Misuse of freedom pass

[travellinglond]

I was caught using my mothers freedom pass at Bond Street station


TfL have now given me a letter to accept or deny and why they shouldnt proceed with a prosecution.


As a student a prosecution will be terrible for me .

Is there any hope of getting a final warning/avoiding prosecution

 

[jfollows]

Welcome to the forum, but “very little” is the truthful answer.

TfL tend to prosecute for this.

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/revenue-enforcement-and-prosecutions-policy.pdf may not help but give some background.

There is some evidence that using a solicitor might improve your chances, but you’re then taking a risk with fees which may end up making no difference.

 

[John R]

As a student a prosecution will be terrible for me .

What are you studying, and more to the point what career do you aspire to?

Unless you are looking at careers such as Finance, Law, Healthcare, where integrity is considered paramount, and a conviction for deliberate fare evasion could well be a negative when looking for your first job, especially if up against candidates who haven't broken the law, it is unlikely to be as terrible as you think. Embarrassing certainly, but try not to catastrophise the impact.

 

[travellinglond]

What are you studying, and more to the point what career do you aspire to?

Unless you are looking at careers such as Finance, Law, Healthcare, where integrity is considered paramount, and a conviction for deliberate fare evasion could well be a negative when looking for your first job, especially if up against candidates who haven't broken the law, it is unlikely to be as terrible as you think. Embarrassing certainly, but try not to catastrophise the impact.

Finance

 

[AlterEgo]

The standard disposal for abusing Freedom Passes is to be prosecuted under the TfL Bylaws in the magistrates court. TfL take this sort of blatant fare evasion very seriously.

If you want to try and negotiate a warning letter you are best off using a solicitor, but even then there is no guarantee of success, and their fees will be in the high three figures.

 

[Titfield]

If you are studying you may wish to discuss this with the student union welfare officer or your tutor (the person responsible for pastoral care) at your place of study.

However this type of event involving TfL tends to be an open and shut case. As others have suggested a solicitor specialising in rail ticket offences may - and I stress may - achieve a warning instead but the chances are we believe low and will come at a cost of the high hundreds of pounds.

Of all the cases this forum sees these are the most difficult to advise on because of TfLs policy and I have to say invariably posters are studying for or employed in a regulatedprofession where honesty and integrity is essential.

 

[WesternLancer]

If you are studying you may wish to discuss this with the student union welfare officer or your tutor (the person responsible for pastoral care) at your place of study.

However this type of event involving TfL tends to be an open and shut case. As others have suggested a solicitor specialising in rail ticket offences may - and I stress may - achieve a warning instead but the chances are we believe low and will come at a cost of the high hundreds of pounds.

Of all the cases this forum sees these are the most difficult to advise on because of TfLs policy and I have to say invariably posters are studying for or employed in a regulatedprofession where honesty and integrity is essential.

Good advice - a student union or college / university advice service will give confidential free advice and they will almost certainly have come across this scenario (students being caught for various fare evasion incidents) in London numerous times before so may have helpful advice to give - and may even have an arrangement with a local solicitor who can give free or reduced rate advice (tho the OP should be mindful that they probably won't be a rail fare evasion specialist in that scenario).

But following your advice is something the OP can productively do whilst they await hearing from TfL in formal terms about what is going to happen.

 

[Ana246]

Hello, I am in a similar situation where I was caught using my dad’s freedom pass after work hours to avoid the high fares and got caught and completely understand how serious this is. How can I create my own thread here?

 

[WesternLancer]

Hello, I am in a similar situation where I was caught using my dad’s freedom pass after work hours to avoid the high fares and got caught and completely understand how serious this is. How can I create my own thread here?

Hopefully if you go to this page you will see the grey ‘Post Thread’ button towards the top right hand side of the page. That should let you create a new thread.
Give it a clear title and have a quick read of the page ‘Please read Before posting in disputes and prosecutions section’

Hope this works ok

Disputes & Prosecutions

Seek help here on penalty fares, fines, complaints, and other post-travel ticketing issues.

www.railforums.co.uk