Chiltern Railways notice of intended prosecution: "failed to show a valid ticket"

[railuser60]

Hi there, just looking for some help/advice for a "Notice of Intended Prosecution" I have received from Chiltern Railways.
Approximately 3 months ago, I was coming back to university and used the return portion of an open return ticket. For context, this is a journey I have made many times before (made the full round trip at least 10+ times since September). Whilst I usually purchase singles this was the first time using the open return. I purchased an open return ticket the week previous to the incident on the 21st of febuary and it was used from LMS to LNY on the 21st and LMS to LNY on the 24th. On the return ticket from LMS to LNY that i used on the 24th it was written that it was valid until the 20th of march. On seeing this did not realise it meant single use until 20th of march and mistakenly thought i could use this again after the 24th (which i later did on the 3rd) since the validity was until the 20th of march. On the weekend of the alleged incident, I used a completely valid ticket booked weeks in advance departing from Coventry to Euston and then used the (seemingly invalid) return from LNY to LMS. The seemingly invalid ticket was shown to officers at the initial gate of my home station LNY and had met let through but got me stopped by officers at LMS. This was 2+ months ago so dont fully remember but believe they scanned the ticket and saw it was invalid. Afterwards they asked for railcard which i had but with bad connection i am not completely sure if i was able to show this to the officer. I was eventually let through after getting my address taken down. All these journeys were made through a completely valid railcard which I do have evidence of. Another thing is that I took the route of Elizabeth Line Langley => Reading then CrossCountry Reading => Leamington Spa however the notice of prosecution was given by chiltern railways. I have taken this and a similar route many times before with valid tickets and its the first time and had no intention of avoiding a rail fare. I would like to avoid prosecution or a courtroom in this issue and prefer it to be dealt with as smoothly as possible. Any advice with regards to how best to go about this (also in terms of how to write a potential letter etc). Attached i have the Notice of Intended Prosecution and the ticket i used. I have further evidence of my valid railcard and other valid tickets I have purchased when making that exact journey / route before.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

Your ticket was only valid for one return journey within a month. If you want to make multiple journeys then you need to buy a new ticket or use a season ticket which allows an unlimited number of journeys to be made within its validity.

Legally speaking, you did not have a valid ticket for the journey where you were stopped whch is a criminal offence and Chiltern are entitled to prosecute you in the Magistrates Court if they want to. The good news is that Chiltern will normally settle these matters out of court as long as you co-operate with them, and haven't come to their attention before.

I suggest writing a short, concise reply mentioning the following:

- 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
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and Chiltern's administrative costs in dealing with the matter

If you are offered an out of court settlement expect to have to pay the cost of the fare avoided at the full Anytime rate, plus an admin fee of around £150. The settlement will need to be paid in full within a few days of being offered, payment in installments isn't allowed.

Although you didn't travel with Chiltern, they operate Leamington Spa station which is why you are dealing with them rather than CrossCountry. The train companies have agreements allowing them to deal with cases on behalf of each other.

If you pop a draft reply in this thread forum members will be happy to proof read it for you.

 

[John R]

I would imagine the reuse of the return half of period return tickets which have not been scanned or otherwise marked as used is a fairly common fraudulent practice. So I think it might be stretching the investigator’s credibility to say you thought you could reuse it. Do you realise in hindsight how absurd it is to think you could use the return half of a ticket day after day for up to 30 days? (Buy a return starting at the other end and you would effectively have a monthly season ticket for the cost of two returns.)

So I would stick to apologising for reusing a ticket that had already been used, and promise not do it again, and also to ensure that you are completely familiar with the rules of any ticket you buy before travelling.

 

[furlong]

Please re-read what you wrote and check the stations are correct - it doesn't make sense. Are Langley and Leamington swapped over? How does the Euston to Coventry part fit in. Did you also have no ticket from London to Langley? If they look at your journey history are they going to find more problems?

 

[railuser60]

If you pop a draft reply in this thread forum members will be happy to proof read it for you.

Customer Reference: XXXXXXX

To whom it may concern,

I am writing in response to the Notice of Intended Prosecution dated 25th April 2025, regarding an incident on the 3rd of March, involving a journey between Langley and Leamington Spa.

Firstly, I would like to sincerely apologise for the situation and any inconvenience caused. I take full responsibility for the situation and while I understand that there are no excuses for what occurred, I now understand the mistake I made reusing a return ticket.

The ticket in question was an Off-Peak return purchased on the 21st of February 2025, with the outward journey taken from Leamington Spa to Langley on the 21st, and the return leg used on the 24th. The return ticket being market "Valid until 20 March 2025" led me to mistakenly believe this meant it remained valid for further use to this date rather than one trip within the validity window. I now understand this was a severe error on my part and I should have known to be completely familiar with the rules of any ticket I buy and to carry the correct ticket while travelling. I apologise for reusing the ticket that had already be used and sincerely promise to not do it again.

On 3rd March, I travelled from Langley to Leamington Spa and presented the previously used return ticket. Whilst I was let through the gate by the officer at Langley, officers from Chiltern Railways at Leamington Spa informed me it was not valid. At the time, I was cooperative and provided my details upon request. I also hold a valid 16-25 railcard, evidence of which I have provided with this letter. I use this consistently while travelling, including on the tickets used for the journeys referenced.

This was an isolated incident stemming from a genuine misunderstanding. Whilst I understand that this is not tolerable, I have no prior history of fare evasion and have consistently purchased valid tickets for my journeys, with evidence of such purchases provided.

I fully understand the seriousness of this matter and assure you that I have learned from this experience. I am committed to ensuring this does not occur again and have taken steps to ensure I fully understand all ticket conditions going forward to prevent this.

I would likely to respectfully request that this matter be settled outside of court. I am more than willing to pay any outstanding fare(s) and administrative costs incurred by Chiltern Railways in dealing with the case. I hope you accept my sincere apologies for any time wasted and inconvenience caused and recognise that it will never occur again. Please let me know how I may proceed to resolve this issue.

Yours Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXX

Please re-read what you wrote and check the stations are correct - it doesn't make sense. Are Langley and Leamington swapped over? How does the Euston to Coventry part fit in. Did you also have no ticket from London to Langley? If they look at your journey history are they going to find more problems?

To be clear:
- Purchased return ticket LMS to LNY to LMS on 21st which i used 21st-24th
- Travelled from COV (near LMS) to EUS on 28th Feb.
- Returned later that day to LNY from EUS via combination of tapping in via tfl and uber (valid tickets/have proof of purchase history - will not be any problems if they look at journey history)
- Travelled LNY to LMS on previously used return ticket on 3rd march which is where issue lies

 

[Hadders]

The letter looks ok to me. Please do let us know how the outcome.

 

[railuser60]

Just received an automated reply - arrived a week ago in my spam folder. They mention it will take up to 90 days to get back due to high workload. Does it normally take that long and is the best course of action to just wait it out for now?

 

[John R]

Yes, it's up to them to get back to you within the 6 months they have. There's no benefit to you of trying to get them to respond earlier.

Do make sure you check your Spam folder on a regular basis though, to make sure you don't miss anything from them.

 

[Hadders]

Chiltern do seem to have a backlog so replies are taking longer than normal. Also, if they need to obtain data from on;ine ticket retailers then this also adds to the time.