Potential fine/trouble

[TJ96]

A boy who was 15 at the time, now 16, followed someone through the ticket gate.The alarm beeped but no one went up to him, but now he is thinking they are gonna use cctv to find him.Although he was 15/ turn 16 a few days later, what will happen to him ?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

A boy who was 15 at the time, now 16, followed someone through the ticket gate.The alarm beeped but no one went up to him, but now he is thinking they are gonna use cctv to find him.Although he was 15/ turn 16 a few days later, what will happen to him ?

Welcome to the forum.

The most likely answer is that nothing will come of this. But the boy needs to be aware that
- different train companies and TfL treat these things in different ways, so it would be helpful to know what company runs the station where this happened
- things will be different if this is repeated behaviour rather than just a one off. Put bluntly, if the CCTV shows it happening once, the railway may not bother following it up. But if they keep seeing pictures of the same person doing this more than once, then they'll start looking in more detail
- even if nothing happens this time because of the boy's age, things get increasingly strict as you get older. Remember that in England you can be taken to court for a crime from the age of 10: a lot of organisations choose not to go to court for people under 16, and some for people under 18 - but that's because the expectation is that people have a better grasp of what's right and what's wrong as they get older. So even if the boy gets away with it when he was 15, that doesn't mean that he will get away with it when he's 16 or older.

 

[TJ96]

It was tfl... and it's the first time he's done anything of the sort..
He turned 16 a week or so after the incident

 

[Trainman40083]

It was tfl... and it's the first time he's done anything of the sort..
He turned 16 a week or so after the incident

And as many people have seen on this forum, when caught by TfL, it usually leads to prosecution. I hope the person stops doing it, before it gets to that.

 

[TJ96]

Will they consider the fact that he has never done it before? Or is it too late...

 

[Fawkes Cat]

It was tfl... and it's the first time he's done anything of the sort..
He turned 16 a week or so after the incident

In which case, they're probably in the clear this time. Have a look at TfL's revenue and enforcement policy at https://content.tfl.gov.uk/revenue-enforcement-and-prosecutions-policy.pdf. The relevant bit is this:

5. Young Offenders
5.1 TfL will not normally prosecute any person under the age of 18 on the day of the relevant offence. This is in line with the Home Office guidelines of diverting youths, where possible, away from the criminal justice system. However, where the offence is of a serious nature, TfL may prosecute or in appropriate cases refer such an offence to the Police. TfL considers the following offences to be of a serious nature:
(...)
g) Repeat offences of any nature or offences committed after a previous warning
(...)

(my italics for emphasis)

So what section 5.1(g) means that if you're under 18 then you can get away with one offence (although some offences in the rest of section 5.1 will still lead to you going to court) - but if you commit any second offence then TfL will take you to court.

So if the boy has done this once, then they should expect not to hear anything more about it. But if they do it again then TfL might very well prosecute. And once the boy is over 18 then TfL can prosecute even if it's the first time they've done this (and we have seen cases here where that's exactly what has happened, so it's not an idle threat by TfL).

 

[AlterEgo]

Nothing will happen. You don’t live in a panopticon. They’ve no idea who he is. You could post your own face in the chat and I’ve have no idea who you are or where you live.

 

[Haywain]

Will they consider the fact that he has never done it before? Or is it too late...

If he had been caught, they would not consider the fact as being of any relevance. They would probably note that the first time being caught isn’t the first time doing it. Therefore, the best time to stop doing this is now before it gives rise to prosecution.