Offence Tfl

[ioannesnik]

My friend reported to Transport for London (TfL) for an offence on the TfL Public Transport Network. He used someone else's Oyster card, that he found on his road, for over a month without realizing it's not legal. Subsequently, he received a letter from TfL requesting more details about him and the reasons for using the card (without receiving a penalty). He is now panicking and unsure whether he needs a lawyer. Additionally, he struggles with English as he is from Greece.
Does anyone know what steps to take or has anyone in this forum faced a similar problem and can provide guidance?
If someone know how much is the penaldy in this case(?)
Is there anyone who can recommend a lawyer?
Any advice?
Thank you

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

I'm wondering of this is about you rather than your friend, not that it makes any difference to the advice. I'm assuming the Oyster card that was found had a Freedom Pass, a Zip Oyster, Staff Pass or a season ticket loaded on it. WHy did you think that it would be ok to use this to travel when it clearly did not belong to you?

Transport for London take misue of passes very seriously and proseuction in the Magistrates Court is almost always the outcome. What happes next is they will send you a Verification Letter asking you to confirm what happened and give any mitigating factors you want them to take into consideration when deciding how to proceed. It is important that you engage with and reply to this letter. The letter typically takes a couple of weeks to arrive.

I suggest you include the following in your reply:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter

TfL do not normally offer court of court settlements, especially where misue of Pass is concerned. If you plead guilty, or are found guilty by the court then you can expect to have to pay:

- A fine based on your weekly income
- A surcharge of 40% of the value of the fine
- A contribution towards TfL's costs in bringing the case to court
- Compensation to TfL for the fares avoided

Here's a link to TfL's Revenue Enforcement and Prosecutions Policy which I suggest you take a look at:

https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/revenue-enforcement-and-prosecutions-policy.pdf

 

[spag23]

I believe its called theft by finding. It should have been handed in to a Ticket Office, or posted to TfL. Its return would have helped the real holder in getting a replacement issued. As it is, its continued use probably caused the holder (an elderly or disabled person) a lot of grief.

 

[AndroidBango]

He used someone else's Oyster card, that he found on his road, for over a month without realizing it's not legal.

I do not recommend that your 'friend' advances this as a defence - though explaining how you got hold of a random card and used it for a month is going to be difficult to explain away as not being an instance of theft by finding.

 

[AlterEgo]

What type of Oyster was it and was your friend topping it up? Or did it somehow magically give them free travel?

 

[Snow1964]

The owner of the ticket pass will also have lot of explaining to do, as supposed to notify TfL if lost so they can cancel it.

If it was a regular oyster, then did you top it up with funds, or did someone just leave loads of money on it.

TfL take misuse of passes seriously, but strangely the loser of the pass never seems to be in such serious trouble (ie tend to be under 50% of any total penalty)

 

[ioannesnik]

Welcome to the forum!

I'm wondering of this is about you rather than your friend, not that it makes any difference to the advice. I'm assuming the Oyster card that was found had a Freedom Pass, a Zip Oyster, Staff Pass or a season ticket loaded on it. WHy did you think that it would be ok to use this to travel when it clearly did not belong to you?

Transport for London take misue of passes very seriously and proseuction in the Magistrates Court is almost always the outcome. What happes next is they will send you a Verification Letter asking you to confirm what happened and give any mitigating factors you want them to take into consideration when deciding how to proceed. It is important that you engage with and reply to this letter. The letter typically takes a couple of weeks to arrive.

I suggest you include the following in your reply:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter

TfL do not normally offer court of court settlements, especially where misue of Pass is concerned. If you plead guilty, or are found guilty by the court then you can expect to have to pay:

- A fine based on your weekly income
- A surcharge of 40% of the value of the fine
- A contribution towards TfL's costs in bringing the case to court
- Compensation to TfL for the fares avoided

Here's a link to TfL's Revenue Enforcement and Prosecutions Policy which I suggest you take a look at:

https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/revenue-enforcement-and-prosecutions-policy.pdf

Drawing conclusions is straightforward. I didn't use the pass; I recently infored it belonged to someone working in London public transport. The Tfl security told that to my friend. I'm curious why the owner didn't report it lost (or stolen) to have the card canceled.
My friend has never been charged with anything and didn't realize it was illegal to use it. He now admits his mistake.

Thank you for the suggestions and help

 

[AndroidBango]

belonged to someone working in London public transport.

didn't realize it was illegal to use it

I'm sorry, this is a completely implausible explanation/position.

I'm not trying to antagonise - what do you think TFL will think when you tell them you didn't realise it was illegal to use someone else's staff pass? (Which will have 'staff' and/or a photograph on it).

I would perhaps also change your forum username - if indeed you have used your real name or part thereof.

 

[John R]

My friend has never been charged with anything and didn't realize it was illegal to use it. He now admits his mistake.

Not yet, but it is very likely that he will be in due course, and that the likely outcome will be a criminal conviction and a substantial fine. To some extent, what the owner did or didn't do when they found it was missing is of no importance to your friend, as the fact is that they were using a card that did not belong to them.

How was this picked up? Was he stopped at a barrier? And if so, was it because they were looking for the user of the card, or was it a purely random check?

 

[AlterEgo]

Drawing conclusions is straightforward. I didn't use the pass; I recently infored it belonged to someone working in London public transport. The Tfl security told that to my friend. I'm curious why the owner didn't report it lost (or stolen) to have the card canceled.
My friend has never been charged with anything and didn't realize it was illegal to use it. He now admits his mistake.

Thank you for the suggestions and help

Unfortunately your friend will find out the hard way it’s illegal to steal by finding and then use a free staff pass to evade train fares.

I don’t think any reasonable person would think that if they found someone’s staff travel card with their name and photo on it that it would be legitimate for them to use, so I advise your friend not to use this defence. Not even they must believe that.

 

[spag23]

TfL will presumably know the date on which the staff member lost the card. Any journeys recorded after then will obviously have been undertaken by the finder. So they can easily quantify the misuse. I'm guessing that they kept it active in order to track and (eventually) intercept the thief at a manned barrier.