Criminal charges for ticket evasion

[the-e-dealer]

I'm all for free loaders being done for not paying on trains , but here's a situation I had to deal with.

My 18 Year old Country Bumpkin nephew got a train from East Dulwich to London to see the museums. First time he has ever gone on his own. He rang his mum from the train saying 'can you pay on the train like in Shropshire?' I told him no!!!!!!!! He arrived at London Bridge and saw a "passengers with fares to pay window" He was going to pay there. I said he would likely get fined and possibly get a criminal record damaging his employment prospects and the only thing to do was get a train back home, hope he doesn't see and inspector and buy a ticket then return to London.

Was the this the best thing to do? . His mum is a solicitor and says she would fight the fine as it wasn't an intent to deprive South Eastern of Revenue.

[DuncanW]

No, you just get a ?10 penalty ticket

It's not in any way a criminal offence

[the-e-dealer]

It depends on the officer. They WILL fine you and give you a criminal charge if they feel like it. I know someone whose daughter couldn't go into teaching because she had a ticket evasion criminal offence.

Travelling without a ticket

If you travel on a train without a ticket, you will be liable to pay the full single fare or full return fare or, if appropriate, a penalty fare for your journey.

Examples of when a penalty fare may be charged, if a passenger:

travels without a valid ticket;

is unable to produce an appropriate railcard on a discounted ticket;

travels in first class accommodation with a standard ticket;

is aged 16 or over, travelling on a child rate ticket;

travels beyond the destination of their ticket.

[JohnL]

I've done that - I act all helpless and doolally - like I don't know what happened or how I ended up there.

They usually let me off.

[the-e-dealer]

"Usually". If you are 18 with a career ahead that could be ruined I Think going back and buying a ticket is the best thing to do rather than gambling on a nice officer.

[JohnL]

the-e-dealer Wrote:

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> "Usually". If you are 18 with a career ahead that

> could be ruined I Think going back and buying a

> ticket is the best thing to do rather than

> gambling on a nice officer.

It's usually a mistake

We all forget - or tap in wrongly - or once I thought Oyster

worked on trains and it didn't (?20 penalty for that).

Now - everytime my Oyster tops up - the first tap tops up but

doesn't pay a ticket - I have to tap twice - that catches you

out if it's not a barrier - and makes you crash into the barrier

if there is one.

[DaveR]

A criminal charge for fare evasion requires proof of an intent to avoid payment so the 'country bumpkin' who assumes he can pay on the train will have a good defence. In my relatively limited experience it's rare for people to be charged unless they are persistent offenders, or have altered a ticket or similar obviously dishonest behaviour. I have never heard of a case of someone being charged after going to the 'fares to pay' window, presumably because it's going to be impossible to prove the intent to avoid payment.

[the-e-dealer]

So maybe he didn't need to return to his departure station, thanks, I don't think he will ever travel without a ticket on London Transport again anyway!

[the-e-dealer]

-- moved topic --

[Monkey]

My sister in law did much worse: regular fare avoidance and even she got off very lightly. Small fine despite getting rude to the ticket inspector too.

[the-e-dealer]

So why do we bother to pay with all these crooks out there.

[StraferJack]

sometimes you do the right thing because it's the right thing and not because of the punishment?

[the-e-dealer]

Blimey Emanuel Kant is in the building :-)

[Alan Medic]

What stopped him from buying a ticket beford boarding the train? I get a monthly pass and quite often the ticket office isn't open so I travel into LB and renew it there. Technically I don't have a ticket to travel but it's never been a problem.

Why would you think he would get fined for wanting to pay for a ticket?

[numbers]

what about that hedge fund manager who dodged paying fares for about 5 years. he had a good innings.

didn't seem to flinch at the 45k bill he was presented with when eventually found out. Things like that annoy me!

I know for sure I would get caught out instantly if I paid a penny less just for one journey.

[PeckhamRose]

But if he can get on the train without going through a gate where he needed a ticket to get through, he may have thought he can buy one on the train. The train from Bromley South which I sometimes get down to the south east coast has ticket inspectors who will sell you your ticket on the train. No fine for having got on the train without one. There: a precedent?

[Seabag]

I'd not encourage 'country bumpkins' to leave the country, this city's awash with people as it is

One less gormeless straw chewer, won't be missed

[El Pibe]

I've been to the fares to pay window a million times. Once I got a penalty fare, usually they're content to charge the journey.

I don't have a criminal record, well except you know, you live a fine upstanding life and you kill *one* person.....

[StraferJack]

I'm not dead yet, AND I know where you live

[StraferJack]

Since I?ve moved out of London, I will often find myself on quieter branch lines where people hop on for a couple of stops at a time. According to the conductors on those trains, if you board without a ticket the onus is on you to find the conductor and offer to pay. I?ve seen loads of people ?caught? by this and the conducters usually show no mercy

Then again, I?ve usually been listening to the same people boasting about not paying for the 5 minutes previously so my sympathy is fairly limited

[vgrant]

.

[uncleglen]

I used to work at London bridge and regularly got a train at around 4.30 and had a monthly season ticket. I always sat in the same carriage and there was a young woman who also got the same train as me and was in the same carriage. This was the situation for several months. One day an inspector got on and she had no ticket maintaining that she would have missed the train. She gave him money and he gave her a ticket.

I have seen grown adults using child passes on the tube. Once a woman went through the barrier at the tube and then passed her ticket back over to another person- apparently, so I've been told, the barrier staff cannot challenge this sort of thing.

Also every time I got on a bendy 12 half the passengers did not touch their oyster cards in.

I once got on a London Overground train late at night when the barriers were open and forgot (alcohol induced amnesia)to touch my oyster but got off at Denmark Hill and those barriers were open as well!

Hence it does not surprise me when fares go up!

[njc97]

Surely getting back on the train was the wrong choice: if there was an inspector on that train then he would have got caught anyway.

I've been fined several times after forgetting my wallet and not realising until I'm in London, I've so far avoided a criminal record.

[civilservant]

numbers Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> what about that hedge fund manager who dodged

> paying fares for about 5 years. he had a good

> innings.

>

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/britains-worst-fare-dodger-revealed-3958165

[Salsaboy]

The simple answer to this is avoid public transport. Drive everywhere.