Police bother ;(

[lazydaisychain]

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!

I fully believed the car had been booked by and therefore taken care of fiscally by my colleague

As I pointed out, unless you were present when your colleague did it, you couldn't have 100% known this to be the case, particularly when faced with a cab driver who was telling you he hadn't. The fact that you've paid it now rather suggests that he was right and you were wrong. So you should have made arrangements to sort it out the following day, not just walked away.

You should have checked at the time or before and if there uncertainty you should have paid! That driver was £60 down plus the time it would have taken to call police etc. I think the mistake was when you left the cab and went into your house leaving the driver to sort it out!! But in answer to your post I would pay and tip generously and not sign a thing.

But did you check whether it had been paid for the next day.

For those saying don't sign the CRO, I wonder if you know what it is? It's not a conviction, it goes on the police database but will not show up on a DBS check (except for very limited circumstances). Assuming the OP doesn't come to the police's attention again, it will have zero impact on their life.

The alternative is that the case be referred to the CPS for prosecution.

Our a/c is a black cab app.

Then it would have been the work of seconds for you to ask your colleague to check whether the cab had been paid.

But you didn't.

So what other interpretation is there than you were hoping to get away with it? What possible other reason is there for not bothering to check?

Thanks everyone, I do appreciate the help and advice, and yes I was an idiot, 100pc.

I can just imagine the scene, “That’ll be 60 quid, mate”
“Oh, don’t be tiresome, Jeeves, I’m off to bed”... No wonder he called the police! What are you like?

I don't understand how you can think any of what you did was reasonable?! Surely the normal response to being told the cab wasn't paid for (and you couldn't pay for) would be to apologise profusely, explain you think there's been a misunderstanding, ring colleague who booked it (I know it was late but they've just been dropped off so still awake). If unable to sort payment that night, find out first thing at work if it was paid for and if not phone and pay - because obviously you would have taken the cabbies details to facilitate this when you had a mature and polite conversation.

In what world do you think it's reasonable to walk off without paying and with no intention of paying (because you didn't get any info to let you pay later) after being told the police are being called. And then be surprised and and offended when the police turn up.

Surely during your long and arduous hours at work you could have found a minute to say 'hey Fred, the cab last night, did you pay for it?'

You made zero effort to pay what was owed. That tips it into crime territory, I'm not surprised the police want to impress the seriousness of this on you.

I wonder how much the cost of the police time is ...

Do not ever sign one if those
They cannot force you

You never checked and it clearly wasnt otherwise you would not be in the mess and so you did do it. You left without paying.

Looking at the punishment list it seems about right. Your problem was rather than checking and sorting (and taking any sort of details from him to do so) you were so utterly convinced you were right

So your colleague booked it through an app so you were certain it was paid for.

And yet simultaneously you had absolutely no way of knowing who the cab was or how to get in touch to pay.

Might want to get your story straight before you go to the police station.

Are you telling us in the 2 week period between getting the cab and getting visited by the police, you didn’t think to spend 30 seconds saying to your colleague “hey, just to check - did you pay for the cab the other night?”

So you were a bit pissed, knackered, bolshy and dismissive to the cabbie and he has (rightly) escalated it and surprised you.
Harsh but sometimes it bites back.