Bought a child ticket at 16

[injeolmi]

I’m 16, and for a recent train journey I was pulled over for having a child ticket. I’m not sure what is going to happen and I’m very anxious.

This was with chiltern railways and I was pulled over at the entrance of the station before I actually got on the train. I told the guy I was 16 and then he took out a form for me to fill out. There were 2 questions on it, the first one being ‘Do you think you have a valid ticket?’ and I ticked NO, and then ‘Would you have the money to pay for a full fare?’ and I ticked YES. Then I had to sign it off along with my name and address. Then he said I can get on the train and he let me go.

There were two ticket inspectors and I overheard the main guy telling the other one that ‘It would be best to just be nice to her’.

What will happen? Will I receive a fine? If I do I’d like to know if i’ll get a letter as I don’t want to just ignore what happened and have the fine go up and up.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

I’m 16, and for a recent train journey I was pulled over for having a child ticket. I’m not sure what is going to happen and I’m very anxious.

This was with chiltern railways and I was pulled over at the entrance of the station before I actually got on the train. I told the guy I was 16 and then he took out a form for me to fill out. There were 2 questions on it, the first one being ‘Do you think you have a valid ticket?’ and I ticked NO, and then ‘Would you have the money to pay for a full fare?’ and I ticked YES. Then I had to sign it off along with my name and address. Then he said I can get on the train and he let me go.

There were two ticket inspectors and I overheard the main guy telling the other one that ‘It would be best to just be nice to her’.

What will happen? Will I receive a fine? If I do I’d like to know if i’ll get a letter as I don’t want to just ignore what happened and have the fine go up and up.

Welcome to the forum!

On the basis of what you've told us, it may well be that nothing further will happen - that as you heard they may 'just be nice to' you. In which case you have had a lucky escape, and to avoid stress in future it's important that you always buy the right ticket - which should now be an adult ticket. If you use the trains enough, you might want to look at the 16-17 Saver railcard at https://www.16-17saver.co.uk/

But the railway do have the right to take this further. As you're under 18, that will almost certainly mean that instead of writing to you they will write to your parents/guardian. So the first point is that you should probably mention this to your parents/guardian: that'll be embarrassing, but it's almost certainly better that they hear it from you first rather than from a letter from the railway. And a second point is that in practice the railway have six months to follow this up, so you won't know if you've been lucky and nothing more will happen until maybe next January.

When they write, Chiltern (or maybe a company called Transport Investigations Ltd who Chiltern use for some of this work) can be quite firm. The letter will talk a lot about prosecution. But it is often possible to get them to agree not to take you to court: if you look through this forum you will see that @Hadders gives excellent advice on what to say in cases like this: they may well be along shortly with advice tailored to your personal circumstance.

In our experience, it can take a couple of letters from you (or in this case your parents) to get Chiltern to agree to settle out of court: if they do agree then you should expect to have to pay the full fare for the journey you made, plus the cost of the railway's investigation, which is typically something like £150 on top of the fare. This isn't cheap, so you can see that in the long term it's much better to pay the right train fare and not risk having to pay 'investigation costs'.

If the railway do write to you, it might be helpful for you to show us the letter (with your personal details hidden - you don't want the whole internet knowing about this happening to you!) as we might have seen something like it before and be able to suggest how to respond to it.

 

[injeolmi]

Thanks for the reply, how long would it usually take for the letter to come?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Thanks for the reply, how long would it usually take for the letter to come?

In effect, the railway have up to six months from when the incident happened, and we have seen cases recently when Chiltern have been leaving it until shortly before the end of that period. So you may well have to wait out the whole six months.

 

[injeolmi]

In effect, the railway have up to six months from when the incident happened, and we have seen cases recently when Chiltern have been leaving it until shortly before the end of that period. So you may well have to wait out the whole six months.

Also, the inspector just took a photo of my address from an order confirmation email I had on my phone and didn’t actually write it down on the form. Does this mean he may have just not sent in the form or would have written it down after I left? Also what is the form for?

