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Victims of crime

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Original poster

Police bother ;(

38 replies

lazydaisychain · 31/08/2019 13:59

Hi, I got a black cab a few weeks ago. Believed my colleague had booked & paid for it on a/c as he's done before. However back home cabbie asked for £60. I said 'but cab was paid for on work a/c?' (It was 2am & I had no £ or card on me - purse on desk). I was due back at work at 8am & was certain cab had been paid for & there had been misunderstanding. I said 'I can't pay either way' & cabbie said he was calling police. I said 'OK but I'm going to bed' - & did. Assumed issue sorted as heard nothing. Next thing : 2 policemen rock up a few Sundays later - gone 9.30pm. (I live alone). The main one was rude, officious, refused to listen to ANYTHING. There had been (another) stabbing that AM v locally & I ovs thought visit was connected with that. I nearly died. It was about the cab fare. He was NOT interested in the SLIGHTEST in my explanation and in the end stormed off. Next I received a letter - hand delivered - saying PM would 'mediate', or I had to present, or Id' be arrested! He now wants me to go to the nick with a written apology, the £ (fair enough) and to sign a Community Resolution Order. Basically I am being pressed into admitting a crime I did not nor have any intention to commit! All advice welcome pls. (Am slight, regular cab-taking, law-abiding 56 yo widow-woman!!) TIA!

OP posts:
NoBaggyPants · 31/08/2019 14:01

When you went into work the next morning you checked the cab had been paid for, didn't you?

Caselgarcia · 31/08/2019 14:04

But was the cabbie paid? If not, you are in the wrong. Can't understand why you went to bed when you could have sorted it?

Wildorchidz · 31/08/2019 14:04

It should be straightforward to prove it was paid for?

lalag · 31/08/2019 14:04

Well.. I'd first check if the cab was paid for by the company and if no, pay the money straight away.

CoolLikeOvie · 31/08/2019 14:06

Yeah, you should have called the cab office the next day when you found out it wasn't paid for and asked whether you should pay over the phone/ go in there with cash.

Wintersnowdrop · 31/08/2019 14:07

Surely the first thing to do would be to check if your colleague had booked and paid for the cab? I assume he hasn’t as the cab driver and police are pursuing you for the fare? Is your colleague likely to contact the cab company and pay the fare now? Otherwise you need to pay the fare pronto.

PatriciaHolm · 31/08/2019 14:07

"Assumed sorted"

Why? Why would you possibly do that? Surely it would have been a simple matter to clear up with your colleague immediately?

It sounds to me (as no doubt it does to the police) this you were just hoping to get away with it.

Do you regularly leave your purse at work? Seems an odd thing to do.

Lamentations · 31/08/2019 14:09

I'd pay for the cab and get a receipt but then not sign the community resolution. It's an error not a crime. If it's paid there is no way on earth they will take it to court (which is what they will say will happen to persuade you to sign it).

I'm all for community resolutions where appropriate but I've heard about them being used to 'solve' issues that are clearly misunderstandings a few times and I think people sign them not realising that they are admitting to having committed a crime.

Lamentations · 31/08/2019 14:11

But yes I agree that it's weird that you didn't check with your friend afterwards, you should have made sure. You've brought it on yourself in that respect.

AmIThough · 31/08/2019 14:12

Did you check with work? If so, did they say it had been paid for?
Why didn't you contact the taxi company?

NoBaggyPants · 31/08/2019 14:13

No judge is going to believe that you didn't intend to permanently deprive, when you made no effort to check the fare had been paid, failed to pay for several weeks, and only decided to pay when threatened with a CRO.

Bunnybigears · 31/08/2019 14:16

You took a £60 can journey that hadn't been paid for and when you discovered this you went in your house and went to bed leaving the cabbie outside £60 worse off than he should have been! I think you behaved appallingly. You should have paid the £60 then sorted it out with work afterwards, if you didnt have the money on you Cabbie would have taken you to a cash point or normally you can ring the office and pay by card. You cant just take a service and not pay for it.

Original poster
lazydaisychain · 31/08/2019 14:30

Thank you so much Lamentations, a voice of reason! I work full time, and am out of the house 12 hours a day/5, sometimes 6 days a week. We get black cabs on our work a/c all the time. It is very unusual (& frowned upon) by for us to pay for a cab and then claim it back- which is why we have a/cs (we work long & unsociable hours). Yes I sometimes leave my purse behind/or my phone/my keys. Many of us have spare keys at work as we can always get into the office. I had no intention of 'bilking'; I am not a thief. I've worked in the media for 30 yrs plus and never made this error before. Thank you again Lamentations. It was never my intention to con a cabbie out of £60 and I will of course pay it back, with tip! The car was a black cab which made it impossible for me to track the driver down.

OP posts:
Tonnerre · 31/08/2019 14:32

Basically I am being pressed into admitting a crime I did not nor have any intention to commit!

When you told the cabbie that you weren't going to pay and walked away, you did have an intention to commit a crime. No matter what you thought, you couldn't have been 100% sure your employers had paid. What you should have done was to swap contact details and agree to sort it out the following morning, then it would have been clear that you had no intention of depriving him of payment. Alternatively, if you'd contacted your colleague the following day to ensure that payment had been made, that would also let you off the hook.

You need to swallow this and be very grateful you haven't been formally charged.

Original poster
lazydaisychain · 31/08/2019 14:33

Oh how I wish I were more like you PatriciaHolm! 'Hoping to get away with it!' - you have made me laugh out loud! Cheers!!

OP posts:
Wildorchidz · 31/08/2019 14:33

It was never my intention to con a cabbie out of £60 and I will of course pay it back, with tip! The car was a black cab which made it impossible for me to track the driver down.

Great that the police have been able to sort it out for you

Tonnerre · 31/08/2019 14:33

The car was a black cab which made it impossible for me to track the driver down.

Surely you could have done so via the police?

Tonnerre · 31/08/2019 14:34

Or indeed via whoever your employers have the account with if you thought he'd been paid in advance?

NoBaggyPants · 31/08/2019 14:34

You believed your colleague had booked and paid for the cab, yet now you're saying it was a black cab so untraceable.

If it was prebooked, it would be traceable.

If it was a black cab you hailed in the street, you knew it wasn't prebooked.

Which is it?

Tonnerre · 31/08/2019 14:35

How did you call the cab?

AmIThough · 31/08/2019 14:35

So it hadn't already been paid for then?
Why didn't you check when you got in?
Why were you so rude to the driver?

Original poster
lazydaisychain · 31/08/2019 14:36

Tonnerre: thank you for your message. I promise you dear Tonnerre I fully believed the car had been booked by and therefore taken care of fiscally by my colleague. But thank you for telling me what my intention was! You ovs know more rather about me than I know about myself! Which is nice ;)

OP posts:
Original poster
lazydaisychain · 31/08/2019 14:38

Tonnerre: I didn't call the cab. My colleague did. Our a/c is a black cab app.

OP posts:
NoBaggyPants · 31/08/2019 14:40

Therefore your colleague could trace the cab.

I'm unsure if it's us (and the police) you're trying to lie to, or yourself.

coconuttelegraph · 31/08/2019 14:41

So did you check the next day that it had been paid for?

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