I received a travel irregularity email from GA and responded.

[1997bennybutch]

Here’s what they initially said, along with what i said.

Re: Trainline Account

We have been investigating industry data and have been led to believe you are potentially not paying full
fares on Greater Anglia services.
This activity has been highlighted as potentially fraudulent.
We view this as a serious issue, and we have taken this step to contact you, with an outlook to resolve this
matter with you efficiently.
We invite you to respond to this letter within 7 days by email to Fraud.Investigations@greateranglia.co.uk
quoting the reference number -

This is what i then replied:

Dear Revenue Protection and Fraud Investigations Team,



Thank you for your letter regarding my Trainline account and recent travel activity. I was surprised to receive this notice, as I have always intended to pay the correct fares for my journeys and follow the appropriate procedures.



At this stage, I’m unsure of the specific issue or journeys in question, and I would appreciate it if you could provide further detail regarding the concerns raised. If there has been any misunderstanding or unintentional error on my part, I would like the opportunity to understand what has occurred so I can ensure full compliance moving forward.



Please let me know what information or documentation you require from me, and I am happy to assist in resolving this matter efficiently.



Kind regards

So after this email that i sent to them, they responded and said this:

Thank you for your reply.

Your account was highlighted due to some tickets either being purchased on board the trains or on arrival at stations. These tickets have been scanned on the barriers just after purchase in order to exit the station. These tickets are not valid. This flagged your account as possible fraudulent travel.

Some examples of possible travel Irregularities:

I won’t list the examples just for my own protection.

Can you provide an explanation into these journeys, as data suggests the full fare may have gone unpaid. Data suggests that these tickets were purchased just to exit the barriers.

In addition, we have no record on our database of your 16-25 railcard from March 2025. Could you provide evidence of your railcard from this date please? This could either be your purchase email confirmation or from your railcard account showing validity dates.

Based on your response the decision will be to either (a) offer you the opportunity to repay any funds relating to these journeys, administration fees are added to any settlement; (b) pass your file to our prosecuting services for further action to be taken.

Now i you’re all caught up, i’m not sure what to do, i am definitely guilty of this as i very foolishly would short fare however i just want a way out, i genuinely don’t have the money to pay for this at the moment and im not sure what to do, tomorrow is my 7th day to reply to the email so i would really appreciate any advice on if i should ignore them, confess, or even just play the long game. please any help would be appreciated, thank you

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

It's a shame you replied to Greater Anglia because although there is suspicious purchasing history on your Trainline account there is nothing to show that you used the tickets. Purchasing tickets is not illegal but using them illegally is. To secure a conviction Greater Anglia has to prove to a court beyond all reasonable doubt that you used the tickets. Greater Anglia almost certainly has no such evidence, the best evidence is to catch you red handed or alternatively have CCTV evidence.

You basically have two choices:

1. Do nothing. Greater Anglia will continue to write to you threatening police involvement, prosecution for fraud etc. The problem with this strategy is that by engaging with Greater Anglia you've effectively incriminated yourself. It's also possible (although unlikley) that Greater Anglia does have evidence to link you to the use of the tickets.

2. Engage with Greater Anglia. They will offer you an out of court settlement costing if you pay them the fare for the journeys you've made using invalid tickets. They will charge you the full Anytime rate pus ad admin fee, typically £150. If you pay what they ask that will be the ed of the matter.

 

[1997bennybutch]

Welcome to the forum!

It's a shame you replied to Greater Anglia because although there is suspicious purchasing history on your Trainline account there is nothing to show that you used the tickets. Purchasing tickets is not illegal but using them illegally is. To secure a conviction Greater Anglia has to prove to a court beyond all reasonable doubt that you used the tickets. Greater Anglia almost certainly has no such evidence, the best evidence is to catch you red handed or alternatively have CCTV evidence.

You basically have two choices:

1. Do nothing. Greater Anglia will continue to write to you threatening police involvement, prosecution for fraud etc. The problem with this strategy is that by engaging with Greater Anglia you've effectively incriminated yourself. It's also possible (although unlikley) that Greater Anglia does have evidence to link you to the use of the tickets.

2. Engage with Greater Anglia. They will offer you an out of court settlement costing if you pay them the fare for the journeys you've made using invalid tickets. They will charge you the full Anytime rate pus ad admin fee, typically £150. If you pay what they ask that will be the ed of the matter.

thanks for the response, why is it a shame though and how did i incriminate myself? all i essentially said was im not sure what they’re talking about, i played dumb, do you think that’s enough evidence to prosecute me ?

 

[Titfield]

thanks for the response, why is it a shame though and how did i incriminate myself? all i essentially said was im not sure what they’re talking about, i played dumb, do you think that’s enough evidence to prosecute me ?

