Not tapped in

[worriedone8]

I have just moved to London and got the bus for my first shift at my new job. Got on the bus at Fulham Broadway, tapped with my apple pay, thought I saw it go green and went and sat upstairs.

A lady comes round checking payments so I tap my apple pay against it and she says I mustn’t have tapped in, I apologise, explain I thought it had. She then takes my details, I am a bit stuttery and anxious at this point, I explain that I’ve just moved and was having trouble remembering my new postcode but then gave it to her. I am aware she might have perceived that as me trying to give a false address, but it’s the truth, I have just moved, and I provided her with ID. She moves on and I depart the bus at Westminster, assuming I would get a letter with a fine of £40-80. However I got this letter from TFL, which I have attached and I have to reply accepting or denying offence, but it doesn’t claim what the offence is.

It was an honest mistake, if the driver had stopped me and asked to tap again I would have, and if it still didn’t work would have obviously departed the bus and contacted my card issuer.

I can’t stop crying. I know this is a rail thread but I didn’t even realise this was a criminal offence (the TFL clause about basically even if it is an accident it’s an offense) even though my intentions were good and I genuinely wanted to pay for my journey, not actively evade it. I’ve emailed them politely outlining my situation and that I don’t want to accept or deny as I don’t know what offence/law it’s under. I am willing to pay a fine etc…

I’ve spent time reading through other threads but I can’t see any relating to a bus incident. What is most likely the outcome here? Best case scenario and worst case scenario? If they take me to court surely it won’t come under the regulation of rail ways act because it’s a bus, not a train. If so would I have a criminal record that I would need to declare to my employers or not? This all just seems very OTT for a £1.65 journey.

Thanks,

 

[superkopite]

You should really redact all of your personal info from the letters

 

[worriedone8]

You should really redact all of your personal info from the letters

Well spotted! I’m in such a mess I didn’t even notice! I will delete them, thank you so much.

 

[furlong]

Assuming what you say is true, perhaps tell them you want them to preserve and allow you to view the CCTV from any camera on the bus covering the place where you claim you tapped in and the low-level log records from the card reader, both for a substantial period before and after the relevant time (with other people's identifying data redacted). You should be able to correlate people tapping before and after you with the data recorded by the reader and see if it recorded any faults or errors and if it did, how common that was. In other words, you are looking for anything that might cast reasonable doubt on an (assumed) claim that you didn't touch in - e.g. CCTV showing you touching in and perhaps showing other people touching in multiple times (which they shouldn't have to do), or multiple faults or errors reported by the equipment that day - anything suggesting malfunction.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I had a failed tap-in happen on a bus even though it went green. After some discussion with the inspectors they issued me a zero fare ticket and didn't pursue it. It appears what happened was that the driver had gone on stand at Euston before they had properly set up the journey on the ticket machine, however I'd not rule out that there's some other issue going on. I'd boarded at the rear (when that was allowed), I'd imagine if I'd boarded at the front the driver would have asked me to wait while he did it.

I am however very surprised this isn't being done as a simple Penalty Fare. Were you offered one at the time?

One thing I have noticed is that many buses have extra plastic over the ticket machine for COVID protection reasons, and it can be hard to get a touch to register properly on some buses, plus you can't see the green light very well nor hear the beep. This could have made it easier to have missed a failure.

 

[worriedone8]

I had a failed tap-in happen on a bus even though it went green. After some discussion with the inspectors they issued me a zero fare ticket and didn't pursue it. It appears what happened was that the driver had gone on stand at Euston before they had properly set up the journey on the ticket machine, however I'd not rule out that there's some other issue going on. I'd boarded at the rear (when that was allowed), I'd imagine if I'd boarded at the front the driver would have asked me to wait while he did it.

I am however very surprised this isn't being done as a simple Penalty Fare. Were you offered one at the time?

One thing I have noticed is that many buses have extra plastic over the ticket machine for COVID protection reasons, and it can be hard to get a touch to register properly on some buses, plus you can't see the green light very well nor hear the beep. This could have made it easier to have missed a failure.

I was not offered to pay a penalty fare, I would have paid one there and then if so. All very distressing just hoping it gets resolved.

 

[Bletchleyite]

For what it's worth, RoRA is indeed not applicable because a bus, unsurprisingly, isn't a railway. I think you'd be prosecuted under the TfL Byelaws, which like the Railway (or any other) Byelaws will not carry a criminal record, just a fine, which would be likely to be in the low three figures.

 

[furlong]

There are other possible technical explanations as Bletchleyite suggests, but remember they are required to provide you with any evidence in their possession that might assist your defence but often they don't do this unless you specifically ask for it. CCTV can get wiped quickly so don't delay (though they might then have to explain to the court why they failed to preserve it despite its apparently obvious relevance).