Going to Court for Fair Evading on London Bus

[Guest]

Please can someone advise me on this.

I was caught fare evading in February on a London bus and have just received a letter summoning me to court.

I usually walk to work, but was going to be late for work and jumped on a bendy bus. The bus was full at the time and I couldn’t reach the swipe machine. It then cleared out and I sat down, completely forgetting to swipe my card. When the inspector entered the bus, I produced my card and there were insufficient funds on it. I would have had every intention of topping up my card if I’d know it was under the required amount.

I received the inspector’s statement, claiming I said “I left my oyster card at home”, which has an acommpanying witness statment as verification (god know where this witness came from). The statement is incorrect and makes me look like I was purposely fair evading. I’ve contacted Transport for London to acquire CCTV footage of the incident to prove I produced my ticket, but it is not longer available.

I’ve been asked to provide a statement of earnings to the courts, with regards to their decision around my fine. But I am unsure whether I should be pleading guilty via post or in court, or should I be pleading not guilty as the statement is wrong. I’m really worried about the outcome of this and don’t really have the funds to pay for a legal representative in court.

[Guest]

Take soap on a rope and a washbag with you to court - you are going down!!!!!

[ncmoon]

Bit of a sticky wicket. If you had had sufficient funds on the card - you could explain that you simply forgot to swipe in. But the fact that not only did you not swipe in, but had you tried you would have had to pay up makes your position rather weaker.
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Nick Moon [WebMaster]

www.justclaim.co.uk