Fare evasion swr report for prsecution

[sillyman55]

I was called out by a swr revenue protection officer today. He claimed he had tracked my movements and wanted to check my ticket.
When he scanned he he asked where I had come from, I had come from further out and bought a ticket from a different closer station. He threatened me with the police so I panicked, he asked for ID which I didn’t have any, then he threatened me with the police again. He asked for my name and address, to which I panicked again and gave an old address. He didn’t believe me and called the police so I confessed up and gave correct details. He then continued to write up the report and told me I have evaded a fare and will be prosecuted.
I know I have done wrong and I should not have done it, money has been very tight.
I also have done bought a ticket from a closer station a number of times before but not been caught. Can they see all of my travel history?
Will I have to go to court? I am so worried I have a new job and a young family that depend on me. I have made a terrible mistake and will definitely not do it again! I am scare of a criminal record which would result in me losing my job!
I am fully prepared to pay the fines etc. just trying to understand how serious this could be?
I have never done anything like this before I was struggling financially and in a hole.
Any help or advise would be welcomed.
Thank you.

 

[WesternLancer]

I was called out by a swr revenue protection officer today. He claimed he had tracked my movements and wanted to check my ticket.
When he scanned he he asked where I had come from, I had come from further out and bought a ticket from a different closer station. He threatened me with the police so I panicked, he asked for ID which I didn’t have any, then he threatened me with the police again. He asked for my name and address, to which I panicked again and gave an old address. He didn’t believe me and called the police so I confessed up and gave correct details. He then continued to write up the report and told me I have evaded a fare and will be prosecuted.
I know I have done wrong and I should not have done it, money has been very tight.
I also have done bought a ticket from a closer station a number of times before but not been caught. Can they see all of my travel history?
Will I have to go to court? I am so worried I have a new job and a young family that depend on me. I have made a terrible mistake and will definitely not do it again! I am scare of a criminal record which would result in me losing my job!
I am fully prepared to pay the fines etc. just trying to understand how serious this could be?
I have never done anything like this before I was struggling financially and in a hole.
Any help or advise would be welcomed.
Thank you.

Hi and welcome - you will get some good advice here - but at this stage you now have to wait to hear from them by hard copy post and then you need to engage with that - so attempting to give the wrong address would have been a major mistake - because they would still track you down but by that time it would have gone to court, you would have been found guilty and you would have a criminal record. If you follow advice on this forums (have a look at some other cases whilst you wait to hear from them, there is a good chance you can avoid all that.

ref your specific questions:

a) I have evaded a fare and will be prosecuted.

Not necessarily prosecuted if you can manage to agree an out of court settlement with them before they commence prosecution proceedings

b) I also have done bought a ticket from a closer station a number of times before but not been caught. Can they see all of my travel history?

Yes, esp if you have bought tickets on line - they can access data from any ticket retailer in order to investigate crimes like this

c) Will I have to go to court?

Not if you can achieve an Out of Court Settlement with them, but potentially yes, it could be dealt with in court

d) I am scare of a criminal record which would result in me losing my job!

If it goes to court, form what you have said you will be found guilty and have a criminal record. So you need to co-operate with them and seek to achieve an out of curt settlement if at all possible

e) I am fully prepared to pay the fines etc.

You don't want to pay fines (eg court fines) you want to pay for an out of court settlement - which is a sum they ask for in agreement not to prosecute you in court. Technically this is not a fine. This is usually made up of the fares you have evaded at the full Anytime single price with no allowance for the short fares you made and an admin fee of maybe around £200 to reflect the time they will now have to spend looking into your fare evasion. I suspect you are confusing this with the signs you have seen about Penalty Fares which are not designed for people who have made deliberate and repeated decisions to evade paying the correct fare for the journey undertaken. This will be why you were reported and not issued with a Penalty Fare, and lying about your address will not have helped.

f) I have never done anything like this before I was struggling financially and in a hole.

Well you have, you admit so in (b) above that you have previously evaded fares. What you mean is you have never been caught doing this before...be honest with yourself!

At this stage you need to wait to hear from them by letter, then you need to reply to that very promptly. See other threads for examples and how best to reply to try and persuade them to offer you an out of court settlement.

