Am I getting fined?

[Reelk]

I bought a child's ticket for school today but I turned 16 and was stopped by someone who was in normal clothing but pulled out a badge and asked to check my ticket. He asked for my name and date of birth, I gave him my correct name and age but was nervous and accidentally told him a year off my actual date since I don't often tell people my date so I accidentally told him wrong, which I later showed him my real date of birth. He finally asked for my name and date of birth but no address or any word of fines or anything and let me go. Am I getting fined or investigated and is there a way to check and if yes how will they know where to send the letter for the fine.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

I bought a child's ticket for school today but I turned 16 and was stopped by someone who was in normal clothing but pulled out a badge and asked to check my ticket. He asked for my name and date of birth, I gave him my correct name and age but was nervous and accidentally told him a year off my actual date since I don't often tell people my date so I accidentally told him wrong, which I later showed him my real date of birth. He finally asked for my name and date of birth but no address or any word of fines or anything and let me go. Am I getting fined or investigated and is there a way to check and if yes how will they know where to send the letter for the fine.

Welcome to the forum.

I think that the most likely answer is that as you are under 18, the railway officer will not progress this matter any further - in effect you have received a warning. But even if that's the case then you need to bear in mind that railway staff tend to work the same area, and do talk to each other - so if you use a child ticket again, the same officer or someone they have talked to may well catch you, and as that would mean you had ignored their warning, next time they might follow it up to get the money back or to take you to court.

But note that that is only what I think is the most likely answer: I might be wrong, in which case you may get a letter or an email from the railway. If you bought your ticket online, the railway will have your email address and will be able to contact you through that.

If you use the trains enough to make it worthwhile, you can buy a 16-17 saver which will let you use tickets that cost the same as child tickets for a year (or until your 18th birthday - whichever comes first). Have a look at https://www.16-17saver.co.uk/ for more details.

 

[Reelk]

Welcome to the forum.

I think that the most likely answer is that as you are under 18, the railway officer will not progress this matter any further - in effect you have received a warning. But even if that's the case then you need to bear in mind that railway staff tend to work the same area, and do talk to each other - so if you use a child ticket again, the same officer or someone they have talked to may well catch you, and as that would mean you had ignored their warning, next time they might follow it up to get the money back or to take you to court.

But note that that is only what I think is the most likely answer: I might be wrong, in which case you may get a letter or an email from the railway. If you bought your ticket online, the railway will have your email address and will be able to contact you through that.

If you use the trains enough to make it worthwhile, you can buy a 16-17 saver which will let you use tickets that cost the same as child tickets for a year (or until your 18th birthday - whichever comes first). Have a look at https://www.16-17saver.co.uk/ for more details.

Thank you so much for the reply but they didn't take any pictures or anything of my ticket nor ask for my address is there a way to check if I actually am getting fined since I'm unsure how they will contact me.

 

[AlterEgo]

Thank you so much for the reply but they didn't take any pictures or anything of my ticket nor ask for my address is there a way to check if I actually am getting fined since I'm unsure how they will contact me.

They haven’t got any way of contacting you, because the inspector seems to have decided against progressing the matter further on this occasion.

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you so much for the reply but they didn't take any pictures or anything of my ticket nor ask for my address is there a way to check if I actually am getting fined since I'm unsure how they will contact me.

What type of ticket did you have? - was it a paper ticket from a ticket office or a ticket machine or was it an e-ticket bought on line, with a bar code?

Did they scan it - if they did the info on the ticket will give them most of what they need to contact you, if you don't respond to contact from them they will typically escalate it - which means things get more complicated to resolve for you (or potentially your parents if you are under 18). Did you buy the ticket with cash or with a bank card?

So basically you need to watch out for any contact from them which could come as:
- a hard copy letter (addressed to you or possibly 'parent / guardian')
- an e-mail
- an e-mail that goes into spam

So watch out for any of that - and if you receive anything, come back here from advice on what to do about it and how to respond to get the best outcome possible.

