Hello everyone,
2 months ago I boarded a train from London Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport (no train changes) to pick up my mom (visiting me, a student, from abroad). The ticket was with a 16-25 railcard. When exiting the train station I presented both my ticket and my 16-25 railcard. Unfortunately, my 16-25 railcard was expired by roughly a week (I completely forgot that it's expired). Thus, I was stopped by a Ticket Officer and asked to talk to the Senior (?) Officer.
I fully admitted that it was my mistake and that I forgot to renew my railcard (I still admit that it was my mistake). The Officer was quite angry at me, kept telling me off to change my attitude (even though I was fully cooperative and admitted that it was my mistake and did not elevate my voice). She then told me that I can pay a fine (roughly 30 pounds), however I did not have any money on money. I did tell her that, that I didn't have any money on me and that my mom has some money for sure and that she would be able to pay. I asked her whether:
1) I could leave her my ID/passport with everything to pick up my mom and then come back to pay the fine,
2) Any of the officers could assist me to pick up my mom and pay the fine,
3) Try to get my mom to come down to the station to pay the fine, which is really difficult since my mom's english is pretty bad and she wouldn't find it too easy to locate the station,
however she did not agree to 1)&2) of that and kept telling me that I am a fraud and that being a student and not having money is still my problem (that's true). And so she told me that she can leave it to the company to judge my case and contact me to sort it out. I told her that I can leave her all my details and that I will cooperate, but I wish I could just pay it in like 3 minutes, if she just believed me (she was pretty mad at this point and I guess she didn't believe me or my story). So I left all of my details, proved my address (she didn't believe me that I am leaving accurate details) and then she told me I can leave.
I exited the station, picked up my mom, told her what happened and we came back to find the Officer and ask her again whether I could pay the fine right there, but she told me it's no good anymore and I should have paid at the moment I was stopped by the Officers. I apologized again for my mistake and left.
Fast forward to now, I have been contacted by Greater Anglia's Prosecutions Unit regarding the offence to respond to their notice with 1)All details that could help them with the incident, 2) Any mitigating factors that I believe may influence their decision about legal proceedings.
Thus, I would like to ask for any advice. Should I present the story at all as the mitigating circumstance (my willingness to pay the fine multiple times, but only after picking up my mom), whether I should just call them and talk to them on the phone or just send in the details myself? What penalty/punishment am I likely to receive? I have purchased a new railcard ever since (like a month later, since I wasn't travelling by train in that month).
I would appreciate any advice, I am quite stressed by this situation since I feel like it could have been so easily avoided but I messed up big time. I am a student (EU), first time in this kind of situation. Haven't been punished before.
Kind Regards,
Scorpy
2 months ago I boarded a train from London Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport (no train changes) to pick up my mom (visiting me, a student, from abroad). The ticket was with a 16-25 railcard. When exiting the train station I presented both my ticket and my 16-25 railcard. Unfortunately, my 16-25 railcard was expired by roughly a week (I completely forgot that it's expired). Thus, I was stopped by a Ticket Officer and asked to talk to the Senior (?) Officer.
I fully admitted that it was my mistake and that I forgot to renew my railcard (I still admit that it was my mistake). The Officer was quite angry at me, kept telling me off to change my attitude (even though I was fully cooperative and admitted that it was my mistake and did not elevate my voice). She then told me that I can pay a fine (roughly 30 pounds), however I did not have any money on money. I did tell her that, that I didn't have any money on me and that my mom has some money for sure and that she would be able to pay. I asked her whether:
1) I could leave her my ID/passport with everything to pick up my mom and then come back to pay the fine,
2) Any of the officers could assist me to pick up my mom and pay the fine,
3) Try to get my mom to come down to the station to pay the fine, which is really difficult since my mom's english is pretty bad and she wouldn't find it too easy to locate the station,
however she did not agree to 1)&2) of that and kept telling me that I am a fraud and that being a student and not having money is still my problem (that's true). And so she told me that she can leave it to the company to judge my case and contact me to sort it out. I told her that I can leave her all my details and that I will cooperate, but I wish I could just pay it in like 3 minutes, if she just believed me (she was pretty mad at this point and I guess she didn't believe me or my story). So I left all of my details, proved my address (she didn't believe me that I am leaving accurate details) and then she told me I can leave.
I exited the station, picked up my mom, told her what happened and we came back to find the Officer and ask her again whether I could pay the fine right there, but she told me it's no good anymore and I should have paid at the moment I was stopped by the Officers. I apologized again for my mistake and left.
Fast forward to now, I have been contacted by Greater Anglia's Prosecutions Unit regarding the offence to respond to their notice with 1)All details that could help them with the incident, 2) Any mitigating factors that I believe may influence their decision about legal proceedings.
Thus, I would like to ask for any advice. Should I present the story at all as the mitigating circumstance (my willingness to pay the fine multiple times, but only after picking up my mom), whether I should just call them and talk to them on the phone or just send in the details myself? What penalty/punishment am I likely to receive? I have purchased a new railcard ever since (like a month later, since I wasn't travelling by train in that month).
I would appreciate any advice, I am quite stressed by this situation since I feel like it could have been so easily avoided but I messed up big time. I am a student (EU), first time in this kind of situation. Haven't been punished before.
Kind Regards,
Scorpy
