Travelled without valid Railcard

[LayerReady]

Hi there,

Long story short, I was travelling on a Thameslink service recently believing I had a valid Railcard. I told this to a ticket inspector who gave me a Witness Statement Receipt to upload a photocopy of my Railcard within two weeks. Whilst still on the journey I checked through my emails to remind myself of the purchase date of the Railcard and realised that it's not valid anymore..

I completely acknowledge that this was my error and that this constitutes evading the fare.

I'm absolutely mortified by the mistake. I have used Railcards for years and my old one expired just three weeks ago. Upon realising my error I purchased a new Railcard immediately to ensure that this doesn't happen again.

I understand that I will need to write to them at some point explaining what happened and to request a settlement.

My question is whether I should do so immediately or wait until I hear from them? The inspector said that they would be in touch in writing if I don't upload the photocopy, which I of course won't be able to do since I didn't have a valid Railcard at the time.

Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@LayerReady. Welcome to the forum. Likely you'll end up having to pay the full, undiscounted anytime day single fare for each and every occasion on which you've travelled using inappropriately discounted tickets since your railcard expired a few weeks ago, plus a three figure sum towards the rail company's investigation and admin fees. Easy enough for them to check through your ticket purchasing history if it's been done online with the likes of Trainline.

Others will now be able to advise how best to now proactively liaise with the train company (= Thameslink?)

 

[Titfield]

Were you provided with a link to upload the railcard to?

 

[LayerReady]

@LayerReady. Welcome to the forum. Likely you'll end up having to pay the full, undiscounted anytime day single fare for each and every occasion on which you've travelled using inappropriately discounted tickets since your railcard expired a few weeks ago, plus a three figure sum towards the rail company's investigation and admin fees. Easy enough for them to check through your ticket purchasing history if it's been done online with the likes of Trainline.

Others will now be able to advise how best to now proactively liaise with the train company (= Thameslink?)

Thanks for your response. I am more than happy to cover the fees in acknowledgement of my mistake.

Fortunately this is the only time I have travelled since my old Railcard expired, so it's a one-off case.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Jun 2024 ==

Were you provided with a link to upload the railcard to?

Yes, there was a link on the Witness Statement Receipt.

 

[Titfield]

I suggest you write an appropriate letter following the advice given by @Hadders in these circumstances.

Upload to this thread for comment and then after responding to comments made on here, upload the final version to the TOC using the link you already have.

 

[Haywain]

Yes, there was a link on the Witness Statement Receipt.

Is it an email address?

 

[LayerReady]

Is it an email address?

No, it's a link to a web page where I can upload documents providing evidence of the Railcard.

 

[Titfield]

Because it will be a unique link (and therefore is attached to the specific issue of this OP) an uploaded letter will be received by the team dealing with these issues and can be responded to by the TOC accordingly.

EDIT

Unlike sending a letter to a generic email address, a letter uploaded to the link wont go astray or not be attached to the specific incident.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

This sounds like an unfortunate incident. I would write a short, concise letter explaining what happened and upload it to the link you've been given. You could also include a copy of your expired railcard and your new one if you want.

GTR (who operate Thameslink) are normally pragmatic when it comes to this sort of thing and I expect you will be offered a settlement. Post a draft of your letter in this thread and we can proof read it for you, if you want.

 

[LayerReady]

Welcome to the forum!

This sounds like an unfortunate incident. I would write a short, concise letter explaining what happened and upload it to the link you've been given. You could also include a copy of your expired railcard and your new one if you want.

GTR (who operate Thameslink) are normally pragmatic when it comes to this sort of thing and I expect you will be offered a settlement. Post a draft of your letter in this thread and we can proof read it for you, if you want.

Thank you for your reply. Proofing the letter would be much appreciated.

Currently travelling at the moment (was on my way to the airport when this happened, not a great start to a holiday...) but will have something together by Monday.

 

[Hadders]

There's no need to send anything to Southeastern until they write to you. This won't be for a few weeks yet (and can be up to six months). There's nothing to be gained by writing to them before you get their letter.

 

[LayerReady]

Welcome to the forum!

This sounds like an unfortunate incident. I would write a short, concise letter explaining what happened and upload it to the link you've been given. You could also include a copy of your expired railcard and your new one if you want.

