A solicitor faces “catastrophic” damage to his career after being struck off by the regulator for dodging £650 in rail fares.
Adam Kemeny, 33, repeatedly avoided paying the £17 daily return fare from his home in Shoreditch to Redhill in Surrey by leaving the station through an exit without barriers.
But he was caught after being stopped by a Govia Thameslink Railway ticket inspector who discovered he had been avoiding rail fares for three months.
Kemeny, who earned £38,000 a year, was then sacked by his law firm and reported himself to regulator the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Govia reached a settlement of £849.90 with Kemeny and did not report him to the police.
A Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard Kemeny had “deep regret” for his actions and acknowledged any prosecution for his failure to pay the fares “would have a catastrophic effect on my career and ability to earn in the future.”
He told the tribunal he was “deeply ashamed of and remorseful for this total lapse of judgement” and apologised for his actions.
Judge Interjit Johal said Kemeney broke two Solicitor Regulation Authority principles by lacking integrity and diminishing the trust in him to provide legal services.
He added: “[Kemeny] knew he had to pay a rail fare but on certain occasions he consciously chose not to. By failing to pay his rail fares [Kemeny] had been repeatedly dishonest over a three month period. He had made a conscious decision not to pay when he should have done so on 105 occasions.”
Kemeny was struck off and ordered to pay £3,000 in costs.
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