UPDATE: I had my court hearing recently at Lavender Hill Magistrates and ended up with a £700 fine. It is unclear whether you do get something on your criminal record as they don’t state this at the end - all they tell you is the fine amount and when you can pay it by.
If you are curious about what to expect, as I was beforehand, please continue reading. This is an anecdotal experience so it might differ…
I was quite nervous about the whole process as I didn’t know what to expect. I did feel like it was a bit unorganised as I had sent a letter (Royal Mail 48 tracked) but it appeared that the judge (or judges?) had not received it. I didn’t ask if they had received it (I’m a non confrontational person and a bit shy, and I was crying and quite emotional at the time), but they didn’t mention anything about it so i’m presuming they did not receive it. I had included some stuff in the letter that I was expecting them to read, or speak about but nothing came up about it.
When entering the Magistrates Court, you have to place your bag/s in a plastic basket, have the security guards look through the bag/s, then walk through the metal detectors. I had arrived and was not aware of how the process worked. I found it difficult to understand the security guard, as he wasn’t speaking much and just signalling, but not in a way that I found helpful. I ended up placing my bags in the basket and walked through the metal detectors without getting my bags checked first. After I did this he proceeded to laugh at me which made me feel utterly humiliated, and I burst into tears. I have to admit, I can get emotional sometimes, but coupled with the nature of why I was there did not help. I won’t get too much into detail here, but I will be writing a complaint about this. To add, I’m not sure if it was because I was also a young single woman entering the building, he felt like he could do this. I imagine if I was with a man, or if I was a man, this would not happen. This part honestly still makes me upset to think about, and I recommend anyone who is a young woman to go with a partner if possible.
Once you have entered, you need to make yourself known to the register keeper. She made it quite known that you had to make her aware, so it definitely can’t be missed. After some waiting, you are then called to speak to the person representing TfL. I was led into a small room, and we went through the details of my case, and the additional journeys that I was accused of making. I made it known to him that I did not make all of the journeys, only some of them, so he finalised the amount that they will be requesting. After that was done, I did a bit more waiting then I was called into the court room. I was asked whether I plead guilty or not guilty (I plead guilty), and was offered a chance to read out my plea. I was quite emotional and crying, so I could not read my plea, but someone else in the court room read it for me. They also took the MC100 form from me. After that, the judges discussed amongst themselves (I heard them mentioning a band A if anyone knows what that means), gave me a breakdown of the fine, the total sum and when I am able to pay it. They have given me 7 days to pay it off.
All in all, it was quite a straightforward process, however I never want to be in that position ever again. Good luck to anyone reading this and pending a court hearing.