 

[sillyman55]

Hi and welcome - you will get some good advice here - but at this stage you now have to wait to hear from them by hard copy post and then you need to engage with that - so attempting to give the wrong address would have been a major mistake - because they would still track you down but by that time it would have gone to court, you would have been found guilty and you would have a criminal record. If you follow advice on this forums (have a look at some other cases whilst you wait to hear from them, there is a good chance you can avoid all that.

ref your specific questions:

a) I have evaded a fare and will be prosecuted.

Not necessarily prosecuted if you can manage to agree an out of court settlement with them before they commence prosecution proceedings

b) I also have done bought a ticket from a closer station a number of times before but not been caught. Can they see all of my travel history?

Yes, esp if you have bought tickets on line - they can access data from any ticket retailer in order to investigate crimes like this

c) Will I have to go to court?

Not if you can achieve an Out of Court Settlement with them, but potentially yes, it could be dealt with in court

d) I am scare of a criminal record which would result in me losing my job!

If it goes to court, form what you have said you will be found guilty and have a criminal record. So you need to co-operate with them and seek to achieve an out of curt settlement if at all possible

e) I am fully prepared to pay the fines etc.

You don't want to pay fines (eg court fines) you want to pay for an out of court settlement - which is a sum they ask for in agreement not to prosecute you in court. Technically this is not a fine. This is usually made up of the fares you have evaded at the full Anytime single price with no allowance for the short fares you made and an admin fee of maybe around £200 to reflect the time they will now have to spend looking into your fare evasion. I suspect you are confusing this with the signs you have seen about Penalty Fares which are not designed for people who have made deliberate and repeated decisions to evade paying the correct fare for the journey undertaken. This will be why you were reported and not issued with a Penalty Fare, and lying about your address will not have helped.

f) I have never done anything like this before I was struggling financially and in a hole.

Well you have, you admit so in (b) above that you have previously evaded fares. What you mean is you have never been caught doing this before...be honest with yourself!

At this stage you need to wait to hear from them by letter, then you need to reply to that very promptly. See other threads for examples and how best to reply to try and persuade them to offer you an out of court settlement.

Thank you for your responses it’s very helpful. I hope I get some further advice on here if people’s own experiences.

For clarity I know what I have done is wrong and fully accept the consequences.
As I said I was struggling financially having had a large pay cut then starting a new job. Not an excuse I know. When I said I haven’t done anything like this is before I was referring to a generalised not done this in the past. This is all recent upto today.

I panicked, I made a mistake and I hope with full cooperation and truthfulness as a first time in the position they will take this into consideration.

I appreciate they have heard it all before and probably won’t care but it would be good to hear of other people’s experiences.
Do I even explain my personal circumstances or does that make it worse?

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you for your responses it’s very helpful. I hope I get some further advice on here if people’s own experiences.

For clarity I know what I have done is wrong and fully accept the consequences.
As I said I was struggling financially having had a large pay cut then starting a new job. Not an excuse I know. When I said I haven’t done anything like this is before I was referring to a generalised not done this in the past. This is all recent upto today.

I panicked, I made a mistake and I hope with full cooperation and truthfulness as a first time in the position they will take this into consideration.

I appreciate they have heard it all before and probably won’t care but it would be good to hear of other people’s experiences.
Do I even explain my personal circumstances or does that make it worse?

Yes, you will get good advice here on how to get the best (or least worst) outcome. Have a look at other threads to see what advice is usually given and how things play out for other people who have done similar things.

 

[island]

d) I am scare of a criminal record which would result in me losing my job!

If it goes to court, form what you have said you will be found guilty and have a criminal record. So you need to co-operate with them and seek to achieve an out of curt settlement if at all possible

But it is not at all certain that a criminal record will result in loss of job.

 

[sillyman55]

But it is not at all certain that a criminal record will result in loss of job.

Ok criminal record aside is there a real risk of going to jail? I am freaking out over this!

 

[island]

Ok criminal record aside is there a real risk of going to jail? I am freaking out over this!

There is no risk whatsoever of going to jail on the facts so far.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

You will not go to jail....

