£1.50 tube fare turns into £200 nightmare

Published: 15 April 2010
by JOSIE HINTON

A SINGLE mother claimed she was hounded by bailiffs and told she faced being arrested by police over a £1.50 train ticket.

Kate Walters, 30, was fined after missing a fare as she rushed to take her seven-year-old daughter to school in Kentish Town back in June 2008.

The pair ran to catch the train at Finchley Road and Frognal Station, where there are no barriers, but after boarding Ms Walters said realised she had forgotten her Oyster Card.

She told inspectors of the mistake, but they said they had no choice but to caution her, believing she had deliberately dodged the fare.

Ms Walters said: “I make the same journey every day and I have never before forgotten to pay. But they said they had no choice but to caution me,”

But according to her story, that was just the start of the nightmare.

When she was unable to attend a court date due to illness, she was sent a bill for more than £200. The sum included court fees, the fine and the original fare of £1.50.

Unable to afford the full amount, Ms Walters, who relies on income support, started to pay the fine off in instalments. 

She had made a number of payments when her cheques were returned to her without ex­planation. When she asked if there was a problem, a post office cashier mistakenly informed her the money was being refunded.

But in reality the payments were not getting through and the debt was growing as bailiffs added hundreds of pounds of their “fees”. 

On Thursday they threatened to knock down the door of her Finchley Road home and take her possessions unless she paid them the new escalated bill of almost £450 – 300 times the value of the original fare.

They told her she had three days to come up with the money or she would be arrested.

Ms Walters said: “They said if I didn’t open the door they would call the police and locksmiths to get in. They refused to move and were waiting for me to start calling around friends trying to get the money together. 

“They eventually agreed to come back, but only because I was on my own with my daughter. They told me if I didn’t pay the money on Monday I would be arrested. I asked what would happen to my child and the bailiff just shrugged his shoulders.”

With the prospect of arrest hanging over her, Ms Walters spent Friday morning at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court pleading for the bailiffs to be called off. Staff eventually agreed, but she has been left with the bill for more than £200.

She said: “I’m a single mother on income support and at the moment I’m studying at college to try and make a better life for myself and my daughter. I’m trying to keep up with my bills and this debt is the last thing I need, especially when it’s over an honest mistake.”

Anna Thorburn, of Crossroads Women’s Centre in Kentish Town, has been helping Ms Walters fight her case. She described the pro­cess as “truly Dickensian”.

“She is a single mum on benefits yet she is effectively paying the wages of the bailiffs,” she said. “We see many cases where women are put in prison in circumstances like these and their children are taken into care while they await trial.”

A TfL spokesman said: “We are satisfied that the revenue inspector followed the correct procedures when issuing the caution to Ms Walters. As is usual practice, she was given two later opportunities by our inspectors to put her side of the story on the record but failed to do so. The inspector’s evidence was then sent to Haringey Magistrates’ Court. As to the amount of the fine, that is a matter for Haringey Magistrates’ Court, which imposed it.

A court spokesman said: “[Ms Walters] has now been given a new time to pay at £10 a fortnight. If she fails to comply there is a risk that further enforcement action may be taken.”