Cautioned in Petts Wood

[Shane8919]

Hi,

On the 28th May 2014 I was stopped by an officer as my ticket did not have the correct zone. I have a monthly ticket permitted for London terminals only and was not for Petts wood.

So like any other day I boarded my train from Waterloo East to get off at London Bridge but between the stops I had an family emergency to attend to urgently and decided to stay on the train to Petts Wood.

When I got off I explained my situation to the officer and he took a cautionary statement and said I should receive letter within 4-6 weeks from the company.

Now I live in London but my registered address is my parents house in Petts Wood as I am still quite young and frequently change apartments depending on where I am working.

Reading online about this incident and now I fear that I may be prosecuted for fare evasion which I never intended to do.

Please help of provided advice on how to contact southeastern!

 

[telstarbox]

If you gave the Petts Wood address it won't look good. Have you got anything which proves you lived at your current address on that date e.g. Council Tax bill?

 

[CC 72100]

Hi,

On the 28th May 2014 I was stopped by an officer as my ticket did not have the correct zone. I have a monthly ticket permitted for London terminals only and was not for Petts wood.

So like any other day I boarded my train from Waterloo East to get off at London Bridge (but between the stops I had an family emergency to attend to urgently) and decided to stay on the train to Petts Wood.

I can't help feeling, but the above doesn't sound very good for you there... I can't really see why it wouldn't be fare evasion.

I don't want to appear to be sticking the boot in, but I can't help feeling that this is an open and shut case, if as you've said you're admitting to travelling to Petts Wood without a ticket or pass valid for that bit of the journey.

 

[bb21]

What ticket did you have?

Was it held on Oyster or in paper form?

 

[island]

Did you make any attempt to regularise your situation at the Petts Wood ticket office?

 

[Shane8919]

I have a paper monthly ticket and only came to Petts Wood this one time without an extension due to emergency.

I have phone bills to show that I am living elsewhere.

Is there anyway I can contact southeastern to plea for an out of court settlement as I did have means to pay for a ticket and never intended to fare dodge as I had a time sensitive emergency?

 

[bb21]

Do you have any proof of the emergency?

 

[Haywain]

I am inclined to think that it is a strange coincidence that the emergency cropped up during a 3 minute train journey, and just while you happened to be on a train heading to the place that the emergency demanded you to go to. It should therefore hardly be surprising if Southeastern take a similar view.

 

[TEW]

Especially if you gave them an address in Petts Wood. I don't believe there are any barriers at Petts Wood, and the trains to Petts Wood don't have guards so ticket checks will be infrequent. Southeastern may come to the view that, given your address in Petts Wood and given the lack of regular checks on the route, you are actually making the journey to Petts Wood regularly despite your season ticket not being valid there. If Southeastern do take that view it's probably less likely that they'd accept an out of court settlement.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Perhaps the OP has retained a log of the call to the person he was going to see at Petts Wood. Can the call be traced/logged for use as evidence?

 

[tony6499]

A lot of coincidences here, someone cynical may think that you've been fare dodging on a major scale and it may cost you quite a bit of cash to settle this before court proceedings commence.

 

[Tibbs]

A lot of coincidences here, someone cynical may think that you've been fare dodging on a major scale and it may cost you quite a bit of cash to settle this before court proceedings commence.

Given that SET, on the basis of the account here, have no evidence of prior misdeeds (if any) I think the likelihood of an out of court settlement and the size of a fine is likely to be the same as any other first time offence of this type.

What they believe and what they can prove in court are two very different things.

 

[Flamingo]

But what they will accept to settle out of court will be heavily influenced by what they suspect, not what they can prove. If the OP feels this is unfair, they can go to court as a first-time offender and see if they can do any better there.

 

[142094]

Perhaps the OP has retained a log of the call to the person he was going to see at Petts Wood. Can the call be traced/logged for use as evidence?

Very much doubt that this would be of any use (unless GCHQ has tapped it and taken a recording...).

 

[tony6499]

But what they will accept to settle out of court will be heavily influenced by what they suspect, not what they can prove. If the OP feels this is unfair, they can go to court as a first-time offender and see if they can do any better there.

As is the case of the banker, SET have the upper hand

 

[Stigy]

Hi,

On the 28th May 2014 I was stopped by an officer as my ticket did not have the correct zone. I have a monthly ticket permitted for London terminals only and was not for Petts wood.

So like any other day I boarded my train from Waterloo East to get off at London Bridge but between the stops I had an family emergency to attend to urgently and decided to stay on the train to Petts Wood.

When I got off I explained my situation to the officer and he took a cautionary statement and said I should receive letter within 4-6 weeks from the company.

Now I live in London but my registered address is my parents house in Petts Wood as I am still quite young and frequently change apartments depending on where I am working.

Reading online about this incident and now I fear that I may be prosecuted for fare evasion which I never intended to do.

Please help of provided advice on how to contact southeastern!

It all depends on what was said under caution. Did you admit to anything that could incriminate you? Did you reply "No comment" etc? If you received a call mid-journey from a family member, after departing the station at which your ticket was valid to, but before where you actually alighted from the train, this IS NOT fare evasion. Having said that, it's not necessarily how it looks to staff. You're still guilty by default of committing an offence under a railway Byelaw (although this would need to be interpreted by Southeastern's Prosecutions Dept.), but the fare evasion (5(3)b Regulation of Railways Act 1889) would be harder to prove.

The best thing you can do is await Southeastern's letter and let us know what it says. They might chose to offer you a final warning on this occasion.

 

[island]

It is striking how many posters on this forum travel and request/use a ticket that covers only a short portion at one end of their journey, despite having an address near some far more remote station, and who have emergencies, illnesses, or panic attacks which serve to excuse the non-purchase of the correct ticket. Striking also that the end of the journey which is covered happens to be at a station with ticket barriers, and the other end happens to lack them.

One wonders how such a large coincidence as a family emergency can arise on a 4-minute journey, which just so happens to be on one of only 2/3 trains out of 20+ per hour between the two very heavily-served stations that continues to the very place a person decides (within those 4 minutes, remember) to travel.

Perchance, Shane8919, would you be in, or planning to enter, a line of work where having a clean criminal record is important?

And what is the logic behind having a season ticket for such a short distance, which is a pleasant 15-minute walk? £66.50 a month is a lot to pay for that, don't you think?

I would also appreciate a reply to my previous question as to whether an attempt was made to visit the ticket office at Petts Wood, which is open most of the day, and pay for the journey just made.

 

[Deerfold]

And what is the logic behind having a season ticket for such a short distance, which is a pleasant 15-minute walk? £66.50 a month is a lot to pay for that, don't you think?

I read the OP as having a season ticket valid into Waterloo and on to London Bridge, not just for that section of the journey.

 

[jkdd77]

It is striking how many posters on this forum travel and request/use a ticket that covers only a short portion at one end of their journey, despite having an address near some far more remote station...

A legitimate reason might be to buy a 'short' season ticket at one end of the journey in order to make use of a NRCoC Condition 19(c) split using a succession of SDRs at minor stations along the route of travel on 'non-stop' trains.

I doubt, however, that this applies in the OP's case.

 

[34D]

Could be lots of legitimate reasons. Example the pets wood address could be her parents, where she's on the electoral roll, but in reality she spends most of her time with a boyfriend in zone 2.