"Nick Cooper" wrote in
message ...
On Sat, 1 May 2004 11:30:42 +0000 (UTC), "evan"
wrote:

Looking at what the summons says, the *inspector* has left something that
may be significant out of his statement - that she accepted she'd made a
mistake & offered to pay the penalty fare. He said "it doesn't work like
that" (exact words as far as she can remember).

So, basically you're saying that she offered to pay a penalty fare on
the spot and this was refused by the inspector, but that the latter
has omitted this detail from his statement? How exactly did he
describe the incident?

The Inspector does not *have* to accept an penalty under *any*
circumstances. If he suspects fare evasion he may report the individual, as
he has done here. To do so, he *must* caution the person and tell them they
are being reported and for what offence. The fact a penalty fare was
offered immediately is not eveidence of regular fare evasion, as suggested
by some of those posting here, and would not be deemed so by the court.

The fact that a summons has been issued just with the six months cut off
period set out in the magistrates court act is typical of these *private*
prosecutions. The departments who put the cases together are generally less
than competent, and rely on individuals pleading guilty.

The offence in question is a criminal one. There are 2 options here.

1. Plead gulity by post, outlining the circumstances you describe as
mitigation. A fine will be the result, plus costs, probably £50. You WILL
NOT recieve a criminal record.

2. Plead not guilty, attend court and cross examine the inspector as to his
procedure at the time of reporting (caution etc as above), and challenge the
fact that you *intended* to avoid your fare. After all you where in
possession of a ticket, just not validated, not allready used or out of
date. The magistrate will take into consideration how you come across when
giving evidence, and also how the inspector does. IME a properly prepared
defence case will wipe the floor with most rail/bus ticket inspectors.

regards

Baloo