with absolute certainty but action being taken against a fare evader is normally initiated by being stopped at the station or on train and full details being taken. A letter then follows. Out of the blue letters are sometimes sent but these are initiated by the Train Operating Company doing a thorough trawl looking for suspicious booking patterns.

Yes being stopped and having a ticket scanned usually enables them to see all your booking history. NB Booking history is not the same as travelling history as they have to prove wrong doing though they may pit the frighteners on you.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

It is impossible to answer your question with absolute certainty but action being taken against a fare evader is normally initiated by being stopped at the station or on train and full details being taken. A letter then follows. Out of the blue letters are sometimes sent but these are initiated by the Train Operating Company doing a thorough trawl looking for suspicious booking patterns.

Yes being stopped and having a ticket scanned usually enables them to see all your booking history. NB Booking history is not the same as travelling history as they have to prove wrong doing though they may pit the frighteners on you.

Indeed, all you can do now is maximise the chance of not being caught doing this. Fortunately, that's quite easy to do - make sure that you always have the right ticket, and use barriers in the way that they're meant to be used.

 

[WesternLancer]

I don't Live in London, but almost every time I go (Essex to London), I would either buy a cheaper ticket than the required one, or I would bump through barriers. I knew that it was wrong but most people that I know did it, so I stupidly never saw it as the criminal act that it is. Recently, I've been seeing that TFL prosecute fare evaders and this has made me worried that it could potentially happen to me. I've been to London around 20 or so times and have been doing this for around 18 months maybe. The last time I did it was January this year. I don't want to be involved with the law so I will make sure that I won't participate in this again. But I'm concerned that maybe there's been a case already built against me. I don't travel to London regularly at all asides from a one week work experience programme I did. I have a friend who has done similar actions to me and got caught without a ticket. He was only issued a fine, but how come they didn't check through his travel history to see if he's a repeat offender like I hear that they do? I know that I am almost guaranteed to be fine as long as I stop, but I wanted to get the opinion of experts. Also, what if I genuinely lose or buy the wrong ticket in the future, and I get caught? Is there anyway that they can see my travel history and prosecute me for this? For context, I have recently turned 18 and all but one of my offences were when I was 17.

You need to stop doing this. If TfL are involved in London it’s 100% chance of prosecution and criminal record.