The expression " I have always intended to pay the full fare" and "full compliance going forward" suggests that there were occasions when you did not. Bear in mind that it is not intent that matters but actions.

The evidence, the purchasing of tickets shortly before exiting the station, will be enough to convince a court of your guilt.

 

[Haywain]

or even just play the long game. please any help would be appreciated, thank you

Do not engage any further with them, they have nothing on you. Just make sure from now on you always have a ticket before boarding a train.

 

[Titfield]

Do not engage any further with them, they have nothing on you. Just make sure from now on you always have a ticket before boarding a train.

and as I am sure @Haywain meant a valid ticket for the full journey you are undertaking.

 

[1997bennybutch]

Do not engage any further with them, they have nothing on you. Just make sure from now on you always have a ticket before boarding a train.

okay thank you so much, have you or anyone here ever just ignored them? what was the outcome please

 

[John R]

As the tickets were purchased from the OP’s Trainline account immediately prior to exiting, and the OP did not mention in their reply that other people have access to their account, would that make the difference between a prosecution failing and succeeding. (Assuming GA were to go ahead, and I don’t think we have seen a prosecution where the individual has not been stopped or subsequently incriminated themselves.)

Similarly, would Trainline have evidence that the tickets were purchased on the app on the OPs phone to add to the evidence against them?

 

[6Gman]

The problem for the OP, and others in similar circumstances, is that if the train operator decides to pursue the matter what do they then claim?

 

[Haywain]

I don’t think we have seen a prosecution where the individual has not been stopped or subsequently incriminated themselves

We haven't and I don't think we will.

Similarly, would Trainline have evidence that the tickets were purchased on the app on

I don't think there is sufficient evidence to support a prosecution.

if the train operator decides to pursue the matter what do they then claim?

What does who claim?

 

[1997bennybutch]

We haven't and I don't think we will.

I don't think there is sufficient evidence to support a prosecution.

What does who claim?

wait i have been stopped in the past and recently had to pay a fine to the GA, this was when an inspector had a letter sent to my house. i have since paid it ( this was literally a month ago when i paid) does this increase my chances of prosecution or anything like that as i dont know if i should just ignore, i settled with GA in the past, but for this email and situation i’m facing, i have never once been stopped.

 

[AlterEgo]

wait i have been stopped in the past and recently had to pay a fine to the GA, this was when an inspector had a letter sent to my house. i have since paid it ( this was literally a month ago when i paid) does this increase my chances of prosecution or anything like that as i dont know if i should just ignore, i settled with GA in the past, but for this email and situation i’m facing, i have never once been stopped.

What was the nature of the incident? What were you doing to be stopped? Show us the correspondence you received with your name and address blanked out so we know what we're dealing with. If you've been stopped doing this then you have a very thin defence indeed.

 

[1997bennybutch]

What was the nature of the incident? What were you doing to be stopped? Show us the correspondence you received with your name and address blanked out so we know what we're dealing with. If you've been stopped doing this then you have a very thin defence indeed.

i was just caught without a ticket entirely, i’d show you the letter but i binned it after paying, all it stated basically was that i didn’t have a ticket and didn’t have means to pay so i was fined for this. It was a prosecution letter that came to my house which gave the option of a settlement, my current situation is talking about short faring, so what do you guys think ?

 

[AlterEgo]

i was just caught without a ticket entirely, i’d show you the letter but i binned it after paying, all it stated basically was that i didn’t have a ticket and didn’t have means to pay so i was fined for this. It was a prosecution letter that came to my house which gave the option of a settlement, my current situation is talking about short faring, so what do you guys think ?

I expect they think you were caught without a ticket because you were caught before you'd normally short fare, having boarded at a station without barriers. That's probably why the inspector reported you for prosecution and probably why you have now received one of these audits.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

It was a prosecution letter that came to my house which gave the option of a settlement, my current situation is talking about short faring, so what do you guys think ?

It seem likely that this drew attention to you, so they followed up with an audit of your Trainline purchases.

 

[6Gman]

What does who claim?

The OP, as I stated in my post, which you edited.

If (and we have not seen cases - yet - where this has happened) an operator decided to test the law by prosecuting what plausible defence could be offered?

"Yes, the record shows that tickets were bought on my phone using my account five minutes before arrival in London, but ......"

 

[1997bennybutch]

I expect they think you were caught without a ticket because you were caught before you'd normally short fare, having boarded at a station without barriers. That's probably why the inspector reported you for prosecution and probably why you have now received one of these audits.

no, that actually isn’t the case i had given him my address and he put the wrong one in, genuinely, he put a number which sounded similar so in the letter it stated i was initially told to pay just the train fare however since i never replied etc, it turned to a full on fine, which i then paid. after paying i said i would like a receipt of my payment and then gave them my email address. The following day i recieved the email from them. it was very odd but feels like they sent it because i gave them my email

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 May 2025 ==

It seem likely that this drew attention to you, so they followed up with an audit of your Trainline purchases.

what do you think i should do

 

[Egg Centric]

The OP, as I stated in my post, which you edited.