He also did not take my date of birth and if I remember correctly he only wrote down my first name and not my last

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Also, the inspector just took a photo of my address from an order confirmation email I had on my phone and didn’t actually write it down on the form. Does this mean he may have just not sent in the form or would have written it down after I left? Also what is the form for?

He also did not take my date of birth and if I remember correctly he only wrote down my first name and not my last

If the inspector took a photo of your address, then there's nothing stopping them copying it into the system later. And you told them that you are 16 which is enough to show that you are under 18 without writing down your date of birth. And my understanding is that in English law, there's nothing magic about names - they're just a convenient way to identify people. So the railway have your first name, and your address, and your age: unless you happen to live with someone of the same age with the same name, that's enough to identify you.

So in practice, if the railway want to take things further they can. All you can do is let your parents/guardians know what has happened before any letter arrives, and wait out the six months to see if the railway does want to take it further.

 

[Benjwri]

It’s worth remembering prosecution, or threat thereof is unlikely in this case, as the Chiltern Revenue Protection Policy, 5.1 states:

Chiltern Railways will not normally prosecute any person under the age of 18. This
is in line with the Home Office guidelines of diverting youths, where possible, away
from the criminal justice system. However, where the offence is of a serious nature,
Chiltern Railways may prosecute or in appropriate cases refer such an offence to
the Police.

As long as the OP has not done this repeatedly this does not fit the definition of a ‘serious’ offence according to the policy.

If they do threaten to prosecute it may be worth reminding them of their policy.

 

[injeolmi]

Thanks, so what actually is the form that I have signed? Because I was panicking I didn't really read anything properly and just did everything the inspector told me to/ replied to his questions so I'd like to know what I've agreed to by signing the form. I also heard his colleague say to him that he's 'also done a few of these' forms.

 

[AlterEgo]

Thanks, so what actually is the form that I have signed? Because I was panicking I didn't really read anything properly and just did everything the inspector told me to/ replied to his questions so I'd like to know what I've agreed to by signing the form. I also heard his colleague say to him that he's 'also done a few of these' forms.

It may be a witness statement. Did you look at the form?

 

[injeolmi]

It may be a witness statement. Did you look at the form?

Not really as the inspector wrote it down for me instead and I just signed it off at the end. I just remember those two questions and they had tick boxes at the end.
He also didn't write down any notes of what I've said or how I've acted so I feel like it's not a witness statement but I could be wrong.

 

[injeolmi]

Moderator Note - I have merged a number of posts on this case into one thread to keep everything relating to the case in one place.

I am 16 and was caught with a child ticket, how can I respond to this?

 

[notmyrealname]

Hi.

Can you tell us what happened please on the day you were caught? It also sounds as if they think you've travelled with the wrong ticket before.

 

[injeolmi]

Hi.

Can you tell us what happened please on the day you were caught? It also sounds as if they think you've travelled with the wrong ticket before.

I was pulled over at the entrance of the station before I actually got on the train. I told the guy I was 16 and then he took out a form for me to fill out. There were 2 questions on it, the first one being 'Do you think you have a valid ticket?' and I ticked NO, and then 'Would you have the money to pay for a full fare?' and I ticked YES. Then I had to sign it off along with my name and address. Then he said I can get on the train and he let me go.

I have bought child tickets before because my friends were doing it but I know it’s wrong. My parents don’t have much money and I’m very worried about the cost of the fine

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Moderator Note - I have merged a number of posts on this case into one thread to keep everything relating to the case in one place.

I am 16 and was caught with a child ticket, how can I respond to this?

Have a look at my post #2 at the top of this thread (the moderators have merged the threads together): that more or less tells you what you need to know about what to say and how much it will cost. The bad news is that it will probably cost a couple of hundred pounds: the good news is that the railway have almost promised that this won't go to court as long as you (more accurately your parents) get in touch with the railway.