Hopefully nothing will come of this - but the key to avoid problems is not to miss any contact from the railway operating company.

 

[Reelk]

What type of ticket did you have? - was it a paper ticket from a ticket office or a ticket machine or was it an e-ticket bought on line, with a barcode? Did they scan it - if they did the info on the ticket will give them most of what they need to contact you, if you don't respond to contact from them they will typically escalate it - which means things get more complicated to resolve for you (or potentially your parents if you are under 18). Did you buy the ticket with cash or with a bank card?

So basically you need to watch out for any contact from them which could come as:
- a hard copy letter (addressed to you or possibly 'parent / guardian')
- an e-mail
- an e-mail that goes into spam

so watch out for any of that - and if you receive anything come back here from advice on what to do about it and how to respond to get the best outcome possible.

Hopefully nothing will come of this - but the key to avoid problems is not to miss any contact from the railway operating company.

I had an eticket with a barcode I bought with my bank card on Trainline and I'm pretty sure they didn't scan but simply looked at the child text on my ticket.

I did scan the ticket to get past the barrier, though.

Am I to assume, if it does get turned into a fine, they will contact me through email by asking the station for the scanned barcode? Or am I likely in a database with my address on?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

I had an eticket with a barcode, which I bought with my bank card on Trainline and I'm pretty sure they didn't scan but but simply looked at the child text on my ticket. I did scan the ticket to get past the barrier though. Am I to assume if it does get turned into a fine they will contact me through email by asking the station for the scanned barcode? Or am I likely in a database with my address on.

There will be others with more knowledge than I have about exactly how the railway works, but I wouldn't expect the railway to go to the extent of checking back against the barrier: if nothing else there may have been younger people who were entitled to use a child ticket also putting child tickets through and the railway would have to go to the effort of picking out your illegitimate use of a ticket from the legitimate users.

On the basis of what you have told us, it is almost (but not quite) certain that you will hear no more about this. But keep an eye on your email and letter post for the next six months or so, just in case.

Why six months? Because if the railway do want to take you to court, six months is how long they've got to tell the court about it - and then the court could take a few weeks to tell you. So allow a bit more than six months. And to avoid the worry in future, make sure you always get the right ticket.

 

[WesternLancer]

I had an eticket with a barcode I bought with my bank card on Trainline and I'm pretty sure they didn't scan but but simply looked at the child text on my ticket. I did scan the ticket to get past the barrier though. Am I to assume if it does get turned into a fine they will contact me through email by asking the station for the scanned barcode? Or am I likely in a database with my address on.

Would probably hinge on if the inspector who spoke to you when your ticket was checked scanned it or not. But just keep your eye on e-mail and post as explained.

If he scanned it and wants to report it to the back office staff so they can follow it up, it's easy for them to do so.

It would not be usual for them to just send you a fine however, they usually write asking for your explanation 'following a report that you were travelling with an incorrect ticket' - so it would not be usual to get a fine through the post in the first instance.

What railways company was this - do you know (the operator of the train for example) - e.g. Southern for example

 

[Reelk]

Would probably hinge on if the inspector who spoke to you when your ticket was checked scanned it or not. But just keep your eye on e-mail and post as explained.

If he scanned it and wants to report it to the back office staff so they can follow it up it's easy for them to do so.

It would not be usual for them to just send you a fine however, they usually write asking for your explanation 'following a report that you were travelling with an incorrect ticket' - so it would not be usual to get a fine through the post in the first instance.

What railways company was this - do you know (the operator of the train for example) - eg Southern for example

It was southern rail but I'm not sure about the inspector as he was in normal clothes and riding the train like normal but had a badge and a partner who was also an inspector.

 

[WesternLancer]

It was southern rail but I'm not sure about the inspector as he was in normal clothes and riding the train like normal but had a badge and a partner who was also an inspector.

Almost certainly Southern staff if it was on coastway route, as per your location.