All you can do now is wait for a letter from the railway (South Western Railway?) or one of its agents. Hopefully (for you), they will ask you for your side of the story. Depending on what the letter says, you may not have to incriminate yourself further by admitting you have evaded fares previously (as this may well lead to a prosecution).

And just to be clear, "the railway" agrees an out of court settlement - not you. You will have to hope that they'll treat you with leniency

 

[Pushpit]

Ok criminal record aside is there a real risk of going to jail? I am freaking out over this!

I will add to this, it's beyond unlikely anyway, and right now the judiciary have to minimise jail use since there is scarcely a cell available in the prison system right now. For byelaw offences it's not an option, under railway legislation it would be very, very unlikely. Under the fraud legislation, well that is quite a broad scope for sentencing, from 40 hours unpaid work to 10 years in prison, but you have to way north of £10,000 of deception to be in this logic. From the facts provided so far you hopefully will be offered an out of court settlement (no-one can guarantee that) to a court imposed fine, victim surcharge, recovery of unpaid fares and SWT's costs (realistic worst case scenario).

 

[sillyman55]

Thank you all who have commented it has helped me not freak out completely.
One further question what’s the likelihood of SWR looking into my booking history and seeing the other bookings I made. I never said anything to the officer and what not asked. It was more about the one ticket and my panic lying on the spot, mainly because he threatened with police straightaway!

 

[ikcdab]

Thank you all who have commented it has helped me not freak out completely.
One further question what’s the likelihood of SWR looking into my booking history and seeing the other bookings I made. I never said anything to the officer and what not asked. It was more about the one ticket and my panic lying on the spot, mainly because he threatened with police straightaway!

If you have used any of the online apps then it is highly likely. Its the first thing they do, look at your history and see if they can find any suspicious purchases in the past.
Only you know now how many times you have done this, you can calculate the rough maximum out of court settlement figure by adding up the anytime single rate for every journey and then adding around £200. If they offer an out of court settlement, then that is the approximate figure you will be looking at.

 

[Gloster]

To make clear, I hope. Normal practice is to charge the full Anytime Single fare for each time you failed to pay the correct amount: for a Return journey that is one for the outward journey and one for the return one. No allowance is made for anything you did pay for those tickets you did buy or for any Railcards held. They then add on the costs of their investigation, which seem to be a touch higher for SWR, so probably £200 or a bit more. This payment needs to be made in full within a week or two. (This presumes that they do check your buying history and ask for all the fares they can find, but are prepared to offer an out of court settlement, which is likely.)

The chances of going to prison are virtually non-existent and there is a good chance, but no guarantee, that you will avoid even going to court if you handle it right, which this forum can advise you about. But it may cost you a fair bit more than if you had bought the correct tickets in the first place.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

To add to what others have said SWR will probably research your online ticket purchasing history and they will quickly work out of you have done this before. SWR will write to you asking for your version of events before deciding how to proceed. Pop back here when you get that letter and we can advise what to put in your reply.

SWR do sometimes ask to interview people with large scale ticketing irregularities. Again, let us know if you get this request and we can advise.

SWR are normally reasonably pragmatic and they will usually settle out of court, if you co-operate withtheir investigation.

 

[sillyman55]

Thank you so much for all your advice. I have made such a silly error here and I know I have to pay for it but it’s turning my stomach in knots. I now need to tell my wife about it too!
I will come back when I receive the letter.

 

[Train9]

Hi there,

Apologies if I am posting this in the wrong place!

I was recently caught with a short fare ticket by South Western Railway and have since then received an email from them giving me an opportunity to share my side of story regarding the time I was caught and previous “suspicious” tickets that they have since looked into. They have attached a pre-court disclosure document outlining all the suspicious ticket they can see, and have said “If you respond truthfully, there may be an opportunity for an out-of-court settlement. It is essential to note that we do have additional evidence, including ticket tap data, refund data, and may apply for CCTV data, which may be presented if your case proceeds to court.”

I fully admit what I did was wrong and take full responsibility for my actions and I am extremely eager to resolve this out of court.

I am wondering if I should seek legal advice for this matter or if I should respond myself directly? If I respond myself directly how should I do so and what are the main the point to include?

I would of course stress my remorse and take full ownership of all offences and would be more than willing to pay any fines/associated costs.

