West Midlands Railway - Short Fare Evasion

[JS2025]

Hi all, new member here looking to get some advice as I've had some sleepless nights over the past week...

I was stopped at birmingham new street railway station on 31st December 2024 and was questioned about my journey, at the time I was travelling from tamworth to new street. I had a return journey ticket to aston as I was planning on going there after as the trains run later there and a colleague lives over there. Under the questioning I panicked and basically incriminated myself saying I short fared deliberately.

The ticket was also purchased when I got into new street station too rather than prior to the journey. I'm aware I've made a seriously stupid action, and I'm worried about going to court and having a criminal record. This would effect some professional qualifications i hold and potentially my job.

I'm eager to settle out of court whatever the cost if this is possible and wondering if there's anything I can do in the meantime or if I just need to wait for their letter to come through the post to me.

If you need any further information I'd be happy to put it, I mainly want some reassurance if possible that a criminal conviction is still rare even if I incriminated myself. Thanks in advanced.

 

[Cuthbert]

Did you purchase the ticket via Trainline or similar?
If you have they will have sent the scanned ticket to the Fraud Team who will do a history check on the account.
If you know you have done this many times before make a spreadsheet with times you know/might have done this before.

If you made a return journey that was short fared they will charge 2 single standard anytime fares for the return.

Just wait for the email/letter.
They might ask for more information members on this forum will advise what to do.
Any correspondence you get post on here with personal details redacted.

Did you receive a slip from the inspector after the interview?

WMT will more than likely accept out of court payments.

 

[JS2025]

Did you purchase the ticket via Trainline or similar?
If you have they will have sent the scanned ticket to the Fraud Team who will do a history check on the account.
If you know you have done this many times before make a spreadsheet with times you know/might have done this before.

If you made a return journey that was short fared they will charge 2 single standard anytime fares for the return.

Just wait for the email/letter.
They might ask for more information members on this forum will advise what to do.
Any correspondence you get post on here with personal details redacted.

Did you receive a slip from the inspector after the interview?

WMT will more than likely accept out of court payments.

I bought the ticket on the trainline app, since August 2023 which seems to be as far back as it goes, I've had 12 trips to/from aston to birmingham new street. I've also had 3 journeys to Chester road which is a bit further down the line from aston but where my office used to be located so unsure if they will class them as problematic

I received a slip from west midlands trains revenue protection department authority with a notice number and stated it gives me 90 minutes to complete my journey.

 

[Cuthbert]

I bought the ticket on the trainline app, since August 2023 which seems to be as far back as it goes, I've had 12 trips to/from aston to birmingham new street. I've also had 3 journeys to Chester road which is a bit further down the line from aston but where my office used to be located so unsure if they will class them as problematic

I received a slip from west midlands trains revenue protection department authority with a notice number and stated it gives me 90 minutes to complete my journey.

The bold you should be able to prove with company details.
The 12 trips are those short fare or legit?
I forgot to mention they will also add £175ish as admin on top of the single ticket fares.
As I said WMT normally always mostly accept out of court.

 

[JS2025]

The bold you should be able to prove with company details.
The 12 trips are those short fare or legit?
I forgot to mention they will also add £175ish as admin on top of the single ticket fares.
As I said WMT normally always mostly accept out of court.

Thanks for the speed of your replies my mind has been so distracted with this lately but I'm probably just really overthinking the worst.

At a guess I'd say half were genuine and half weren't, but I'd have no evidence on that basis.

I have read on quite a few that admin fees of £150ish are likely, as i said I'm happy to pay whatever is needed to avoid the criminal record/court apperance. Definitely learnt my lesson from this.

Since the incident I have also contemplated buying a rail card, to show I'm trying to rectify the situation and help keep future costs down. But with how little I use the trains it wouldn't make financial sense, so it's probably not wise.

 

[Cuthbert]

Thanks for the speed of your replies my mind has been so distracted with this lately but I'm probably just really overthinking the worst.

At a guess I'd say half were genuine and half weren't, but I'd have no evidence on that basis.

I have read on quite a few that admin fees of £150ish are likely, as i said I'm happy to pay whatever is needed to avoid the criminal record/court apperance. Definitely learnt my lesson from this.

Since the incident I have also contemplated buying a rail pass, to show I'm trying to rectify the situation and help keep future costs down. But with how little I use the trains it wouldn't make financial sense, so it's probably not wise.

WMT do a flexi pass too something to look at. Allows a certain amount of trips during 30 days or so. I'm not a pro at it but have heard friends using it as they do not travel much by train.
Below is what I have found.
I think a single is £10.10 between New Street and Tamworth so £20.20 for a return for each day.

Flexi Season train tickets

Pay for the days you need, spend the rest whenever you like. The Flexi Season ticket offers 8 days of travel in 28 days – any time between two stations. It’s a flexible solution that’s perfect if you need to travel just a few times a week at peak time Monday to Friday. Buy in our app

www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk

Just wait for the letter and when you recieve it post it on here with personal details and ref numbers redacted.
The pro's on this site can help with a letter.

 

[JS2025]

WMT do a flexi pass too something to look at. Allows a certain amount of trips during 30 days or so. I'm not a pro at it but have heard friends using it as they do not travel much by train.
Below is what I have found.
I think a single is £10.10 between New Street and Tamworth so £20.20 for a return for each day.

Flexi Season train tickets

Pay for the days you need, spend the rest whenever you like. The Flexi Season ticket offers 8 days of travel in 28 days – any time between two stations. It’s a flexible solution that’s perfect if you need to travel just a few times a week at peak time Monday to Friday. Buy in our app

www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk

Just wait for the letter and when you recieve it post it on here with personal details and ref numbers redacted.
The pro's on this site can help with a letter.

Much appreciated, I'll look into that but still probably wouldn't make financial sense.

I will post back here once a letter has been received, really appreciate your time and assistance though

 

[cartai123]

Hi did the letter ever come?
similar situation myself

 

[AlterEgo]

Hi did the letter ever come?
similar situation myself

Please start a new thread if you have an issue. We have a rule of one thread per person as no two cases are the same, and it avoids conflation of cases so people can get accurate help.