Forum Topic

Olga Krasnosielska sent down for defrauding the train companies

Quite simply this is good news. I would prefer that she did some type of community service to improve things whether it be hard graft to improve Acton. Not sure if someone in prison for 10 weeks will either go straight or learn more techniques to avoid getting caught.

Gary Malcolm ● 5426d7 Comments

Really? Whilst I don't know the circumstances of this case isn't it highly likely that this young woman used the train to get to and from a poorly paid job which the cost of the fares would have made it uneconomic to do. Whilst not for one moment would I condone fraud, even when it is committed against the most morally bankrupt of institutions ,but almost all the train franchises deliver a really poor service at a high cost whilst paying huge bonuses to their directors. Maybe what Ms. Krasnosielska did was illegal and maybe what the train franchises do is not but it is clear to me which of them do us the greatest harm.The tone of the article on this site was very ill-judged. Prison is punishment enough for this woman. She doesn't deserve the sanctimonious contempt of someone she has never met and who presumably has no knowledge of her personal circumstances.

Alan Fairchild ● 5426d

Alan, why would she have taken a poorly paid job in York when she lived in London?!  You'd know you couldn't afford the train fare for that job ...  unless you knew a way of not paying a fare.She used a debit card knowing there weren't funds on it but the ticket machine still accepted it and issued a ticket.  Why was it not declined because she had no funds in her account?I'm sure she wasn't the only one who'd realised the train companies lack of investment in the ticket machines.  I bet they've updated them since!

Sarah Harris ● 5426d

I really don't know the answer to any of your questions Sarah but whatever they are they don't really change the basic point. There are far worse criminals and people who are non-criminals who behave appallingly. To exult in this woman's imprisonment seems to me wrong. I'm all the more surprised because Cllr. Malcolm and this site have seemed to me to have always been sensible and considerate in their views in the past.

Alan Fairchild ● 5425d

Since when was going overdrawn a criminal offence?  I'm sure that many people use a debt card to pay for good and services in the knowledge that they do not have the positive funds to pay for it?Since when did this become a criminal act and not one of risk through the banking system?  How can the train company directly challenge the individual when it should be them chasing the bank chasing the individual?Am I missing something?

Paul Scullion ● 5425d

Unfortunately this kind of thing is rife.  Witness the 207 bendy buses and how many people get on the back without paying.  I am aware that word goes round about such things and travellers who do not want to pay for their transportation, often travel well out of their way in order not to pay for their ticket.  The Overground in particular was well used in this respect before the ticket barriers came into being.We are told that if everyone bought a ticket the price of the ticket would come down......now that is another thing.I suspect that this sentence is being used as a warning to all those doing the same thing.

Dee Cook ● 5425d

I was in Nice in mid October, where every bus journey costs E1. Anyone caught evading the fare pays about E80 in fines, so nobody does, because it isn't worth the risk. Bring the ludicrously high fares down, make the penalties severe.

Susan Kelly ● 5425d

The suggestion appears to be that if you are proved to have knowingly gone over your credit limit for a card supplied by a bank then you could be found guilty of fraud. This isn't fraud as I understand it. The card presumably were in Ms. Krasnosielska's name. I imagine the train company tried to get the money from the bank and then were forced to go after the card owner when the bank refused to pay. There may be other aspects to this case but on the face of it it looks like a miscarriage of justice - compare her case with the following two stories - in one a woman claims £32,000 in benefits fraudulently and gets a suspended sentence and in another a man is giving a suspended sentence after looting from a shop. Which crime was the least serious?http://www.ealingtoday.co.uk/default.asp?section=info&page=conbenefitfraud002.htmhttp://www.ealingtoday.co.uk/default.asp?section=info&page=eariotsaftermath001.htm

Andy Jones ● 5425d