Fare Evasion Solicitor

[AddieL]

Hello there,
I would like to hear back from anyone who has expwrienced fare evasion prosecution and had hired a solicitor to write a letter as a reply to TFL verification letter.
As I am facing a prosecution for a fare evasion. Expecting Tfls verification letter, or any first letter in this regard. For refderence - the unfortunate event happened yesterday. Could you please share with me any idea how much a solicitor fee roughly could be? As I can not afford much now...
Thank you a lot in advance for any replies!
Best Regards

 

[Dai Corner]

A solicitor may be unnecessary.

If you could tell us exactly what journey you were making and what happened, then post your letter here when you get it people will be able to give advice. Be sure to hide all personal details and reference numbers in the letter.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Could you please share with me any idea how much a solicitor fee roughly could be? As I can not afford much now...

My impression from looking at previous cases on this forum is that a solicitor will cost around £500 - £800.

So before instructing a solicitor, you need to think about what consequences of a prosecution worry you. If it's the amount that you will have to spend, my expectation would be that being convicted will be cheaper in that you will have to pay
- a fine (based on your income: my understanding is that this is typically something like £220) plus
- a 'victim surcharge' (I believe this to be something like 40% of the fine, so something like £88 or £90) plus
- TfL's costs claim (normally £150) plus
- 'compensation' i.e. the fare you dodged (say £10)

So that comes to something like £470 - not much different from what you will have to pay for a solicitor, but a little bit less.

Or you might be worried about the impact of a prosecution on your job. Our experience is that for most jobs, a single prosecution for something like fare dodging isn't too much of a problem - tell your employer and they will probably tell you something like 'don't do it again, as a repeat will be taken seriously - but you're OK for the moment'. But there are exceptions to this if your job involves being trustworthy for other people, so this can include finance jobs such as those you find in the City of London. If you have a job like that then you may indeed want to see if a solicitor can avoid the matter going to court. But you also need to know that you can't guarantee that a solicitor will get you off - so you could find that as well as the £500 or so for a solicitor, you have to pay what the court demands as well.

 

[SteveM70]

But you also need to know that you can't guarantee that a solicitor will get you off - so you could find that as well as the £500 or so for a solicitor, you have to pay what the court demands as well.

I think this is particularly relevant given its TfL the OP is dealing with.

 

[AddieL]

Thanks a lot for your detailed reply, I deeply appreciate it!
From what i read, and I researched the matter a lot all day yesterday, in my case out of course settlement seems impossible. And the TFL settlement rate is crazy low. My intention to get a help of a solocitor is for them to mainly write down my verification letter, when I receive one. As to soften up the court consequences in some way . To be prosecuted by the Byelaw not the Regulation 1989 or something like that . Just to make the case less severe. If of course there is such thing as proprtionality, measured differently then by money.

 

[AlterEgo]

Thanks a lot for your detailed reply, I deeply appreciate it!
From what i read, and I researched the matter a lot all day yesterday, in my case out of course settlement seems impossible. And the TFL settlement rate is crazy low. My intention to get a help of a solocitor is for them to mainly write down my verification letter, when I receive one. As to soften up the court consequences in some way . To be prosecuted by the Byelaw not the Regulation 1989 or something like that . Just to make the case less severe. If of course there is such thing as proprtionality, measured differently then by money.

There is no way of softening the consequences from a conviction. The fine is linked to your income, you will be convicted, and in any case TfL only prosecute under the Byelaws. I don't see any way a solicitor will bring a meaningful improvement in this for you. The matter is conducted entirely on paper, and you will not need to attend if pleading guilty.

 

[AddieL]

yeah. thank you all. unfortunately there is very little that could be done. post factum. Just having a criminal record looks super scary to me. Hipefully it wont affect me very negatively in the future.. you are great, thanks for having such a helpful community here.

 

[Hadders]

We really need to know more about your case to be able to offer appropriate advice, but as a general rule TfL normally prosecute under the TfL Bylaws. They don’t normally offer out of court settlements although they have been known to occasionally issue a final warning in very limited situations.

Using a solicitor is unlikely to change the outcome of a case, in my view.

 

[furlong]

What a solicitor can do well is to help you to get the least bad outcome e.g. helping you to find and structure appropriate mitigation. It might make no difference to the outcome, but sometimes it will improve it for you.
You'd need to tell us more about what you've been doing and why you did it if you want our opinions.

 

[Gloster]

As the incident only happened in the last few days, so I understand, and you have not yet had any letter, it is highly unlikely that a solicitor can help you at this stage. Wait until you get the letter: I presume that you gave your correct name and address when stopped. When you get the letter, post it in this thread with your name, dddress and all identifying details, such as reference numbers, obscured. The experts can then give advice based on knowing the situation: a solicitor can do no more at the moment except charge you.