In need of advice for SWR fare

[cheff]

Details are in the image.

So my sitiuation for this was explained to the prosecution officer and he let me go with a warning so i didn't think this would happen , but here we are.

My partner at the time had got me set up on trainline and she had booked me a ticket from Bournemouth station to Sevenoaks station, Bournemouth to Waterloo and then Waterloo to Sevenoaks. Prior to this i had never booked a train ticket and had not been on a southwestern railway service so I was a newbie when it came to this. The problem came up when i realised the ticket had been booked with a 16-25 railcard (i didn't have a railcard, I didn't know what one was until I had my ticket checked). After i had explained my situation he wrote a report and i signed my name on it and i then proceeded to buy a railcard and i didn't think it would go any further.

I'm not sure why the fare is almost £200, the ticket was £25.35, i believe the original ticket price for this journey without the railcard was around £35.

If i must pay the fare i will but if i have a better option that involves avoiding court i'd like some advice.

Thanks.

 

[JonathanH]

I'm not sure why the fare is almost £200, the ticket was £25.35, i believe the original ticket price for this journey without the railcard was around £35.

The letter makes it clear that the full fare is £71.90, and that the rest of the cost is administrative costs.

Was the £25.35 a combination of separate tickets?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@cheff. Welcome to the forum. Looks like SWR are asking you for the full undiscounted Anytime Day Single fare of £71.90 for a one-way journey from Bournemouth to London Waterloo plus a £120.00 admin fee on top.

The £35.00 fare that you mention is likely to be that for a booked train only Advance Single between Bournemouth and London Waterloo. If your ticket was railcard discounted (not sure how you get to £25.35 but no matter) and you didn't have an accompanying, in date, valid railcard, then, unfortunately, you didn't have a valid rail ticket.

 

[Gloster]

You should pay it and consider yourself slightly lucky, as £120 is a bit on the low side for the railway’s costs: these costs mostly start at £150. The calculation of the ticket price is, as mentioned above, the correct one according to the methods they use: the full Anytime Single fare with no reductions.

 

[cheff]

The letter makes it clear that the full fare is £71.90, and that the rest of the cost is administrative costs.

Was the £25.35 a combination of separate tickets?

Yeah it was a combination. Bournemouth - Waterloo £20.10, Waterloo - Sevenoaks £5.25

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Sep 2024 ==

You should pay it and consider yourself slightly lucky, as £120 is a bit on the low side for the railway’s costs: these costs mostly start at £150. The calculation of the ticket price is, as mentioned above, the correct one according to the methods they use: the full Anytime Single fare with no reductions.

Yeah i guessed it's better to just be compliant with these situations, it sucks but it is what it is.