Scared - got caught today thameslink

[scaredgirl]

Hi there

First off I must start by saying I’m really sorry for what I did.

I’ve been buying the first and last stop of the trip from Peterborough to London St Pancras for a couple of months to get through the barriers. Normally there isn’t a ticketer but today all the barriers were closed off from using bar codes and they were doing manual checks on the way out.

I admitted to the ticketer what I had done and offered to pay a fine. He said no this has to go to prosecution and gave me a slip of paper due to me doing this before. He took screenshots of the past couple of trips nothing more.

He told me to get in touch with the rail company via the info on the ticket.


Realistically - what am I looking at here?

A bit of background - I’m in £15k’s worth of debt and essentially I know it’s wrong but times are tough for me which is why I was doing it to save costs.

I can offer to pay the difference and fine - will they even accept that at this point?

My job is really new and although I’m in sales they aren’t going to allow me to work fully remote. I still need to get to London.

Any advice on approach to thameslink / the rail company would be appreciated.

How do thameslink normally deal with this? I can’t go to jail I’m too young

 

[scaredgirl]

Hey needing some advice

I’ve been buying the book ends of the trip the past three months twice a week from Peterborough to London St Pancras and getting on the Thames link train. I got caught by a barrier guard today.

It’s due to being in financial difficulty but I’m prepared to settle out of court and currently waiting for a letter to come from Thames link.

I fully understand I did wrong but I’m going through a tough time I expect I probably owe them £3-500 in fares if they look through my history.

Realistically do they settle out of court and should I just wait for the letter? I’m really anxious about it but cooperated with the barrier guard.

Also can they get access to Trainline history? The guard took pics of my history only back until June but there is more ( should I not mention this unless asked)

 

[jfollows]

They can access your Trainline purchase history, yes, and doubtless will do. Don’t incriminate yourself but expect to be asked about it. It’s likely they’ll ask for 3 months’ fares from you plus £150 if you can settle out of court.
See other threads here but there is good advice on how to respond to their letter and we can help you if you put up a draft in due course along with a copy of the letter you receive.

 

[scaredgirl]

Ok thank you for the heads up - it wasn’t as far back as 3 months. Would they calculate the fair minus what’s already been paid by purchasing the book ends of the ticket? Or just a flat fare.

I’ll send a draft once I get a letter from them.

Thank you for the advice I appreciate it

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Jul 2024 ==

Just to add do the train companies know if you’re using other accounts aside from Trainline?

 

[30907]

You won't go to jail, but you might well be taken to court and be fined.

However, Thameslink (GTR) are known for being willing to settle out of court. They will very likely investigate your ticketing history and ask you to pay the Anytime fare for each journey involved (not just the difference, sorry), plus £100 or so for admin.
When you get their letter, please post it (redacted) and we can advise further.

Meanwhile, may I suggest you urgently contact one of the various debt counselling charities (the one I know of is CAP - Christians Against Poverty - but there are others) if you haven't already done so.
You could also check your own records to see how many times you have offended.

 

[John R]

Yes they can and almost certainly will review your Trainline account as far back as they need to.

The Anytime Day Single fare is £42, so expect at the upper end to be asked to pay twice that for every day you “doughnutted”. If you’ve done that twice a week for 3 months, say 24 times that would be 48x42, so around 2,000. Add to that an admin fee of around 150.

It’s unlikely they will give you any credit for the fare paid, although GTR do appear to be slightly less penal than other train companies on this point. But best to assume they won’t.

If you are offered an out of court settlement then you will have to pay it very quickly, typically within 14 days, so given your financial situation you need to start thinking about how you can get that kind of money at short notice.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Jul 2024 ==

Just to add do the train companies know if you’re using other accounts aside from Trainline?

Train companies have the right to ask all the retailers of train tickets whether they have an account in your name. Whether they do on a regular basis I’m not sure.

 

[scaredgirl]

Ok good to know thank you. I’ll just have to get myself in to more debt and take out a loan to cover it so I can pay it back to the bank over time.

That makes sense on the other accounts. I haven’t got anything on any others luckily.

 

[WesternLancer]

Ok good to know thank you. I’ll just have to get myself in to more debt and take out a loan to cover it so I can pay it back to the bank over time.

That makes sense on the other accounts. I haven’t got anything on any others luckily.

Yes, that's not great ref the debt but much better than getting a criminal record - which for this is a potential risk. Head back here for the advice you need at each step of the process to get the least worst outcome that you can now achieve.

People will help you get that.

 

[scaredgirl]

Hi everyone

I received my letter today and the detail on the back is very brief compared to what happened. It just says I didn’t produce a valid ticket entitling travel when at London St Pancras.

I want to detail a letter back

However they’ve left out the bits that the inspector took images on my phone of some trips where I had shorted the journey between Peterborough and London before ( maybe 3-4 times shown on the pics) and if they check my history I’ve probably done it about 20 times Pboro to London and shorted tickets.