GTR (who operate Thameslink) are normally pragmatic when it comes to this sort of thing and I expect you will be offered a settlement. Post a draft of your letter in this thread and we can proof read it for you, if you want.

Hi Hadders,

Following up on this as I followed the link I received and it says this:

"This form should only be used to send us proof of a valid season ticket or railcard if you failed to upon inspection, produce one to a member of our Revenue Protection Team. Using this form for any other reason will mean that your submission cannot be processed."​

Would you still recommend uploading a letter?

 

[Hadders]

Hi Hadders,

Following up on this as I followed the link I received and it says this:

"This form should only be used to send us proof of a valid season ticket or railcard if you failed to upon inspection, produce one to a member of our Revenue Protection Team. Using this form for any other reason will mean that your submission cannot be processed."​

Would you still recommend uploading a letter?

I'd still use it to upload your letter.

You are responding to a specific 'couldn't present a railcard' case, it's just that you don't have a railcard to upload. If they don't like what you upload then they will send you a letter asking for your version of events which is what they will do anyway if you sit and wait, so essentially you've got nothing to lose.

I suspect that in reality they get all sorts of rubbish uploaded through that site, it's probably relatively unusual for them to find someone being proactive!

 

[LayerReady]

I'd still use it to upload your letter.

You are responding to a specific 'couldn't present a railcard' case, it's just that you don't have a railcard to upload. If they don't like what you upload then they will send you a letter asking for your version of events which is what they will do anyway if you sit and wait, so essentially you've got nothing to lose.

I suspect that in reality they get all sorts of rubbish uploaded through that site, it's probably relatively unusual for them to find someone being proactive!

Hi Hadders,

Thanks again for your help so far.

I've drafted the below. I'd appreciate your review if you are able to?

I would also welcome thoughts from others.

Thanks!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
On Xth June, I was travelling on a Thameslink service from X to Y. Upon request, I showed my ticket to a Revenue Protection Officer (RPO) but was unable to present a Railcard, as I had left my wallet at home that day. I explained this to the RPO, who issued me with a Witness Statement Receipt with a link to upload a photocopy of the Railcard at a later date.

Soon after this exchange, I checked my order confirmation for the Railcard and realised that it had expired three weeks earlier. I therefore travelled without a valid Railcard that day and so I am unable to upload a copy to the link. I completely acknowledge that this was my error and that this constitutes evading the fare. This was the only rail journey I have made since the old Railcard expired.

I am truly sorry for the mistake. I understand the impact that fare evasion has on transport operating companies and the paying public and this is not something I wish to be contributing towards. Upon realising my error, I purchased a new digital Railcard immediately to ensure that this doesn't happen again.

I would appreciate the opportunity to settle this out of court. In acknowledgement of my error, I am more than happy to cover the cost of a replacement ticket and any administrative fees associated with this incident. Please let me know how much this would be.

In addition to this letter, I’ve also attached copies of my old and new Railcards. I understand that neither were valid when the incident took place, though I hope this provides evidence that this was an honest mistake and not intentional.

I look forward to hearing back.

Kind regards,
X

 

[Hadders]

This letter looks fine to me.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[LayerReady]

This letter looks fine to me.

Let us know how you get on.

Thank you. I'll keep the thread posted.

 

[LayerReady]

Hi all,

Thanks for everyone's help on this in June.

Unfortunately my submission of a letter to the link did not work and I've now received the standard intention to prosecute letter. Attached here for reference.

I will now be drafting my response to the letter, likely similar to my above submission with some slight wording changes.

Does anyone have any suggestions of other content to include or would be able to review my draft?

Many thanks.

 

[Hadders]

Frustrating that GTR haven’t acted on what you uploaded. I’d basically just send them a copy of what you uploaded.

 

[LayerReady]

Officially settled out of court. An expensive mistake but glad to have resolved it with a pragmatic outcome.

Thanks to everyone for their help in this process

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@LayerReady. How much did you have to stump up in total? This is useful info when anyone else comes on here in the future in a similar fix.

 

[LayerReady]

It was just over £70

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It was just over £70

Don't think you said what the stations were, but was that maybe one unpaid fare (when stopped) + an admin fee?

 

[LayerReady]

Yep, one fare plus admin costs

 

[30907]

Yep, one fare plus admin costs

Thanks - GTR seem to ask £50-60 admin in straightforward cases.