Hi all, After some advice for my daughter who has been charged by Chiltern Railways for travelling without a valid ticket last August. She had bought a ticket @ 9.01am but the train departed the station @ 9.00am, so not a valid ticket. Also in her haste she clicked on the wrong Railcard; 16-17yrs instead of her valid 16-25yrs. Does she have a good chance to settle out of court? A fine & possible criminal record seems incredibly disproportionate for a mix up over a £4.30 fare. It's her first offence, but she only has 21 days to respond. Thanks in advance.
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Chiltern Railways - Charge for travelling without valid ticket
- Thread starter broggy73
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Welcome to the forum!
To be able to offer the best advice we need to see all the paperwork relating to the case. Can you upload it, with any personal details and case reference numbers redacted. Importantly we need to know what Chiltern have sent - is it an initial letter threatening prosecution but asking for your version of events before they decide how to respond or it is a Single Justice Procedure or court summons.
To be able to offer the best advice we need to see all the paperwork relating to the case. Can you upload it, with any personal details and case reference numbers redacted. Importantly we need to know what Chiltern have sent - is it an initial letter threatening prosecution but asking for your version of events before they decide how to respond or it is a Single Justice Procedure or court summons.
Thanks for the reply. I've attached the single justice procedure notice. It turns out after my daughter's initial reply via email, CR did offer her a penalty fare notice via email (mid December) but she didn't see the email before the 14 day payment period expired.
Attachments
I will leave it to others to work out whether the duplication of the charge, or the wording used, means that the summons is invalid (The offence took place at H&T, surely!)
That's unfortunate. I presume that she also didn't attempt to contact Chiltern once she located the mail?
My guess is that Chiltern might still be willing to settle if contacted with an apology both for the offence and for the failure to respond.
Any chance you could post the text of the mail so we can read it and advise?
What has a newspaper article about 'pay when challenged' got to do with someone buying a ticket with a larger discount than that to which they were entitled? Why is the charge listed twice? Why wasn't the interviewee cautioned? The location of the offence confused too! But all things that shouldn't matter or which could be corrected.
Anyway, just contact them again, and the original settlement offer should still be available - at the worst now with slightly higher administrative costs reflecting handling the court paperwork.
Anyway, just contact them again, and the original settlement offer should still be available - at the worst now with slightly higher administrative costs reflecting handling the court paperwork.
Ah... This makes things a bit different.
I suggest your daughter contacts Chiltern as a matter of urgency, apologises for missing the deadline and asks if they will consider allowing her to pay the settlement and in return withdraw the court proceedings.
I will leave it to others to work out whether the duplication of the charge, or the wording used, means that the summons is invalid (The offence took place at H&T, surely!)
Incompetence, but sadly for our OP, not enough to get her daughter off the hook. One of the cases will be discontinued in the court, if it gets that far.
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