fare evasion letter

[tohhnee]

hi everyone. i'm in need of some advice. about 6 weeks ago i was suspected of fare evasion by southeastern trains. They took my details. about 10 days ago i received a letter mentioning the incident had now been authorised for prosecution. the letter also asked me if i was the person in the incident and also for my occupation, NI number, phone number and to confirm my name and address. It also asked for any comments i had on the incident to be written on the back of the letter and to send it back to southeastern prosecutions department. The letter also stated that I had a 7 day deadline to send the letter back or the matter would be progressed without me receiving further notice ( not sure what that means ).

so I filled in my information and then wrote my versions of the event on the back. I decided to send it 1st class recorded delivery to make sure it got there witthin the 7 day deadline. it has now been 10 days and the letter still hasn't been signed for.

I'm guessing royal mail tried to deliver it to the address and there was noone there to sign for it, so they left it to be collected at the nearest post office.

My point is that I have now missed thr 7 day deadline to get the letter back to them and southeastern might think i have ignored their letter. I'm worried now and would like to know what is going to happen with this matter. will southeastern just go ahead and prosecute anyway. if so will i receive my court summons soon?

i am worried about the bit in the letter that says the matter will be progressed with out me getting further notice if i dont get the letter back in 7 days. what do they mean by that? will i still get a court summons date sent to me and the opportunity to go court? this is really worrying me

Does anyone know what they usually do if someone misses the 7 day deadline to reply? will they just proceed as normal?

any advice would be much appreciated. thanks



tohhnee

 

[bb21]

Hi and welcome.

so I filled in my information and then wrote my versions of the event on the back. I decided to send it 1st class recorded delivery to make sure it got there witthin the 7 day deadline. it has now been 10 days and the letter still hasn't been signed for.

I'm guessing royal mail tried to deliver it to the address and there was noone there to sign for it, so they left it to be collected at the nearest post office.

Do you mean that the letter is still with Royal Mail? Have you double-checked your receipt from the post office to ensure that the letter is going to the correct address?

My point is that I have now missed thr 7 day deadline to get the letter back to them and southeastern might think i have ignored their letter. I'm worried now and would like to know what is going to happen with this matter. will southeastern just go ahead and prosecute anyway. if so will i receive my court summons soon?

I think as long as you have your proof of post then you have fulfilled your obligation. That said, I think the best thing to do at the moment is to give them a ring just so that they are aware of the situation. I find it very strange that the letter would be sitting at the post office for days when they should have been signed for by a representative of the company the day it is delivered. As it is delivered to a company, there shouldn't be a question of mail being returned to the post office.

Are you sure that they have not yet been delievered, or that they have but the online signature is missing? They are two quite different things.

i am worried about the bit in the letter that says the matter will be progressed with out me getting further notice if i dont get the letter back in 7 days. what do they mean by that? will i still get a court summons date sent to me and the opportunity to go court? this is really worrying me

Does anyone know what they usually do if someone misses the 7 day deadline to reply? will they just proceed as normal?

If they believe that they have enough evidence, they can choose to go ahead with the prosecution, so I think it is in your own interests to get in touch with them asap and find out what is happening.

 

[tohhnee]

hi thanks for the reply. the address on the postal receipt is definitely correct.

the online signature is still not showing up. it just says that it is being processed for delivery.

The thing that worries me so much is the bit in the letter that says if i don't get the letter back by the 7 day deadline then the matter will be processed without me being given further notice. what does that mean exactly?

will I still get notice if they choose to prosecute or will they just doit with out giving me a summons date and an opportunity to go to court?

Do you mean that the letter is still with Royal Mail? Have you double-checked your receipt from the post office to ensure that the letter is going to the correct address?

 

[swj99]

will I still get notice if they choose to prosecute or will they just do it with out giving me a summons date and an opportunity to go to court?

If indeed they believe they have enough evidence to prosecute, they may obtain a court date and issue a summons, regardless of whether or not they have a statement from you, but part of this process would be the summons being sent to you, so that you have the opportunity to obtain legal advice, and if you wish, arrange legal representation for the court hearing, if it goes that far. It's rare for a person to be tried in their absence, although it sometimes happens if a defendant repeatedly fails to attend court and the magistrates get fed up of waiting to hear their side of the story.

Mail that is missing or undelivered for longer than 14 days is usually treated as being lost in the post, although it's not unheard of for it to arrive after that. If it was sent recorded, you may be able to claim compensation from Royal Mail, but I don't know what monetary value you could put the late delivery of a letter.