If (and we have not seen cases - yet - where this has happened) an operator decided to test the law by prosecuting what plausible defence could be offered?

"Yes, the record shows that tickets were bought on my phone using my account five minutes before arrival in London, but ......"

The defence would be putting the prosecution to proof. To begin with, they'd need to show it was the OP travelling. Good luck with that if the evidence was purely an audit trail.

(In this particular situation it seems more than a bit dicey due to previous errors by the OP principally that of both short faring and being caught for it, so the above becomes more credible).

OP if you say nothing I'd say it's a 70/30 thing from where you are. For most, the downside of conviction would outweigh the upside of not paying the settlement by enough that it would be wise to pay the settlement. Others who aren't bothered about a bylaw conviction might decide otherwise and it'd be interesting for the forum to see what happens. So the question is do you feel like a lucky guinea pig? PS Greater Anglia read here so you might want to remove the bit that says "I am definitely guilty"...

 

[1997bennybutch]

The defence would be putting the prosecution to proof. To begin with, they'd need to show it was the OP travelling. Good luck with that if the evidence was purely an audit trail.

(In this particular situation it seems more than a bit dicey due to previous errors by the OP principally that of both short faring and being caught for it, so the above becomes more credible).

OP if you say nothing I'd say it's a 70/30 thing from where you are. For most, the downside of conviction would outweigh the upside of not paying the settlement by enough that it would be wise to pay the settlement. Others who aren't bothered about a bylaw conviction might decide otherwise and it'd be interesting for the forum to see what happens. So the question is do you feel like a lucky guinea pig? PS Greater Anglia read here so you might want to remove the bit that says "I am definitely guilty"..not

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 May 2025 ==

not feeling so lucky, do GA allow you to have payment plans etc, also what is an OP?

 

[WesternLancer]

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 May 2025 ==

not feeling so lucky, do GA allow you to have payment plans etc, also what is an OP?

OP is you. Original poster

 

[Tetchytyke]

The initial reply was sensible, asking them to provide details. They have now done that. So now your choice is saying nothing or incriminating yourself.

I would therefore not engage further, as the TOC can’t prove you were the one travelling. Remember they must prove it beyond all reasonable doubt.

It also goes without saying: stop short faring and buy a railcard.

 

[Egg Centric]

The initial reply was sensible, asking them to provide details. They have now done that. So now your choice is saying nothing or incriminating yourself.

I would therefore not engage further, as the TOC can’t prove you were the one travelling. Remember they must prove it beyond all reasonable doubt.

It also goes without saying: stop short faring and buy a railcard.

I agree that the balance of probabilities is it wouldn't be proven beyond reasonable doubt - but only because they're unlikely to put the effort in as it doesn't really make financial sense for them to. This thread is incriminating by itself if they did, the OP literally admits being guilty!

If significant resources were focussed on this - for whatever reason - then I'm pretty sure it would be a guilty verdict. Is there any reasonable doubt in your mind?

I'd still personally like to see the OP roll the dice but I'm not the one who would be risking anything.

Ironically had OP done absolutely nothing and ignored the email everything would be fine. We are seeing a lot of this and maybe it needs adding to FAQ

 

[Hadders]

As I said upthread, this really comes down to your appetite for risk.

If you decide to do nothing Greater Anglia will continue to send letters threatening police involvement, prosecution, fraud conviction etc. It's not clear that they have sufficient evidence to go down that route but that won't srtop them threatening to do so.

 

[1997bennybutch]

As I said upthread, this really comes down to your appetite for risk.

If you decide to do nothing Greater Anglia will continue to send letters threatening police involvement, prosecution, fraud conviction etc. It's not clear that they have sufficient evidence to go down that route but that won't srtop them threatening to do so.

how long do these threats last before they stop ? and is it possible to create a payment plan with GA?? as in monthly payments

 

[Hadders]

how long do these threats last before they stop ? and is it possible to create a payment plan with GA?? as in monthly payments

I've no idea how long the threats last. This sort of behaviour from train companies is a relatively recent thing. Most people who have raised cases on here do seem to have settled (although to be fair we don't always get updated with case outcomes) because they know they done something that's wrong and they don't want to risk a criminal conviction, however remote that might be.

Train companies don't normally accept payment plans but they might do so in this case given that they cannot realistically prosecute you.

 

[AlterEgo]

how long do these threats last before they stop ? and is it possible to create a payment plan with GA?? as in monthly payments

They’ll last several months probably.