How likely are south western to prosecute for these offences do you think?

Really appreciate your time in responding

 

[John R]

You don’t need to pay for legal advice here. Provided you write an apologetic letter, confirm (if you do) that you agree their list, and say that you would be very grateful for the opportunity to settle out of court then you will get one, given they are effectively opening the door to such a settlement.

Please don’t use AI to draft a letter - it’s inevitably cringy and stands out a mile with wooden and repetitive phraseology. Just write it in your own words in normal day to day language. Share it here, and we can provide feedback to make sure you don’t say anything you shouldn’t.

Finally, if you reply by post, send it “signed for”, to get proof of receipt. Obv that’s not an issue if you can email them.

 

[Train9]

You don’t need to pay for legal advice here. Provided you write an apologetic letter, confirm (if you do) that you agree their list, and say that you would be very grateful for the opportunity to settle out of court then you will get one, given they are effectively opening the door to such a settlement.

Please don’t use AI to draft a letter - it’s inevitably cringy and stands out a mile with wooden and repetitive phraseology. Just write it in your own words in normal day to day language. Share it here, and we can provide feedback to make sure you don’t say anything you shouldn’t.

Finally, if you reply by post, send it “signed for”, to get proof of receipt. Obv that’s not an issue if you can email them.

You don’t need to pay for legal advice here. Provided you write an apologetic letter, confirm (if you do) that you agree their list, and say that you would be very grateful for the opportunity to settle out of court then you will get one, given they are effectively opening the door to such a settlement.

Please don’t use AI to draft a letter - it’s inevitably cringy and stands out a mile with wooden and repetitive phraseology. Just write it in your own words in normal day to day language. Share it here, and we can provide feedback to make sure you don’t say anything you shouldn’t.

Finally, if you reply by post, send it “signed for”, to get proof of receipt. Obv that’s not an issue if you can email them.

Thank you for responding so quickly.

I will definitely post the drafted email on here asap, just working on this now.

I’ve read a lot elsewhere that it might be good to get legal advice and support during this process so I can avoid a criminal record as much as possible. Just to be clear there are 58 occasions that they have put down and even though I’ve seen other people do this a lot more times I still recognise this is a lot of occurrences.

There are also 2 occasions from 3 years ago they have flagged which I believe I did not commit any offence on because I know I only started doing this since last year but since it’s so long ago I don’t have any proof to disprove this. I wondering if I should say that I don’t believe I committed an offence on these occasions or if I should just agree to it since I don’t have anything substantial to disprove their argument?

 

[yorkie]

Thank you for responding so quickly.

I will definitely post the drafted email on here asap, just working on this now.

I’ve read a lot elsewhere that it might be good to get legal advice and support during this process so I can avoid a criminal record as much as possible. Just to be clear there are 58 occasions that they have put down and even though I’ve seen other people do this a lot more times I still recognise this is a lot of occurrences.

There are also 2 occasions from 3 years ago they have flagged which I believe I did not commit any offence on because I know I only started doing this since last year but since it’s so long ago I don’t have any proof to disprove this. I wondering if I should say that I don’t believe I committed an offence on these occasions or if I should just agree to it since I don’t have anything substantial to disprove their argument?

Please use your own thread.

This thread is for @sillyman55's case.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Apr 2024 ==

Thank you so much for all your advice. I have made such a silly error here and I know I have to pay for it but it’s turning my stomach in knots. I now need to tell my wife about it too!
I will come back when I receive the letter.

Please report this post when you have an update; we will then reopen the thread.

 

[sillyman55]

So after 4 months I received my letter. Am I reading it right I just pay the fine and it’s dealt with? They did not mention any other offences. Or even my version of events.
I’m happy with this outcome but just want to make sure that once I pay it, it’s over

 

[Hadders]

If you pay the amount requested then that is the end of the matter in respect of the incident on the day you were caught.

It is possible that SWR might contact you about other occasions although the time taken to send you this letter suggests they might have already researched your online purchase history and decided to take no further action.

 

[Titfield]

For the sake of accuracy they are offering you an out of court settlement and not a fine.

The level of administrative and operational costs they are including is towards the lower end of the scale.

I would consider this to be a good result.