A person accused of a crime has the right of silence, ie they are not under an obligation to make a statement or answer questions in an interview if they don't wish to. Many people decide to obtain legal advice prior to making any kind of response to letters alleging criminal offences. A 7 day time limit seems somewhat unreasonable, considering it could take much longer than that for a person to make an appointment and actually speak to a solicitor, prior to making any statement.

Just for future reference, if you want guaranteed next day signed for delivery, go for Special Delivery. It's more expensive (about £6 last time I used it I think), but you can get financial compensation if the letter or item is lost, or even if it's delivered late.

Your concern about having an opportunity to go to court sounds more like what happens with county court debt recovery, where a defendant is sent what is called a Default Summons which doesn't give a court hearing date. All that's required is for the defendant to respond within 14 days, with either an admission, defence or counterclaim. I've heard defendants occasionally say they will ignore all communications from the court, and have their say at the hearing. But they rarely get a hearing because they fail to respond in writing to the default summons. It's called a default summons because if they fail to admit, defend or counterclaim within the 14 days, the claimant is entitled to apply to the court for a jugement in default. So no hearing takes place, unless the defendant applies for the judgment to be set aside (also quite rare).

 

[CatfordCat]

Sadly, 'recorded delivery' is not infallible - I have occasionally had items sent to me 'recorded' just put through my letter box at home, even when I have been at home.

I think the telephone call is probably a wise move - it's possible they have received your letter. If they haven't and you have proof of posting recorded, then they might just be prepared to extend their deadline.

The 'the matter will be progressed without further notice' bit basically means that people can't stall the process by just ignoring it and hoping it will go away.

Although I would agree that 7 days seems a bit tight.

 

[swj99]

Sadly, 'recorded delivery' is not infallible - I have occasionally had items sent to me 'recorded' just put through my letter box at home, even when I have been at home.

I sent some ebay stuff by recorded once, and a week later, the post office delivered it back to my house. Unfortunately, I wasn't in and someone else signed for it. The post office had mistakenly delivered the parcel to the "if undelivered, please return to," address.

And one time, I'd sold a car, and tried to post the V5 to the DVLA by recorded delivery, only for the post office to try and tell me that the address didn't exist. Of course it exists, I've sent many letters there. But it's the computer.....

 

[Greenback]

Recorded Delivery cannot be relied on for valuable, urgent or important mail. It does not receive any special handling, unlike Special Delivery (which is tracked through every stage in the mail system) the only advantage over normal mail is that a signature should be obtained on delivery - though i understand that arrangements can be made with large organisations for the Royal Mail to sign for the item themselves.

I would definitely contact the TOC and advise that you have sent them a response. They may be able to confirm that it has been received, despite the Royal Mail records.

 

[tohhnee]

thanks everyone for the advice. It is possible that they have received it but its not been recorded. I have sent them another letter just incase they didn't receive it, explaining the situation.
Hopefully i will hear from them soon.

 

[bb21]

While it is all well and good sending them another letter. I would say in your situation time is of essence in a sense and a phone call would be much more effective. Have a look at saynoto0870 for a landline alternative if you are concerned about call charges with the 08xx numbers.

I sent some ebay stuff by recorded once, and a week later, the post office delivered it back to my house. Unfortunately, I wasn't in and someone else signed for it. The post office had mistakenly delivered the parcel to the "if undelivered, please return to," address.

Although it has never happened to me before, I have been previously advised by a Post Office employee that I should cross the return address out, just in case they mistake it for the delivery address.

 

[Greenback]

I agree with bb21. I would definitely ring and ask if they have received my first letter, particularly if, as in this case, there is a deadline involved.

 

[tohhnee]

thank you for the advice. i rang up southeastern customer services explaining the situation and asked them if they had the number of the prosecutions office. the man i spoke to said he didn't have a number and said that i would have to write to them. :?

does anyone know how i can get in direct contact with southeastern prosecutions office? i just wanna make sure they got my reply.

also, does anyone know what they will do if they didn't receive the reply? what will be their next actions?

 

[Greenback]

I assume there was no phone number on their letter, just an address to return the form to?

 

[tohhnee]

no, no phone number

 

[Greenback]

Then unless you are willing to try and get customer services to liaise with the prosecutions department for you, I guess all you can do is wait and see.

 

[maniacmartin]

You could perhaps try to send a duplicate copy of your previous letter just in case

 

[Greenback]

You could perhaps try to send a duplicate copy of your previous letter just in case

Yes indeed, if one hasn't been sent already.