In the letter it doesn’t state about multiple trips however I don’t want to curate a letter and then be tripped up with further questioning.

I also did have a ticket - it just wasn’t for the full journey.

I don’t know what to say to not incriminate myself further but also want to be honest in the reply.

if the letter itself isn’t talking about multiple journeys - do I just keep quiet in the reply?

Thanks again you angels for your help!

 

[Islineclear3_1]

You might be very lucky and "get off" with a lesser penalty.

Just reply to that one instance and don't incriminate yourself by owning up to the other times you evaded your fare

You'll find examples of letters on this very forum. Just remember to keep the reply short, be sorry for your actions and write in such a way as to convince GTR that you won't do this again.

Think about a season ticket if you're doing this journey regularly

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi everyone

I received my letter today and the detail on the back is very brief compared to what happened. It just says I didn’t produce a valid ticket entitling travel when at London St Pancras.

I want to detail a letter back

However they’ve left out the bits that the inspector took images on my phone of some trips where I had shorted the journey between Peterborough and London before ( maybe 3-4 times shown on the pics) and if they check my history I’ve probably done it about 20 times Pboro to London and shorted tickets.

In the letter it doesn’t state about multiple trips however I don’t want to curate a letter and then be tripped up with further questioning.

I also did have a ticket - it just wasn’t for the full journey.

I don’t know what to say to not incriminate myself further but also want to be honest in the reply.

if the letter itself isn’t talking about multiple journeys - do I just keep quiet in the reply?

Thanks again you angels for your help!

Thanks for heading back - people will no doubt advise you on your questions - but a read of this recent thread might help you get an idea on the sort of questions you are asking as there are some similarities. This may help you think about your reply / what to say / what not to say. This case is also where the passenger did not have a ticket for the full journey and has done that several times. The answers to that person about addressing the fact they have done it several times may help you compose your response regarding your own situation.

Thameslink intention to prosecute - Advice needed

About a month ago I was making a trip from Hatfield to London Victoria. Because you can transfer from National Rail to the Underground at Finsbury Park without any barriers, I bought a ticket from Hatfield to Welham Green (the cheapest option) which got me through the gate at Hatfield. And then...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[scaredgirl]

Thank you this helps a lot and I’m afraid about doing this without a solicitor but I can’t afford one.


I have also purchased the full ticket fare ever since I got caught that day to show my behavior has changed and have spoken to my work about reducing travel to afford this so it won’t happen again.

Would it help to attach records of full paid tickets since that day? Or would this just incriminate me as they would check the remaining history?

How far back in the travel history can they go?

 

[Hadders]

There's little point in using a solicitor for this. The case is straightforward and GTR almost always offer an out of court settlement to people who co-operate with them.

I suggest writing a short, concise reply mentioning the following points:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter

GTR are only asking you about the single incident on 3rd July where you were caught so I would confine your reply to this incident only. This is because you are not required to incriminate yourself. Do be aware that GTR might decide to research your online ticket purchasing account and they might want to ask you about other similar occurances at some point in the future.

I would mention that you've been buying the correct tickets since the incident but there's no need to enclose copies of them. All they are interested in is the fact that you didn't have a valid ticket when you were caught.

If you are offered a settlement expect to have to pay the cost of the fare avoided at the full Anytime rate, with no credit given for the invalid tickets you did purchase. In addition you will need to pay an admin fee, typically around £150. You will need to be in a position to pay the settlement in full within a few days of it being offered, payment in installments isn't normally allowed.

If you post a draft of your reply in this thread forum members will be happy to proof read it for you.

 

[scaredgirl]

Hey everyone

I just wanted to say thank you for all your help with writing the letter to the rail company.

I got a final settlement today of only £96.20. Luckily I don’t think the company checked my Trainline history as I was expecting £2k.

To help others….
I got the initial letter 5 weeks after the incident
I replied in 14 days essentially copying another letter someone else did on here.
It was for short fare evasion.
They replied in less than a week with the online payment.

Hoping everyone on here continues to help as this can be a really anxiety inducing process. I’m very lucky in comparison to others.

Thank you all again

 

[Hadders]

Thanks for letting us know the outcome.

 

[Greyman1]

Yes they can and almost certainly will review your Trainline account as far back as they need to.

The Anytime Day Single fare is £42, so expect at the upper end to be asked to pay twice that for every day you “doughnutted”. If you’ve done that twice a week for 3 months, say 24 times that would be 48x42, so around 2,000. Add to that an admin fee of around 150.

It’s unlikely they will give you any credit for the fare paid, although GTR do appear to be slightly less penal than other train companies on this point. But best to assume they won’t.

If you are offered an out of court settlement then you will have to pay it very quickly, typically within 14 days, so given your financial situation you need to start thinking about how you can get that kind of money at short notice.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Jul 2024 ==


Train companies have the right to ask all the retailers of train tickets whether they have an account in your name. Whether they do on a regular basis I’m not sure.

Train operators do talk to each other and independent ticket vendors and will look to review your previous purchases.