Got caught using child ticket

[12Pleasehelp]

Hi all,
Today I used a child ticket to get from Birmingham new st to selly oak.
I understand this was wrong and feel terrible and will never do it again.
I got caught at selly oak station by a ticket checker and they asked my age and I lied out of panic and fear and said I was 15 I later then admitted I’m not 15 but 18 and she gave me a penalty of £100 (£50 if paid in 21 days). I have now paid this fine, understand I was wrong and will never do it again. However, she said because I lied to her that she is going to further escalate this matter.
I am worried that I will get prosecuted despite already paying the penalty charge given. Can someone please help? What does she mean by further escalation of the matter? I thought if you pay the penalty charge then the matter is closed.
It was West Midlands railway train

 

[furlong]

If you paid the Penalty Fare, that's the end of that *specific* matter.

But what they can still do is investigate your buying history (from whatever details they have) and if they discover any more child tickets, invite you to explain those or pay properly for the journeys retrospectively or prosecute if their evidence is strong enough.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Welcome to the forum!

My feeling is that there will probably be nothing coming from this - failure to give your right age doesn't appear to be a byelaw offence although failing to give your (implicitly correct) name and address is an offence.

But as @furlong has said (sent while I was writing this) if you have made a habit of this then the railway may find out and follow it up.

For most ticket offences, you have to wait six months before you can be sure you won't hear anything more. While that may not strictly be the case here, in practice I think you could have to wait that long before you decide that the railway have dropped the matter.

 

[furlong]

failure to give your right age doesn't appear to be a byelaw offence although failing to give your (implicitly correct) name and address is an offence.

Technically it's an offence under the Penalty Fares regulations, but I don't think we've ever seen it pursued as I think it would be generally considered a waste of time to pursue it in isolation.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi all,
Today I used a child ticket to get from Birmingham new st to selly oak.
I understand this was wrong and feel terrible and will never do it again.
I got caught at selly oak station by a ticket checker and they asked my age and I lied out of panic and fear and said I was 15 I later then admitted I’m not 15 but 18 and she gave me a penalty of £100 (£50 if paid in 21 days). I have now paid this fine, understand I was wrong and will never do it again. However, she said because I lied to her that she is going to further escalate this matter.
I am worried that I will get prosecuted despite already paying the penalty charge given. Can someone please help? What does she mean by further escalation of the matter? I thought if you pay the penalty charge then the matter is closed.
It was West Midlands railway train

If you get yourself sorted with a Railcard (correct one for your circs) you can at least make legit savings

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Technically i[failing to give your real age is] an offence under the Penalty Fares regulations, but I don't think we've ever seen it pursued as I think it would be generally considered a waste of time to pursue it in isolation.

So as the OP wasn't issued a Penalty Fare there and then, they don't need to worry about this? Have I understood correctly that Penalty Fares are issued on the spot and not after the passenger has gone away?

 

[scrapy]

Technically it's an offence under the Penalty Fares regulations, but I don't think we've ever seen it pursued as I think it would be generally considered a waste of time to pursue it in isolation.

Only if asked specifically for your date of birth rather than your age and you give a false one or don't provide it.