Fare Prosecution Letter

[railcard_exp]

UPDATE: They confirmed my payment and the case has been closed.

Hello,

At the end of May after taking a Greater Anglia service from London Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport, I was stopped at the final destination by station employees (who were doing a ticket check on everyone).

I had not realised that my 16-25 railcard had expired and I got interviewed under caution by a Greater Anglia Prosecution Officer (… I believe, they had an official badge that they showed me but I can’t remember their exact title) and told I may get a fine.

Unfortunately, I gave them my parents address as this was the most stable address I had at the time, however, hadn’t returned in a while and I opened a letter today (31st August) to find the settlement offer.

The letter is dated 4th of June and it gave me 14 days to pay the out of court settlement or I would be prosecuted. I have not received any letter after this one.

This is my first time getting caught for anything like this, and I had a ticket for the entire journey. The tickets were bought on trainline prior to the journey.

One other thing worth noting is that I did give a quick glance at the Railcard app before buying the ticket and it said “Expires Soon” not “Expired”. I have a screenshot from the day of travel of the screen attached. I clearly didn’t check closely enough as it does have the expiry date next to it! I’m not saying I’m not at fault here although there was some confusion so could this be used to in my favour? I also mentioned this fact to the employee at the time. And also offered to renew the railcard on the spot.

Can I still contact Greater Anglia and pay the out of court settlement almost 3 months after it was issued? If so what steps do I need to take?

A satisfactory outcome would be to avoid a criminal conviction and I am willing to pay the fine stated.

Please see attached files for the letter and screenshot of my railcard on the day of travel.

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

[Titfield]

Have you gone online via the weblink and tried to pay the sum requested? If not do this NOW and pay the sum requested.

If the system wont allow the payment to be made (as GA have withdrawn the offer) then you need to contact Greater Anglia as a matter of urgency as they may have already commenced preparing legal proceedings against you. I am somewhat surprised there are no other letters chasing your response up on this or even a SJPN (Single Justice Procedure Notice).

Check the weblink now and then come back to us to update us and if the weblink wont work our next piece of advice.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Aug 2024 ==

If the weblink is closed then you need to write to GA immediately and explain the position (that you have only just received the letter and explain why) and that you would like to accept the offer albeit belatedly.

The advice which @Hadders gives in response to letters such as this should be followed:

You might want to include the following in a short, concise reply:

- 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

Plus reiterate your desire to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter which they have specified already.

EDIT

I am not sure why your railcard app states expires soon rather than expired but this technical glitch wont get you off the hook given the very clear expiry date.

 

[railcard_exp]

Have you gone online via the weblink and tried to pay the sum requested? If not do this NOW and pay the sum requested.

If the system wont allow the payment to be made (as GA have withdrawn the offer) then you need to contact Greater Anglia as a matter of urgency as they may have already commenced preparing legal proceedings against you. I am somewhat surprised there are no other letters chasing your response up on this or even a SJPN (Single Justice Procedure Notice).

Check the weblink now and then come back to us to update us and if the weblink wont work our next piece of advice.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Aug 2024 ==

If the weblink is closed then you need to write to GA immediately and explain the position (that you have only just received the letter and explain why) and that you would like to accept the offer albeit belatedly.

The advice which @Hadders gives in response to letters such as this should be followed:

You might want to include the following in a short, concise reply:

- 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

Plus reiterate your desire to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter which they have specified already.

EDIT

I am not sure why your railcard app states expires soon rather than expired but this technical glitch wont get you off the hook given the very clear expiry date.

Thanks for the advice. So I have checked and looks like I can still pay it.

I intend to do this tonight, however, I’m a bit worried about any further charges for being late.

Could the rail company not come back and say “we now need X amount for the delay” and state any amount they want which I would then not be able to dispute unless it’s take to court.

Is this a misguided view of this and an unnecessary worry?

 

[Titfield]

Once it is paid the matter is closed and can not be revisited.

I urge you not to delay and pay it immediately.

It is not in their interests to go to court.

I have never heard of an offer to settle out of court being increased in these circumstances.

 

[Haywain]

Even if your payment is accepted, I think it would be a good idea to send a letter explaining that you have paid and apologising for the delay, just in case they have moved things along towards a prosecution.

 

[WesternLancer]

Even if your payment is accepted, I think it would be a good idea to send a letter explaining that you have paid and apologising for the delay, just in case they have moved things along towards a prosecution.

This sounds like a good idea given the delay that has occurred. Would seem sensible to write.

Keep copies of everything and proof of your payment. Keep all that long term. Certainly longer than a year just to be safe.

 

[Titfield]

Even if your payment is accepted, I think it would be a good idea to send a letter explaining that you have paid and apologising for the delay, just in case they have moved things along towards a prosecution.

Thanks @Haywain - that is an excellent point.

 

[railcard_exp]

@Titfield @Haywain @WesternLancer

Thanks for all your replies.

I’ve payed the full amount and received confirmation for this. I have also written to them to confirm this + apologise for the delay as per @Haywain’s advice. Hopefully this is case closed!

Will update if there are any further proceedings.

 

[Titfield]

@Titfield @Haywain @WesternLancer

Thanks for all your replies.

I’ve payed the full amount and received confirmation for this. I have also written to them to confirm this + apologise for the delay as per @Haywain’s advice. Hopefully this is case closed!

Will update if there are any further proceedings.

That is good news to hear.

 

[Hadders]

If you've paid the amount due that should be the end of the matter. It's possible that GA might've written a chase letter in the last few days that will be delivered next week but I think it is a good idea to send them a polite note explaining what has happened.

You might want to consider complaining to Trainline about the railcard expiry message in their app. In future I wouldn't use Trainline, they're never cheaper thanks to their booking fee - other retailers (such as this forum's own retailing site) are available...

 

[railcard_exp]

If you've paid the amount due that should be the end of the matter. It's possible that GA might've written a chase letter in the last few days that will be delivered next week but I think it is a good idea to send them a polite note explaining what has happened.

You might want to consider complaining to Trainline about the railcard expiry message in their app. In future I wouldn't use Trainline, they're never cheaper thanks to their booking fee - other retailers (such as this forum's own retailing site) are available...

I wrote GA an email explaining how I didn’t have access to the letter until today and that I have now paid the full amount. I guess if there is any reply it will be Monday onwards.

The glitch was from the official National Rail railcard app on iOS not Trainline!

 

[30907]

The glitch was from the official National Rail railcard app on iOS not Trainline!

It is still concerning, and you should contact NR with the screenshot and grumble.

 

[furlong]

I'd suggest writing formally to the company responsible for the app, enclosing details of what you paid to GA as a result and inviting them to make a substantial contribution towards it as it was largely their fault if that was a genuine contemporaneous screenshot! "EXPIRING SOON" means that it is currently valid, which was untrue. (If you'd received the letter earlier, you might have made the argument to GA that the railcard should be considered valid, and invited them to deal directly with their supplier should they want compensation for the flaw.)